Saint Louis slows Minaya
POSTED: Sunday, September 06, 2009
The Wolfpack's upset bid—a 10-point lead in the first quarter—had no resistance to Saint Louis' potent offense.
The Crusaders scored six consecutive touchdowns en route to the lopsided 62-24 win over previously unbeaten Pac-Five.
Jeremy Higgins passed for 304 yards and five touchdowns without a pick for Saint Louis (4-0, 1-0 Interscholastic League of Honolulu). The senior southpaw completed 22 of his 29 attempts, and three of those incompletions were drops.
Higgins outdueled one of the state's hottest slingers, Pac-Five's P.J. Minaya, who passed for 196 yards and was picked off three times by a swarming Crusaders defense.
One of his favorite targets, London Amorin, had eight catches for 131 yards. The other favorite, Darin Kamealoha, did not play due to injury.
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“;Playing the No. 1 team, we can learn from our mistakes,”; said Amorin, who was limited to two catches in the second half. “;Their defensive line was a major factor.”;
Vonn Feao's 9-yard burst into the end zone had given the Saints their first lead of the game. The touchdown capped an 11-play, 68-yard drive and gave Saint Louis a 21-17 lead with 10 seconds left in the first quarter.
Higgins later connected with Kaeo Aliviado for a 30-yard scoring play, and after an interception by Saint Louis safety Zach Kawamoto, the Crusaders scored again just before intermission.
Higgins found Shaun Ahlo on a fourth-and-5 pass, but Ahlo was short of the first down and scrambled from the left side of the hashmarks all the way to the other sideline en route to a 17-yard touchdown play.
After a Caleb Yuen interception—Minaya's third—Aliviado hauled in a 39-yard touchdown pass from Higgins with 4 seconds left in the half.
Pac-Five zoomed to a 10-0 lead on Minaya's 6-yard pass to Everett Kim on the Wolfpack's opening drive.
A fumble by Saint Louis running back Sean Valente was recovered at the Saints 33-yard line by Kaimi Kanehailua. That led to a 33-yard field goal by Brendan Sagucio with less than 6 minutes left in the opening quarter.
By then, 18 of the first 21 plays had been snapped by Pac-Five, but the tide turned as Saint Louis' defense found ways to frazzle Minaya, a nifty scrambler.