‘It’s becoming real,’ say Saint Louis seniors

Cal Lee doesn’t have a real hobby. He has a life in family and football, and forever the two shall be entwined.

For many of the Crusaders, there is no off-field hobby. There is schoolwork. There is training. There is football. It’s true, for the most part, that Lee and his brother Ron, and the rest of the staff at Saint Louis are living and breathing the sport much as they have for most of their lives. And no more so just 48 hours from their biggest challenge of the season.

Saint Louis, seeded second in the First Hawaiian Bank/HHSAA Football State Championships, will take on unbeaten, top-seeded Kahuku on Friday night at Aloha Stadium. There’s some talk of a crowd possibly more than 30,000 for the title game — which would be a tournament record.

But for the Crusaders, it is business as usual. After winning eight of nine games — almost all against Top 10 teams — they are relatively healthy following last week’s 56-30 win over defending champion Mililani.

"It’s my dream come true," offensive lineman Nate Herbig said. "When I used to play for Kauai, we played Kaiser in the (Division II) state championship and we lost. That was one of the worst feelings for me. Now, to be part of this brotherhood, and with all my brothers, we worked hard and we deserve to be here. I’m just excited for Friday night to come."

They’ve already gotten a boost with the return of linebacker Jordan Loveni Iosefa. The 6-foot-2, 235-pound senior sat out the past two games due to an ejection and automatic suspension. Iosefa, a commit to USC, "never complained once," said Cal Lee, who also coordinates the defense.

Like Iosefa, Lee played linebacker in his day. Like Lee, Iosefa was there on the sideline last week, doing all he could for his teammates. It kept Iosefa busy, kept his mind off having to sit out. Like a player-coach, he helped his linemen and ‘backers on alignments and slight adjustments during the game.

"It was a humbling experience, I can say. It gave me time to see the game from the coaches’ perspective and what I have to do to be a better leader, to help my team improve," said Iosefa, whose voice was worn out by night’s end. "Our team really stepped up, especially on offense. Our defense did their job and gave the ball back to Tua (Tagovailoa). For those two weeks (going into the game), we did a lot of drills, a lot of turnover drills."

"Coach Cal always tells us and preaches, ‘Next man up,’ " ," said Herbig, a 6-foot-4, 335-pound commit to Stanford. "Anson (Levi) and Jay Smalley, everybody stepped up and made big-time contributions. We got seven turnovers. Jordan is a phenomenal player, but we’ve always told each other we’re all brothers, we all work just as hard as each other. If I go down, I expect the next guy to do my job."

Game time is closing in.

"It’s becoming real," Iosefa said. "This is going to be our last practice with pads, if you think about it. You go 110 percent every day, pushing ourselves and making sure it’s a habit on every play, so it can be 110 percent in the game."

Lee said, after last week’s win over Mililani, that this title game is for the players.

"This group, I think they finally got it. When you start ’em off. You’ve got to train them and get them to buy into what you’re doing. It took a little bit of time. It shows in the results, they work harder and harder," he said. "That’s what you’ve got to do, not just show up. Going about taking care of business. Failure to prepare is preparing to fail. You’ve got to prepare."