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A seventh straight ILH championship is still within Saint Louis’ grasp.
Now comes the hard part.
The fifth-ranked Crusaders kept their season from ending early on Friday night, defeating a gutsy Kamehameha team 42-30 to open the ILH second round at Skippa Diaz Stadium.
Ola Apduhan rushed for two short touchdowns and Kekahi Graham threw for a career-high 376 yards and two touchdowns to lead Saint Louis (4-4), which will now need to defeat No. 2 Punahou twice to advance to a seventh consecutive state tournament.
Punahou defeated Saint Louis by scores of 43-19 and 42-21 in the first round. The first of two possible games between the two teams is on Oct. 29 at 6 p.m. at Farrington.
“We were making mistakes with our play signals and our calls. We didn’t know where to line up and we’ve just got to fix those things,” said Graham, who completed 30 of his 44 passing attempts. “We need to execute on offense and defense at the same time.”
Saint Louis led 35-6 in the third quarter before Kamehameha found the strength to rally and make it a game.
Despite going winless this season and getting blown out 69-7 by Punahou last week, Kamehameha showed a massive amount of heart to get back in the game, led by senior quarterback Kealii Ah Yat.
Playing in his final game before heading to Montana next season, Ah Yat finished 27-for-47 for a career-high 346 yards and four touchdowns. He also rushed 16 times for 53 yards.
The Warriors blocked a punt down 12 in the final 90 seconds and had a chance to score again. Ah Yat was sacked on two of the final three plays and the clock ran out before Kamehameha could run one final play.
An emotional Ah Yat stayed on the field after the game and fought back tears as he talked about his high school career coming to an end.
“I gave it my all. I love these boys and I just gave it my all. That’s all I could ask for. It’s been a helluva ride,” Ah Yat said. “Win or go home. We knew we had to throw everything we had at them. They are a good team. It was just tough, but no regrets though. I gave it my all and my boys who fought with me gave it their all. That’s all I could ask for.”
Graham relied on receivers Titan Lacadan, who had a career-high 161 receiving yards and 11 catches, and Chyler DeSilva, who caught nine passes for 121 yards and a touchdown, to do most of the work through the air for Saint Louis.
Apduhan’s two short touchdown runs and a Chaz Delta 1-yard dive up the middle put Saint Louis ahead 21-0 less than nine minutes in.
That’s when Kamehameha started mixing it up on offense, which led to a long touchdown drive capped by Ah Yat’s 3-yard touchdown pass to Nazaiah Caravallo to make it 21-6 early in the second quarter.
Kamehameha forced Saint Louis to go three-and-out on its next drive and was able to move the ball inside the Crusaders 10.
After an incomplete pass led to fourth down, Saint Louis’ Iona Purcell led four Crusaders in a sack of Ah Yat — one of five for Saint Louis in the game — for a 16-yard loss to end the drive.
Kamehameha’s Kalani Correa intercepted a Graham pass to thwart the Crusaders’ next drive, but Kamehameha couldn’t do anything with it.
The plucky Warriors had another promising drive end on a Purcell interception to help keep the score at 21-6 going into the half.
Four receivers caught touchdown passes for Kamehameha, which scored a season-high 30 points, more than in its previous three games against ILH opponents combined.
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SAINT LOUIS 42, KAMEHAMEHA 30
At Skippa Diaz Stadium
Kamehameha (0-7-1) 0 6 8 16 — 30
Saint Louis (4-4) 21 0 14 7 — 42
StL—Ola Apduhan 2 run (Makena Kauai kick)
StL—Apduhan 3 run (Kauai kick)
StL—Chaz Delto 1 run (Kauai kick)
KSK—Nazaiah Caravallo 3 pass from Kealii Ah Yat (kick failed)
StL—Yosei Takahashi 23 pass from Kekahi Graham (Kauai kick)
StL—Chyler DeSilva 23 pass from Graham (Kauai kick)
KSK—Kalai Bradley 23 pass from Ah Yat (Bradley pass from Ah Yat)
KSK—Sunrise Solatorio 14 pass from Ah Yat (Bradley pass from Ah Yat)
StL—William Lentz 1 run (Kauai kick)
KSK—Ty Perkins 20 pass from Ah Yat (Sheyden Iokia pass from Ah Yat)
RUSHING—Kamehameha: Ah Yat 16-53, Solatorio 9-39, Akau 1-3, Dreyton Stone 1-1, Jeven Bolos-Reyes 2-(minus 1). Saint Louis: Lentz 11-42, Apduhan 10-39, Delto 4-8, Graham 3-(minus 8).
PASSING—Kamehameha: Ah Yat 27-47-1-346, Bolos-Reyes 0-1-0-0. Saint Louis: Graham 30-44-1-376.
RECEIVING—Kamehameha: Kaimana Bradley 4-67, Kal. Bradley 5-66, Solatorio 7-62, Perkins 3-45, Caravallo 2-31, Micah Akiu 2-31, Iokia 3-25, Aiden Hardie 1-19. Saint Louis: Titan Lacaden 11-161, DeSilva 9-121, Jordan Nunuha 4-44, Yosei Takahashi 3-32, Nicholas Delgadillo 2-10, Jaysen Peters-de Laura 1-8.
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