Saint Louis rallies by Punahou
Derek Nakasato and Jeremy Tabuyo celebrated a touchdown for Saint Louis last night.
They did it to Kamehameha.
Now, they’ve done it to Punahou. The second-ranked Saint Louis Crusaders poured on the power in the second half to rally from an early deficit for a resounding 35-17 win over the No. 3 Buffanblu last night at Aloha Stadium.
The victory pushes the Crusaders to 3-0 in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu (5-1 overall), while Punahou suffered its first loss (3-1 overall, 1-1 ILH).
Down 17-14 at halftime, Saint Louis’ defense surrendered only 50 total yards in the second half, while its offense scored three times.
"We had to refine the little stuff and stop playing as individuals," said defensive end Juda Parker, who had two of his team’s four sacks. "Punahou’s a great team. We had to focus on doing our jobs."
By the time Punahou took a lead into the locker room at halftime, Crusaders fans were almost silenced. That changed in the third quarter when Marcus Mariota fired touchdown passes of 54 yards to Dallas Tuumalo and 14 yards to Kaeo Aliviado.
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When Mariota snuck into the end zone from a yard out with 9:20 left, Saint Louis had plenty of cushion with a 35-17 lead.
Mariota’s direction was key. The senior passed for 142 yards and ran for another 60, including runs of 19 and 24 yards to crack Punahou’s normally stalwart defense.
In all, Saint Louis rushed for 223 yards, with Keanu Mook-Garcia contributing 56 yards and Derek Nakasato 58.
Punahou’s best offensive weapon, Steven Lakalaka, had 90 rushing yards on 20 carries, but left in the third quarter with severe cramping in his legs.
"That hurt us. He was playing really well," Buffanblu coach Kale Ane said.
Saint Louis used a no-huddle offense from the start, but went to hyper speed in the second half.
"That was smart on their part," Ane said, "especially with some of our guys going both ways. They made some good adjustments."
The tempo and momentum were clearly on Saint Louis’ side after the half.
"We had to see where their legs were at," coach Darnell Arceneaux said. "We’ve done a lot of conditioning work, and changing the tempo allowed us to get off the ball quicker."
| Saint Louis (5-1, 3-0) | 14 | 0 | 14 | 7 | — | 35 |
| Punahou (3-1, 1-1) | 3 | 14 | 0 | 0 | — | 17 |
StL–Derek Nakasato 40 run (Jesse Correa kick)
Pun–Kaimi Fairbairn FG 42
StL–Leland Gomez 34 interception return (Correa kick)
Pun–K.T. Tuumalo 20 run (Fairbairn kick)
Pun–DeForest Buckner 1 pass from Lokahi Matsuo (Fairbairn kick)
StL–Dallas Tuumalo 54 pass from Mariota (Correa kick)
StL–Kaeo Aliviado 14 pass from Mariota (Correa kick)
StL–Mariota 1 run (Correa kick)
RUSHING–StL: Mariota 8-60, Aliviado 1-6, Nakasato 6-58, Mook-Garcia 13-56m, Jared Tomaszek 1-12, Kala McShane 1-7, Kamana Pimental 3-24. Pun: Steven Lakalaka 20-90, Matsuo 5-(-25), K. Tuumalo 5-31, Brayden Hill 1-(-3), Mountan Mitchell 1-4, Isaac Savaiinaea 1-4, Zachary Hernandez 2-6.
PASSING–StL: Mariota 11-16-1-142. Pun: Matsuo 10-24-2-77.
RECEIVING–StL: Aliviado 4-32, Duke Bukoski 3-39, D. Tuumalo 1-54, James Lewis 1-9, Jeremy Tabuyo 1-4, Mook-Garcia 1-4. Pun: Mitchell 3-40, Hernandez 2-(minus 4), Luke Kaumatule 1-15, Noah Wiley 1-15, Cole Dudoit 1-10, Buckner 1-1, Lakalaka 1-0.
No. 6 ‘Iolani 26, Pac-Five 7
Ammon Baldomero rushed for 66 hard-earned yards and two touchdowns on 22 carries, and cornerback Reid Saito put the game out of reach with a 100-yard interception return as the Raiders pulled away after halftime.
‘Iolani improved to 3-0 in league play, while Pac-Five battled a Top 10 team closely for a half for the second week in a row. The Wolfpack picked off ‘Iolani sophomore Reece Foy three times, but he still managed to convert a few key first downs with his legs (44 rushing yards, six carries).
At Aloha Stadium
| ‘Iolani (5-1, 3-0) | 7 | 0 | 12 | 7 | — | 26 |
| Pac-Five (1-4, 0-2) | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 7 |
Iol–Ammon Baldomero 1 run (Jordan Lee kick)
P5–Jordan Doi 30 pass from Jack Foster (Brendan Sagucio kick)
Iol–Lee FG 31
Iol–Baldomero 6 run
Iol–Safety, Cody Petro-Sakuma tackled Darius Anderson in end zone
Iol–Reid Saito 100 interception return (Lee kick)
RUSHING–P5: Makakoa Manaba 1-2, Darius Anderson 12-36, Jack Foster 5-(-21), Ryan Alvarado 1-(-2), Tyler Watkins 1-0, Cobey Young-Bailey 1-2. Iol: Reece Foy 6-44, Baldomero 22-66, Lee 4-16, Bret Christman 1-7, Kody Mento 3-9.
PASSING–P5: Foster 9-21-1-108, Doi 1-1-0-28. Iol: Foy 7-20-3-63.
RECEIVING–P5: Everett Kim 6-90, Alvarado 2-16, Doi 1-30, Chalson Baition 1-0. Iol: Christman 2-31, Sheldon Gallarde 2-8, Josiah Sukumaran 1-12, Dane Arakawa 1-10, Kasey Takahashi 1-2.
