The Saint Louis aerial attack under offensive coordinator Ron Lee gets the highlights.
But in reality, the Crusaders have been a bonecrushing, smashmouth ground-and-pound crew in the red zone in the past year. The percentages are simply better with a defense stretched from sideline to sideline and more so with a ball-carrying force like quarterback Jayden de Laura. As a junior last season, de Laura accounted for 29 touchdowns, including 10 on the ground. As a team, Saint Louis had 22 TD passes and 34 rushing TDs.
When No. 1 Saint Louis (1-0, 1-0 ILH Open Division) visits fourth-ranked Campbell (1-1, 1-1 OIA Open) tonight, those late-night fireworks in the Ewa Beach neighborhood might be sparked by Lee’s game plan. Campbell has an arsenal to potentially keep pace with Saint Louis’ dynamic offense, but its defense also allowed a certain former Crusaders running back to reach mind-blowing levels recently.
When Mililani edged Campbell 30-26 two weeks ago, transfer Malosi Sam, who started for Saint Louis last year, rushed for 259 yards on a whopping 43 carries. Lee may not have a single player rush that many times, but there might be an emphasis placed on the offensive line from Kalaepohaku to go downhill and control the ball, the clock and Saint Louis’ destiny.
“I thought (Campbell) did a pretty good job on the run,” Ron Lee said. “(Sam) had a couple of long runs, but outside of that, I thought they did a nice job. (Campbell’s defense) got a score on an interception.”
True, Sam averaged a good, but somewhat manageable, 6 yards per carry that night. It also meant Mililani was able to move the chains with enough regularity to keep Campbell’s explosive offense on the sideline. With two game-breaking wide receivers in Roman Wilson and Matt Sykes, Saint Louis should see five defenders in the box quite a bit. Most defensive coordinators don’t want to leave their cornerbacks in single coverage against Wilson or Sykes.
Campbell is different thanks to the elite skills and speed of Poki‘i Adkins-Kupukaa, Tamatoa Mokiao-Atimalala and other quality DBs. In Saint Louis’ 34-6 win at Kapolei last week, the offense had just 46 offensive snaps — 21 rushes and 25 passes. It is a tough gauge because the Crusaders emptied the bench early. De Laura completed 12 of his 13 attempts for 274 yards and two TDs with no picks. Backups Connor Apo and AJ Bianco played in the second half, all five RBs in the rotation played, and nine different Crusaders got at least one reception.
Still, the record shows that Saint Louis will run and run until a defense commits more bodies to the first two levels.
“That’s all true, but we don’t go in saying, ‘We’re going to run.’ It’s kind of how they set up, what they do,” said Lee, whose four-wide offense was the catalyst when Kaiser won the Oahu Prep Bowl in 1979. “We have to prepare for six in the box, the blitz package, the coverage. They dropped a lot of people against Mililani, rushed three. They mixed it and showed a lot of stuff, so we don’t know what they’re going to do.”
The added component is Campbell defensive coordinator Blaze Soares, who was a linebacker at Hawaii when Saint Louis head coach Cal Lee was his position coach.
“I know Blaze will get his defense fired up,” Cal Lee said. “I’ve known (head coach) DJ (Darren Johnson) a long time. He’s a good coach. He’s got a good staff.”
When Saint Louis visited Campbell last year, the visitors overpowered the home team 55-7 — the first matchup of the two programs ever. The Crusaders lost key pieces of that defense, and now has a line that features more speed and finesse with less size and brute strength.
“(Nose tackle) Stanley (McKenzie) is playing well. I think from what we’ve seen in practice and the game last week, the D-line is doing well,” Cal Lee said. “It’s just a matter of keeping it up, working hard every day. I’m real happy with what’s happened so far.”
Campbell quarterback Blaine Hipa presents some danger for defenses. In the pocket, he is savvy and accurate. When the two-way ironmen like Tamatoa Mokiao-Atimalala, Adkins-Kupukaa and All-State receiver Titus Mokiao-Atimalala are bracketed, Hipa can find long-striding Zavier Ceruti. The 6-foot-3, 180-pound Ashley Lelie look-a-like hauled in two TD passes in Campbell’s 41-6 win over Farrington last week.
Cal Lee doesn’t plan on letting Hipa, a sophomore southpaw, range around the backfield.
“They’ve got a quarterback who can run and throw the ball. We’ve got to make sure we keep that quarterback in the pocket. We can’t have him running around and everyone understands that,” he said.
No. 1 Saint Louis Crusaders (1-0, 1-0 ILH Open) at No. 4 Campbell Sabers (1-1, 1-1 OIA Open)
Today, 7:30 p.m., Ewa Beach
>> Series history: Saint Louis leads 1-0
>> Notes: The Crusaders played the Sabers for the first time last season in the first year of the OIA-ILH football alliance. Jayden de Laura threw three TD passes and Saint Louis scored three defensive touchdowns in a 55-7 win.
