Like old times as Saint Louis, Punahou gather for scrimmage

There have been plenty of battles on the gridiron between Punahou and Saint Louis.

Even in a scrimmage format, each team has a special jolt of energy when it comes to the rivalry. At the end of Saturday’s matchup at Punahou’s Alexander Field, players on each sideline were still revved up for every bone-crunching tackle, more so than the touch-football-style sacks, or even the four touchdown passes launched by Saint Louis junior AJ Bianco.

The 6-foot-4, 220-pound slinger and his three fellow Crusaders quarterbacks got their share of reps. Each play began at the 50-yard line and stayed there for 10 consecutive plays before the teams switched sides. Saint Louis was in practice uniforms; Punahou in white-jersey game uniforms.

It was almost good enough to be in Aloha Stadium on a fall evening. Up to now, the spring scrimmage “season” for private-school programs has included two by Saint Louis against Mill Ville Trojans, a club team stocked with Mililani players. Last week, Kamehameha and Punahou scrimmaged.

“It was definitely different with Punahou, a real big rival,” Bianco said. “Our game plan was different. What we had going in, the coverages that we thought we’d see and they ran some stuff we hadn’t seen.”

Toward the end of their first 10-play set, Bianco launched a haymaker to speedster Keanu Wallace, who ran a post route from the right sideline and beat his man.

“Not many guys around the state can run with that guy. He’s the top 100-meter sprinter, I’m pretty sure,” Bianco said. “That felt good. That was actually a little bit underthrown.”

Two plays later, he connected with another senior, Makena Ramos.

“We just called the same play on the other side and I wasn’t sure if they were going to give us the same look, but they did,” Bianco said.

After that, both teams played reserves liberally, and defenses did plenty of work. The Buffanblu connected on a touchdown pass, and a linebacker came up with an interception for what normally would be a pick-6.

Saint Louis rotated quarterbacks every five plays, Bianco said. In the second half, he found Nick Delgadillo, a sophomore, for their third touchdown. The fourth scoring toss was to another sophomore, Jason deLaura.

“I thought everyone came prepared. We brought the energy today and kept it up the whole time. The quarterbacks, everyone did well going through reads. We’ve been going through a lot of things this week at practice, going through the game plan,” Bianco said. “I love watching film with Coach Ron (Lee). He loves what he does.”

Sure enough, Lee and some of his coaches were hooking up their video to the big-screen TV in their film room not long after the scrimmage. Lee saw his team go nose to nose with a physical Punahou defense.

“Makena and Keanu, they looked real good. It was the same thing — we let the seniors play more because this is for them. We mixed it up just to kind of see,” Lee said. ”We’re wrapping up spring ball, nobody got hurt, that’s the main thing. I was impressed with Punahou. Man, they look good. We’ve got to get better.”

In 93 minutes, shortly before noon, it was over.

No bubble screens. No option game. Just basic Saint Louis four-wide offense.

“We don’t want to show everything. We’re keeping a lot in our hat,” Lee said. “We’ve got to play them again.”

Again, meaning this fall, if what Lee has heard is true.

“I’m hearing that we start football in August. We got a memo that says they’re setting up Aug. 6, 7 and 8, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. It’s a go,” Lee said. “They need to commit to a plan so kids don’t transfer (to the mainland). If they don’t follow up, it’ll just wash.”

Plans for preseason games, let alone training on and off the field, are built around the sports calendar established by the leagues and HHSAA.

“We want to play Liberty (Nev.) and a team from Utah, Lone Peak. We want to travel. We’re tired of waiting. We need to schedule games,” Lee said.

The scrimmage is a possible indicator of protocols for fall football.

“We took so many (COVID-19) tests. I’ve never taken so many tests. We have 150 guys, nobody tested positive. We took tests for three days to play this (scrimmage),” Lee said.

Punahou will have an intrasquad senior-night-style scrimmage next weekend. Two of their seniors had different experiences against Saint Louis. UNLV signee Kilinahe Mendiola-Jensen had debated whether to risk injury this spring, but has been full-tilt with his teammates and played on Saturday.

“I was thinking about it a lot,” the 6-foot-2, 163-pound cornerback said. “Today is UNLV’s spring game, so I’m lining it up and treating it like the same.”

Punahou’s first-team defense played 20 snaps.

“We went back in for the last six plays, just seniors and some underclassmen. It was definitely a good way to end,” Mendiola-Jensen said.

He gave a big thumbs up to interim coach Leonard Lau.

“He’s awesome. He communicates with everyone well. He set the tone and kept us in line when we needed it,” he said.

Wide receiver Christopher Paige will play at Princeton this fall, but for now, he is in street clothes after tweaking an ankle last week against Kamehameha. He also spent time helping set up the hurdles at the ILH track and field meet at Alexander Field in the afternoon. He was one of the state’s top hurdlers in spring of 2019.

“Playing in the scrimmage and running hurdles today, that would’ve been the goal. I’m a little bummed, but it was good to get the young guys in and get film for everyone else,” Paige said. “We have our senior day (scrimmage) and I have ILH track and field championship meet in two weeks,” he said.

Saint Louis plays at Kamehameha on Thursday, again with no spectators allowed.

“God, Kamehameha looked good against Punahou (last week),” Lee said. “That’s good for us. I think this is Kamehameha’s senior night. After that we’re done for a while. We have finals and graduation. Let the kids concentrate on that and come back as soon as we find out the schedule. Pass league and all that.”

The cancellation of most fall sports statewide last year — the ILH postponed girls volleyball to the spring — opened the door of opportunity for schools to independently schedule games and scrimmages. There were a lot of happy faces on each sideline before, during and after Saturday’s battle.

“We got to see all the young guys play. Seniors got to play and wrap up their year. Kids are so happy we had this,” Lee said. “I feel sorry for the other schools that didn’t have what we did, being out there with their friends. They were having fun. They’ve learned how to handle disappointment. They’ve handled it well.”