St. Louis holds off Punahou
By Wes Nakama
Advertiser Staff Writer
The St. Louis School football team began coach Cal Lee's final Interscholastic League of Honolulu season last night at Aloha Stadium with yet another victory, although it came in uncharacteristic fashion.
Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser
The Crusaders (3-0 overall) beat Punahou, 25-16, despite throwing four interceptions, losing two fumbles, having a punt blocked and missing three extra points. The Buffanblu (2-1) scored a touchdown with 45 seconds remaining on Kynan Pang's 48-yard interception return to close to within the final margin, but their two-point conversion pass attempt failed.
St. Louis receiver Kainoa Fernandez found lots of running room against Punahou, catching six passes for 196 yards.
St. Louis recovered the ensuing onside kick and ran out the clock.
"I'm proud of the kids, they battled all the way through the game," Punahou coach Kale Ane said. "We just came up a little short."
The Crusaders, ranked 25th in the nation by USA Today, appeared to be in championship form at the outset. St. Louis forced the Buffanblu into a three-and-out on their first possession, then scored on its first offensive play, an 85-yard catch-and-run from quarterback Bobby George to Kainoa Fernandez.
George and Fernandez connected again on a 20-yard touchdown pass on the final play of the first quarter to give the Crusaders a 12-0 lead.
George, a junior who split time as a starter last year with Kelika Higa, looked sharp in the first quarter. He completed 8 of 11 passes for 196 yards, without an interception.
But the tide started to turn early in the second quarter, when he threw an interception in the end zone from the Punahou 19 yard line. George completed only two of his next five passes in the half, for one yard, as the Buffanblu kept the score at 12-0 going into the locker room.
George threw two more interceptions in the second half, but guided St. Louis through a 10-play, 70-yard drive late in the third quarter to make it 19-0.
Punahou finally got on the scoreboard with 7:29 left in the game, after linebacker Kawika Fiddler's jarring hit forced George to fumble. Alex Fergus recover the ball and ran 42 yards for a touchdown. George, who was injured on the play and did not return, finished with 17 completions in 28 attempts for 269 yards.
The Crusaders answered with a 50-yard touchdown pass from Chris Sokugawa to Fernandez to make it
25-7 with 5:50 remaining. Punahou closed it to 25-10 three minutes later on Tamatoa Hackney's 27-yard field goal, but could not recover the ensuing onside kick.
Punahou (0-1) 0 0 0 0—16
St. Louis (1-0) 12 0 7 6—25
StL—Kainoa Fernandez 85 pass from Bobby George (kick failed).
StL—Fernandez 20 pass from George (kick failed).
StL—Ross Dickerson 23 run (Michael Houar kick).
Pun—Alex Fergus 42 fumble return (Tamatoa Hackney kick).
StL—Fernandez 50 pas from Chris Sokugawa (kick failed).
Pun—FG Hackney 27.
Pun—Pang 48 interception return (pass failed).
RUSHING—Punahou: LaFountaine 18-22, Hackney 5-33; St. Louis: Prince Brown 9-56, Justin Cabansag 52, Dickerson 1-29, B.J. Batts 5-15, Sokugawa 1-0.
PASSING—Punahou: LaFountaine 10-28-4--108; St. Louis: George 17-28-3--269, Sokugawa 1-2-1--50.
RECEIVING—Punahou: Jason Ching 6-46, Drew Monahan 3-56, Jason Sakata 1-6; St. Louis: Fernandez 6-192, Jason Rivers 6-62, Tito Sallas 4-50, Batts 1-8, Ross Dickerson 1-7.
• • •
• Iolani 48, Damien 16: Iolani scored on its first four possessions and also had a 39-yard fumble return for a score by Blake Wong en route to victory over Damien last night at Aloha Stadium.
The game was the Interscholastic League of Honolulu opener for both teams.
Iolani quarterback Kila Kaaihue completed 7 of 9 passes for 99 yards and three touchdowns, all in the first half. He also ran for one touchdown.
Raiders running back Teo Bennett added 100 yards rushing and one touchdown on 12 carries.
Damien was penalized nine times for 75 yards in the first half, as Iolani built a 34-0 lead.
Iolani (1-0) 21 13 14 0—48
Damien (0-1) 0 0 0 16—16
Iol—Teo Bennett 9 pass from Kila Kaaihue (Noah Myers kick)
Iol—Kaaihue 2 run (Myers kick)
Iol—Blake Wong 39 fumble return (Myers kick)
Iol—Robert Mageo 14 pass from Kaaihue (Myers kick)
Iol—Jay Marcoullier 33 pass from Kaaihue (kick failed)
Iol—Bennett 1 run (Myers kick)
Iol—Tony Suetsugu 25 pass from Mageo (Myers kick)
Dam—Micah Komine 10 pass from Ranson Decosta (Cory Mullen run)
Dam—Decosta 4 run (Christopher Gonzales pass from Decosta)
RUSHING—Iol: Bennett 12-100, Wong 6-47, Peter Heimerdinger 10-26, Mageo 1-8, Kaaihue 1-(-6); Dam: Decosta 14-101, Mullen 8-19, Fehi Sevelo 1-8, Michael Lau 1-4, Andrew Canoy 2-(-7).
PASSING—Iol: Kaaihue 7-9-0—99, Mageo 3-4-0—46; Dam: Decosta 9-19-0—103.
RECEIVING—Iol: Marcoullier 3-39, Royce Yokono 2-37, Ryan Hamaguchi 1-25, Ikaika Goo 2-21, Mageo 1-14, Bennett 1-9; Dam: Lau 3-66, Komine 2-17, Canoy 2-10, Gonzales 2-10.
