[ HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL ]
St. Louis keeps The St. Louis football team sent a two-word message to Kamehameha last night at Aloha Stadium.
title hopes alive
The Crusaders avoid elimination with
Seniors to play again
a 14-13 win over Kamehameha
By Jason Kaneshiro
jkaneshiro@starbulletin.comNot yet.
A crowd of 10,178 watched the Crusaders, the 16-time defending Interscholastic League of Honolulu champions, force a decisive league championship game with a 14-13 victory over Kamehameha, denying the Warriors their first ILH title since 1979.
"The motto in the governors race was 'time for a change,' and we told our kids that it's not yet in the ILH," St. Louis coach Delbert Tengan said. "We don't want a change in the ILH yet. That's kind of our motto. We did step one and hopefully we can do step two next (Saturday)."
St. Louis and Kamehameha will meet again for the ILH championship at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Aloha Stadium. The winner earns the league's lone berth in the upcoming state tournament.
"It ain't over yet," Crusader safety Timo Paepule said. "Thank God I still have another opportunity. Our main goal, no matter how we win, is to get to states."
A blocked extra point by St. Louis linebacker Tualau Fale proved to be the difference in the game as the Crusader defense hung on late in the game to preserve the win.
St. Louis linebacker Dylan Moss forced a fumble on the Crusader 17 to end one Kamehameha threat early in the fourth quarter.
The Warriors drove to the St. Louis 15 again late in the game, but Kekoa Smith's 32-yard field goal attempt drifted wide left with 2:01 left.
"We just hung there all night long, came up with a big strip and we bent but didn't break on that last drive," Tengan said.
Kamehameha, which defeated St. Louis 41-20 on Sept. 27, could have wrapped up the title with a win. Kamehameha coach Kanani Souza said fumbles and penalties in key situations contributed to the Warriors' loss.
"When you play a team like this you can't have small mistakes," Souza said. "If you don't have small mistakes then you'd probably be able to hang on."
St. Louis scored the deciding touchdown on a 1-yard run by Paepule -- a surprise contributor at running back -- in the third quarter. The senior safety also recorded 10 tackles, one for a loss. Fale led the Crusaders defensively with 14 tackles, four for losses.
"We want to bring back the glory of the old St. Louis," Fale said. "Our dream is to bring the old glory back and make everyone at St. Louis proud."
St. Louis quarterback Bobby George was pressured by the Kamehameha defense most of the night, but managed to complete 12 of 21 passes for 215 yards and a touchdown. Receiver Jason Rivers snagged seven passes for 155 yards and a score.
"(George) just hung in there all night," Tengan said. "He took a beating ... and I think he showed great leadership and toughness tonight, things people questioned earlier."
Kamehameha quarterback Kawai Akina got the start for the Warriors and passed for 215 yards.
Caleb Spencer, who started the season at quarterback before suffering a shoulder injury two weeks ago, started at receiver and caught 5 passes for 49 yards, scored on a 1-yard run and threw a 1-yard touchdown pass.
Kamehameha took the early lead by opening the game with a 15-play, 80-yard drive that took 7:52 off the clock, with Spencer scoring on a quarterback sneak on fourth-and-goal.
The Crusaders tied the game in the second quarter with a nine-play drive that included three conversions on third-and-long situations.
George hit Shawn Kauleinamoku for 19 yards on third-and-16 and found Shane Butcher for 17 yards on third-and-14. He finished the drive by connecting with Rivers for a 45-yard touchdown pass on third-and-13 and the teams went into halftime tied at 7.
Kamehameha regained the lead on its first drive of the second half, moving to the St. Louis 1 to set up Spencer's 1-yard scoring toss to Santos.
The point-after attempt was blocked by Fale and St. Louis responded with a scoring drive of its own to take the lead.
The Crusaders' drive was extended when Kamehameha was flagged for pass interference on a fourth-down play and St. Louis capitalized with Paepule's scoring run. Kaeo Adams drilled the extra point to give St. Louis its first lead at 14-13 with 2:19 left in the third quarter.
The quarter ended with controversy as St. Louis defensive lineman Tolifili Liufau was called for a personal foul after a hard hit on Akina. Liufau's argument drew an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. The result was the official moving the ball from the Kamehameha 45 to the St. Louis 25.
"We could have easily felt sorry for ourselves and broke our back with that 30-yard penalty," Tengan said. "But to our guys' credit they hung in there."
The St. Louis defense turned the Warriors away when Moss stripped Santos of the ball and Liufau recovered at the Crusaders' 25.
