Prep Beat

Wednesday, February 25, 1998

Preseason to take
St. Louis to Maui, Vegas

By Bill Kwon
Star-Bulletin

Talk about keeping his team under wraps.

St. Louis football fans who want to see Cal Lee's Crusaders during preseason this fall will have to go to . . . Maui and Las Vegas.

Winners of 12 straight Interscholastic League of Honolulu championships and Prep Bowls, the Crusaders will play Beverly Hills High School of Los Angeles at the Maui War Memorial Stadium on Aug. 29 and Green Valley High in Las Vegas the following Saturday, Sept. 5.

"This is a chance for our team to get more national exposure," said Lee, who left for Las Vegas today to finalize the logistics of the Nevada trip. "Now we've got to hold a big fund-raiser."

Beverly Hills was 9-4 last year and in the same league with Hart High, a team the Crusaders beat here several years ago.

"They're in a very competitive league," Lee said.

Lee had wanted to play Hampton (Va.) High School, one of the top prep teams in the country, or Mater Dei of Los Angeles. But efforts to schedule either team fell through.

"Their coach (Hampton's Mike Smith) had said he'd play anyone, anywhere. I called him, but he never called back. He knows we're over here," said Lee, whose Crusaders were ranked No. 19 in the 1997 National Prep Football Poll.

Lee said he also wanted to schedule De LaSalle of Concord, Calif., which set a national prep record for consecutive wins.

"They were booked up, but we'll keep trying," he said.

St. Louis has played on the mainland before -- in 1969 under coach Ron Marciel. The Crusaders defeated Los Gatos (Calif.), High, 49-19, at the University of Santa Clara Stadium.

But playing a preseason game against a visiting opponent on a neighbor island will be a new experience. The game will be played at the expanded Wailuku stadium, which hosted the Hooters Hula Bowl last month.

With the two preseason games away, St. Louis won't play in the Shawn Akina Classic at Aloha Stadium this fall.