If this is a sign of what’s to come in ILH Division I, prepare for a wild season.
Ranked No. 1 in the state for the first time this year, Saint Louis needed Isaiah Tufaga to intercept Noah Sua-Godinet’s fourth-down pass with less than a minute remaining to pull out a 31-27 victory in the league opener for both teams on Saturday night at Aloha Stadium.
Tufaga had one of four interceptions by the Crusaders that made a big difference in Saint Louis (3-0, 1-0) winning its ILH opener for the first time in three years.
"I tell you what, it was a great game for the spectators, but it was tough on coaches," Crusaders coach Cal Lee said. "It could have gone either way. We’re just very fortunate the way things happened. We held on."
Both starting quarterbacks missed time in the fourth quarter with injuries.
Crusaders junior Tua Tagovailoa was sacked on consecutive plays in the third quarter and jogged off the field after sitting on the ground for a couple of minutes.
He came back to start the fourth quarter and went down immediately without being touched when the ball left his hand on a pass attempt.
"Cramp. I think this heat affects everybody. Everybody was cramping up," Lee said.
Tagovailoa was 14-for-26 for 267 yards and two touchdowns and ran for another.
His counterpart, Kamehameha sophomore Thomas Yam, was 20-for-36 for 282 yards and a touchdown. He also ran for three touchdowns, including a 1-yarder with 4:30 remaining to make it 31-27.
He took a vicious hit after crossing the goal line and couldn’t come back on the field for the final Warriors drive.
Saint Louis went for it on fourth-and-3 from its own 49 with 1:47 remaining. Kamehameha (3-1, 0-1) was out of timeouts but got the ball back when Tagovailoa’s pass for Leelan Oasay came up short.
Sua-Godinet, a senior who was Kamehameha’s starting QB the past two seasons, took over after playing most of the game at slot receiver.
He completed one pass for 6 yards but was eventually intercepted by Tufaga to end it.
"We made sure to finish our plays and execute really well," said Saint Louis running back Jahred Silofau, who rushed for 101 yards and caught a 34-yard pass.
Saint Louis was shut out in the second half after leading 31-14 at the break.
Yam, who set the Kamehameha single-game passing record last month against Baldwin, had it going early. He led the Warriors on a scoring drive on their opening possession as he plunged into the end zone on a 3-yard touchdown run.
Yam also hit Kumoku Noa for a 55-yard touchdown down the left sideline, but the Crusaders started to figure Yam out.
Saint Louis made adjustments and intercepted Yam three times in the second quarter.
"We got up a couple of scores and put (Kamehameha) in a (tough) situation," Lee said. "We gave up some big plays that you can’t do, but credit to them. They never gave up and battled all the way and made it to the very end."
