In the land of the free, Saint Louis and Mililani are piling up accolades.
Accolades often lead to opportunities. When the top teams in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu and Oahu Interscholastic Association meet tonight, there will be all kinds of overlapping factors and factoids.
The game matters much more to Saint Louis (6-0, 5-0 ILH Open) because it will count in the league standings. Win or lose, the game doesn’t count for Mililani (6-1, 4-0) in the OIA Open standings. The Trojans wouldn’t be blamed if they opted to rest some injured starters, including linebacker Wynden Ho‘ohuli, who hurt his leg in last week’s 42-10 loss to national-title contender St. John Bosco (Calif.).
Coach Rod York insists that his team is healthy and everyone will play. Historically, York’s teams have rarely, if ever, benched players unless an injury is severe. York knew it would be a major task to face nationally ranked teams — No. 2 Bosco and No. 6 Saint Louis — in consecutive weeks.
“We’ve definitely got to play a perfect game. We can’t give them turnovers,” he said. “That’s what I love about this format. It’s more fun. Every week has a tough game, but I love it. I want to play teams that could smash us 50-0. It’s hard to get a win in this league.”
In four seasons since returning to Kalaepohaku, Cal Lee has guided the Crusaders to four ILH titles and three state crowns. From Tua Tagovailoa to McKenzie Milton to Dillon Gabriel, players have developed into Division I student-athletes out of Saint Louis and Mililani alike.
Saint Louis has 12 players who have FBS scholarship offers and/or commitments. Mililani has seven future FBS players with offers or commitments. Players and their families have pushed to attend powerhouse Saint Louis or Mililani. In a few cases, players have attended both.
Ho‘ohuli, a 6-foot-2, 225-pound junior, was in the rotation at Saint Louis last season. He opted to transfer out to Mililani, where he is key cog in the box. Malosi Sam, projected as a possible starter at running back, also left Saint Louis to attend Mililani. Kamalu DeBlake, another Saint Louis linebacker, became a Trojan and is a co-captain now. He is also Mililani’s long snapper.
That shift of talent would be enough to cause major damage to many programs, but it was more of a tremor than an earthquake for Saint Louis. The Crusaders’ depth at linebacker may have been a considerable reason for the departures. Lee has Lawai Brown and Mason Tufaga in the middle of the action. Lee likes freshman Iona Purcell in the mix.
Despite the departures, Saint Louis is reaching epic highs similar to the dynasty sparked by Lee during the first run of titles from 1986 to 1999. Lee looks back and still feels the sting that came with success.
“The rule that they have now, it’s funny they can go from private to public (school), they don’t have to sit out. They made that rule in ’99 where public to private, you have to sit out because we won for all those years,” Lee said. “What kind of rule is that? You’re hurting the kids that want to come (to Saint Louis). People think you recruit, but when you win, people want to go to a school that’s winning. For our league to do something like that, I thought was very unfair that a kid has to sit out.”
The incoming additions boosted Mililani, which has one of the best defensive units in the state. Bosco managed to rush for a relatively low 118 yards against the Trojans, and didn’t have a breakaway run until the final minutes. Sam, a 5-foot-8, 190-pound junior, was a reliable plus-yardage back as a sophomore. At Mililani, he carried the ball 43 times in a season-opening win at Campbell.
When Saint Louis had fumbling issues last week in a 25-19 win over Punahou, slotback Koali Nishigaya moved to running back. The Crusaders went to a “12” package and Nishigaya became a reliable north-south producer in their ground-and-pound attack.
Quarterback Jayden de Laura has thrived since transferring from Damien after his freshman year. The senior has passed for 1,570 yards and run for 209 more, scoring a total of 16 touchdowns. His efficiency is markedly improved with only two interceptions in 151 attempts, and his passer rating of 191.44 is very similar to that of Marcus Mariota during the 2010 season.
After losing four fumbles to a physical, ball-stripping Punahou defense, Saint Louis got its full-contact practices in on Monday and Tuesday with an emphasis on ball security.
“Punahou’s defense played really well,” Cal Lee said. “We’ve got to do a better job of that. We were fortunate to come out of there with a win. Four fumbles, gave up a kick return for a touchdown, missed PATs, missed a field goal. You name it, we did it.”
If York has his druthers, the Trojans will move the ball with Sam and Jasiah Alcover.
“If we get first downs, get some stops, get some turnovers, we still definitely got to play our ‘A’ game and not spot them points,” York said, referring to two early drives that ended with miscues deep in Trojans territory last week. “Our offense has got to be consistent.”
York is in his 10th season as head coach. His winning percentage of .786 (92-25) is one of the highest in state history. Now in his 27th season as a head coach, Lee tops them all at .873 (290-40-5), yet he eschews numbers and national rankings.
“I’m not looking at that. The bottom line is, a win is a win. Doesn’t matter what the score is or how badly you played,” Lee said. “There’s always room for improvement.”
The Crusaders will be more ready than usual, partly because of Punahou. Iron sharpens iron.
“I think (Mililani) is going to be fired up,” Lee said. “They played Bosco, now they want to show up like they can play. I’m expecting a tough battle, no question.”
No. 3 Mililani Trojans (6-1, 4-0 OIA Open) vs. No. 1 Saint Louis Crusaders (6-0, 5-0 ILH Open)
Tonight, 7:45 p.m, Aloha Stadium
>> Series history: Saint Louis leads 7-1
>> First meeting: StL 36, Mil 10, Aug. 18, 2000
>> Memorable matchup: Junior McKenzie Milton threw for 369 yards and four touchdowns and rushed for 204 yards and three more TDs as the Trojans tied a Saint Louis-opponent record for points scored against the Crusaders in a 63-47 victory in Cal Lee’s first game back in his latest stint as head coach on Aug. 16, 2014.
