Saint Louis’ arrow pointing upward

The first year of the OIA-ILH football alliance evened the playing field across Oahu.

With one glaring exception.

Nationally ranked Saint Louis blew away its entire slate of games against Hawaii opponents, closing with a 38-17 win over Mililani on Saturday night in the Open Division title game of the First Hawaiian Bank/HHSAA Football State Championships at Aloha Stadium.

With a team that brought back memories of the Crusaders squads of old, Saint Louis finished off a third straight playoff win by at least 21 points to secure a third consecutive state championship.

Against the three teams that will likely finish in the three spots behind them in the rankings, the Crusaders outscored Punahou, Kahuku and Mililani 132-60 to run their winning streak to 26 games.

The only longer winning streaks in state history are the 55 wins in a row by Cal Lee’s Saint Louis team from 1985 to 1990 and a 31-game streak by Saint Louis from ’95 to ’97.

Now five seasons into his third stint as Crusaders coach, has Lee reached the dynasty status his teams of old achieved?

“I’ll let you think about it,” Lee said after the game. “I don’t think about it. I really don’t. This feels like the first one. I don’t think we keep count. I don’t know how many people count it. I’m not.”

Ranked in the top 20 nationally by two major polls for nearly the entire season, the Crusaders are No. 7 in the MaxPreps Xcellent 25 released Sunday and were No. 16 in the last USA Today Super 25, which is released every Monday.

After beating Narbonne (Calif.) 47-7 in mid-August, Saint Louis wasn’t scheduled for another game against a mainland opponent to increase its national profile, but that might change.

According to the GEICO State Champions Bowl Series website, Saint Louis is in the running to play against an opponent to be determined as part of a doubleheader televised on ESPNU.

The bowl series website lists the Hawaii High School Athletic Association as one of seven possible participants. Teams are announced after state champions are crowned in December.

The high school football season ends in Hawaii earlier than in most other states and a decision for the Crusaders could be reached as early as this week.

For now, Sunday was about celebrating the sixth state championship and 20th title overall for Saint Louis, including 14 Prep Bowl victories.

The scary part is that — even though the Crusaders got major contributions from seniors Korvin Feagins, who had 10 tackles and three interceptions, and Robbie Paikai, who rushed for a team-high 60 yards on 10 carries before he was injured — the stat sheet was littered with underclassmen.

Even with the losses of four-star defensive tackle recruit Faatui Tuitele to Washington, defensive lineman Gino Quinones to Southern California and offensive lineman Ben Scott to Arizona State, Saint Louis is poised to be even better in 2019.

Quarterback Jayden de Laura should only improve as a second-year starter after accounting for 29 touchdowns and more than 2,300 passing yards in 10 games in his junior season replacing Chevan Cordeiro.

Linebackers Nick Herbig, who had four sacks and scored on a blocked punt, and Jordan Botelho, who had 21⁄2 sacks and returned a fumble 74 yards for a score, are both highly rated juniors with multiple Pac-12 offers.

Receiver Roman Wilson, who caught seven passes for 148 yards, is a junior. Dayton Sam, who ran for two touchdowns, is a sophomore.

“We got a lot of players coming back,” said Herbig, who has offers from Hawaii, Wisconsin, Stanford, Utah and Washington already. “We’re gonna be real good next year, too.”

Herbig, who is 6-foot-2 and 205 pounds, and the 6-foot-2, 220-pound Botelho, have the potential to be one of the best linebacker duos the state has ever seen.

Botelho, whose offer sheet of 11 schools includes Georgia, LSU, Oregon and Washington, scored three defensive touchdowns and had 91⁄2 sacks this season.

“Me and him, I don’t know. It’s something special,” Botelho said about his relationship with Herbig. “Nick, he’s great. He’s a baller. That’s my boy and I love him. Just greatness.”

Greatness. Something that can be expected from the Crusaders for the foreseeable future.