The Warriors got the ball back at midfield on an interception of a Stanley Nihipali pass and drove to the St. Louis 10. On third-and-two, Wilson Afoa dropped Travis Beyer for a 5-yard loss and Smith's field goal sailed wide to force a third meeting between the teams.
"I'm very proud of our kids, they played their hearts out," Souza said. "There was nothing left out there and I'm proud of them for it. We just made some mistakes and when you play a caliber of team like this you can't make mistakes."
At Aloha Stadium
Kamehameha (6-1, 10-1) 7 0 6 0 -- 13
St. Louis (6-1, 7-2) 0 7 7 0 -- 14
Kam -- Caleb Spencer 1 run (Kepa Gaison kick)
StL -- Jason Rivers 45 pass from Bobby George (Kaeo Adams kick)
Kam -- Kahe Santos 1 pass from Spencer (kick failed)
StL -- Timo Paepule 1 run (Adams kick)Pac-Five 45, Damien 6: In his three years on the Pac-Five varsity, Ryan Leong did a little bit of everything.
Yesterday at Aloha Stadium, the 5-foot-5, 138-pound senior spark plug did a lot of scoring.
Leong rushed for three first-half touchdowns, leading the Wolfpack to a season-ending victory over Damien.
Pac-Five finished 2-7 overall and 2-5 in the ILH, with both victories against the Monarchs.
Damien, which began the season with a 42-15 nonconference win against Kaimuki, was unable to come up with an ILH victory this season. The Monarchs finished 1-7 and 0-7 in the league.
Leong started at quarterback because McShane Dator left last week's loss against Iolani early with a sprained ankle. Leong directed Pac-Five's option attack, carrying 14 times for 49 yards. He threw one incomplete pass.
In his three years as a Pac-Five starter, Leong has played wide receiver, slotback, running back, quarterback, cornerback and safety. He also punted; last night he got off a punt despite the ball being snapped over his head.
"He's just an all-purpose guy, he did whatever we asked of him and did it well," said longtime Pac-Five coach Don Botelho.
Leong's rushing TDs of 2, 1 and 3 yards staked Pac-Five to a 21-6 lead. The Monarchs' only score came on a 1-yard run by Ranson DeCosta.
Dator entered the game in the second quarter and immediately threw a 23-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Urabe.
Later, with time running down in the half, Leong made a difficult catch of a Dator pass for a 21-yard reception. That set up a 32-yard field goal by Darci Hata with 52 seconds left before the break, and the Wolf Pack led 31-6.
It was Hata's second career field goal; she kicked a 27-yarder against St. Louis last year.
Hata also kicked a 35-yard extra point early in the third quarter. Pac-Five's Dave Stewart returned a fumble 23 yards for a score; his dive into the end zone resulted in a sportsmanship penalty and the challenging point-after kick.
Dator's 9-yard run with 33 seconds left in the third quarter completed the scoring. The rest of the game was played with a running clock.
At Aloha Stadium
Pac-Five (2-5, 2-7) 14 17 14 0 -- 45 Damien (0-7, 1-7) 0 6 0 0 -- 6 Pac -- Ryan Leong 2 run (Darci Hata kick)
Pac -- Leong 1 run (Hata kick)
Dam -- Ranson DeCosta 1 run (kick failed)
Pac -- Leong 3 run (Hata kick)
Pac -- Ryan Urabe 23 pass from McShane Dator (Hata kick)
Pac -- FG Hata 32
Pac -- Dave Stewart 23 fumble return (Hata kick)
Pac -- Dator 9 run (Hata kick)RUSHING -- Pac-Five: Leong 14-49, Shane Lawrence 5-34, Stewart 9-58, Andrew Rutherford 4-8, Dennis Moku Pililaloha 1-0, Dator 5-24, Urabe 1-9. Damien: Cory Mullen 5-26, DeCosta 5-17, Fehi Sevelo 7-49, Fuavaa Faualo 3-(-3), Tevita Williams 4-10, Zachary Shimizu 1-(-11), Brandon Baguio 1-6, Team 1-(-28).
PASSING -- Pac-Five: Dator 6-13-1-109, Leong 0-1-0-0, Patrick Smith 0-1-0-0. Damien: Williams 2-14-3-14, DeCosta 1-4-0-4, Shimizu 1-3-0-34.
RECEIVING -- Pac-Five: Urabe 2-54, Leong 2-43, Cody Walker 1-5, Travis Tyler 1-7. Damien: Micah Komine 3-49, Christopher Gaylord 1-3.
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