St. Louis' march back to No. 1 is complete

By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writer

St. Louis' B.J. Batts runs past Castle's Mana Sasaki during the second quarter. Batts scored three touchdowns for the Crusaders. Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

St. Louis School, the most successful program in the past two decades, took two years of frustration out on Castle with a 34-15 win to capture the fourth Chevron State Football Championships final last night.

"It makes you appreciate how hard it is to win a championship," St. Louis coach Delbert Tengan said. "The last three years showed St. Louis followers that it's not a given that St. Louis is going to win a championship."

The top-ranked Crusaders (11-2) extended their winning streak to nine after losing back-to-back games to De La Salle, the nation's top prep team, and No. 2-ranked Kamehameha, before an Aloha Stadium crowd of 10,935.

"It tested our character," Tengan said of the early season struggle. "Through the credit of our coaching staff, our players and support staff, we hung in there. It's been nine long, grueling games to get to this point. I'm happy for the accomplishments that these young men did."

The game was called with 43 seconds showing on the clock by referee Doug Awana. Players on both sides rushed the field after Castle middle linebacker Cory Daniel mis-timed a blitz and crashed into St. Louis' line, setting off a scuffle. Since both benches emptied onto the field, "by rule, everybody was ejected," Awana said.

"It was an off-time blitz," Daniel said. "My timing was off."

But cooler heads prevailed and both sides shook hands after a cooling-off period with no incident.

St. Louis' defense was the dominant factor, holding Castle to 210 yards and no touchdowns by the offense. Three field goals by Ethan Gonsalves (25, 36 and 32 yards) and a 23-yard blocked punt return by Ernesto Lopez accounted for Castle's scoring.

St. Louis' defensive line and linebackers put pressure on Castle quarterback Jacob Ramos, sacking him three times and intercepting him three times.

"That front seven is very imposing," Castle coach Nelson Maeda said.

"Everybody contributed," said St. Louis cornerback Jonah Lakatani, who had two interceptions and defended three passes. "I couldn't make those plays without the D-line pressuring."

But it was all-purpose player B.J. Batts who did the most damage. He had 73 yards on 11 carries, including TD runs of 1 yard and 10 yards. But his biggest blow was a tournament-record 99-yard kickoff return with 1:06 left in the second quarter after Castle closed to 14-6 on Gonsalves' second field goal of the game. The run back gave St. Louis a 20-6 lead entering the half.

"I just picked up the ball and ran," Batts said of the kickoff.

Castle opened the second half with Gonsalves' third field goal to close to 20-6, but the Crusaders drove 96 yards on 11 plays with fullback Justin Cabansag scoring on a 3-yard run to make it 27-9.

But Cabansag's biggest play probably came in the first half, when he picked up a blitz that allowed quarterback Bobby George to hit Shane Butcher on a 59-yard pass play that set up St. Louis' second touchdown.

"The middle backer timed the blitz and I told myself to get out of there," George said. "When I stepped out of the pocket, I saw (Cabansag) come out of nowhere and light him up."

After Lopez's blocked punt return made it 27-15, the Crusaders scored — after a fumble recovery at the Castle 24. — on a 10-yard run by Batts.

For George, who was the quarterback in the last two losses to Kahuku in the state final, this was his redemption.

"I feel like the luckiest guy in the world right now," George said. "Castle gave us a dog fight all game."

As for Castle (10-5), which had a seven-game winning streak snapped, it was the end of a storybook season for a team that started off 1-3.

"They surpassed all expectations," Maeda said. "Nobody expected Castle to be here."