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Saturday, November 25, 2000
Kahuku, St. Louis In eight games, 384 minutes and an entire regular season, Waianae gave up 42 points to its opponents.
in state final again
The Crusaders' defense stifle
Waianae's potent running
game in a 63-10 winBy Ben Henry
Special to the Star-BulletinLast night, it only took 48 minutes for St. Louis to massacre Waianae with 63 points.
The Crusaders scored the most points in state tournament history, crushing the Seariders, 63-10, before 7,165 people at Aloha Stadium.
St. Louis will face Kahuku next Friday in the second-ever Chevron State Football Championship game.
Despite all the points last night, it was his defense that St. Louis coach Cal Lee was talking about after the game.
"I think the kids have been playing great defense all season long," Lee said. "Playing a team like Waianae is a tremendous challenge for them, and they stepped it up. They played total team defense."
To put it mildly, Waianae had difficulty establishing its run attack, with St. Louis holding Oahu Interscholastic Association Red Division all-stars Lono Manners and Peter Sarono to 35 rushing yards, and the team to negative 11 rushing yards.
The tandem is accustomed to dominating defenses, accumulating 988 yards during the OIA regular season. And they rushed for a combined 151 yards last week against Maui.
St. Louis defensive back Frank Butcher said the game plan was to corral them by sealing off the perimeters.
"They like to run in the open -- we tried to take that away," he said. "Our corners and free safeties kept everything inside."
Except for an 88-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter against St. Louis' third-team defense, Waianae was held to 67 total yards, and managed just 2 minutes and 50 seconds in St. Louis territory for the entire game.
"We thought we could hold on to the ball better, but we just got overpowered," Waianae coach Danny Matsumoto said.
Ironically, it was St. Louis that handed an opponent its first points in 18 quarters, when a low snap forced punter Haa Bento to step out of the end zone for a safety in the second quarter.
Punahou was the last team to score against St. Louis on Oct. 21, when Kynan Pang returned a blocked punt 17 yards for a touchdown.
Last night's fourth-quarter touchdown was the first score St. Louis' defense had given up in 19 quarters of football, since a Pac-5 touchdown on Oct. 13.
That defense made its presence known early last night, when Butcher intercepted Jonah Nunuha on the game's opening drive.
With the ball at the Waianae 11, St. Louis's Bobby George hit Kainoa Fernandez from 9 yards out for the first score of the game.
After Waianae punted on its next possession, St. Louis quarterback Kelika Higa delivered a pass to receiver Daniel Inferrera, who beat Waianae defensive back Calvin Brown for a 92-yard touchdown with 5:34 left in the first quarter.
That play, the longest pass play in state tournament history, was the first of three blown coverages by Brown that led to touchdowns.
"I read the plays wrong," he said.
But the OIA Red first-team all-star made up for it with two interceptions within the Waianae 10-yard line.
"I learned from the previous plays," he said.
St. Louis continued to alternate quarterbacks on every play, with Higa throwing for 199 yards and George throwing four touchdowns.
Lee said his team will have to cut down on mistakes to beat Kahuku.
"We're happy to be (in the game), and all we gotta do now is make sure we play," he said.
Waianae (11-2, 12-2) 0 2 0 8 -- 10 St. Louis (12-0, 14-0) 21 14 0 28 -- 63 StL -- Kainoa Fernandez 9 pass from Bobby George (Haa Bento kick)
StL -- Daniel Inferrera 92 pass from Kelika Higa (Haa Bento kick)
StL -- Pesefea Fiaseu 1 run (Haa Bento kick)
StL -- Frank Rivers 8 pass from George (Bento kick)
StL -- Fernandez 31 pass from George (Bento kick)
Wai -- Safety, Bento stepped out of the endzone
StL -- Sanoe Mokuahi 35 pass from George (Bento kick)
StL -- Prince Brown 1 run (Michael Houar kick)
Wai -- Graen Enriquez 88 pass from Brandon Lopes (Teacel Hines pass from Jonah Nunuha)
StL -- Brown 4 run (Kaeo Adams kick)
StL -- Michael Espinueva 24 interception return (Houar kick)Rushing -- Wai: Lono Manners 12-36, Lopes 6-(minus 23), Nunuha 2-(minus 10), Peter Sarono 7-(minus 1), Chad Rodrigues 2-4, Caleb Paakaula 1-(minus 1), Thomas Gualdarama 1-(minus 1), Team 1-(minus 15). StL: Fiaseu 14-86, Inferrera 2-1, Brown 8-74, Bronson Beaver 8-48, Ross Dickerson 1-6, Samson Hoohuli 4-13, Team 1-(minus 6)
Passing -- Wai: Nunuha 3-11-2, 28 yards; Lopes 5-15-1, 138; Caleb Paakaula 0-1-1, 0 yards; Sarono 0-1-0, 0 yards. StL: George 5-12-1, 87 yards; Higa 9-17-1, 199; Lee Boyd 0-1-0, 0 yards.
Receiving -- Wai: Graen Enriquez 4-114, Manners 1-0, Kawika Alana 1-10, Sarono 2-42. StL: Fernandez 2-40, Inferrera 3-110, Davin Nakasato 3-46, Fiaseu 1-17, Rivers 1-8, Keahua Bowman 1-4, Kanoa Kaaihili 1-19, Dickerson 1-7, Sanoe Mokuahi 1-35.
