B.J. Batts rushed for 131 yards and one touchdown on 23 carries and Keali'i Perbera threw two TD passes as Saint Louis fended off upset-minded Punahou, 22-6, in an Interscholastic League of Honolulu game at Aloha Stadium.

The Crusaders, ranked No. 3 in The Advertiser's Top 10 statewide poll of media and coaches, improved to 2-1 overall and 1-1 in the ILH. Their other victory was a 34-12 nonleague win over Kaiser on Aug. 22. Saint Louis lost to Kamehameha, 16-13, in its ILH opener two weeks ago.

Last night, Punahou (2-3, 0-2) stretched the Crusaders defense with 272 passing yards. But Saint Louis tightened the screws when it needed to, coming up with a safety, two interceptions and one fumble recovery.

"You just gotta know when to nail down," Crusaders coach Darnell Arceneaux said. "Punahou is a great team and they gave us a really good game, but that's how it's going to be every week in the ILH. Fortunately, our guys came up with the big plays when they had to."

The first big play came 33 seconds into the game, when defensive lineman Arthur Tupuola sacked Buffanblu quarterback John Morris in the end zone for a safety. It was the first of six sacks for Saint Louis.

The Crusaders made it 8-0 on the first play of the second quarter on Perbera's 4-yard touchdown pass to Desmond Hanohano. The point-after attempt failed.

Punahou closed to 8-6 with 7:47 remaining in the half on Morris' 74-yard touchdown pass to Cameron Grace on a post pattern, but the two-point conversion pass failed.

Saint Louis made it 15-6 with 1:29 left in the half on Perbera's 23-yard TD pass to Shaun Kauleinamoku. Batts' 6-yard touchdown run with 1:37 left in the third quarter made it 22-6.

The Buffanblu, meanwhile, moved the ball effectively as Morris completed 25 of 37 passes for 272 yards. But after Grace's touchdown, they never made it past Saint Louis' 22-yard line.

Led by an intimidating defensive front featuring Tupuola, Tavita Thompson (two sacks), Fale Laeli and Tyrone Alualu, the Crusaders were credited with 13 hurries on Morris and 10 knockdowns.

"Saint Louis is a great defensive team, keeping up their tradition, and we couldn't get the key first downs when we needed to," Punahou coach Kale Ane said. "It's frustrating, because we're so close sometimes, but we just can't get over that hump."

• Punahou (2-3, 0-2) 0 6 0 0— 6
• Saint Louis (2-1, 1-1) 2 13 7 0—22

St.L—Safety, John Morris tackled in end zone
St.L—Desmond Hanohano 4 pass from Keali'i Perbera (kick failed)
Pun—Cameron Grace 74 pass from Morris (pass failed)
St.L—Shaun Kauleinamoku 23 pass from Perbera (C.J. Santiago kick)
St.L—B.J. Batts 6 run (Santiago kick)

RUSHING—Punahou: Morris 6-(minus-39); Micah Strickland 10-41. Saint Louis: Batts 23-131; Lechman Fiaseu 3-7; Stanley Nihipali 2-(minus-5); Cody Wells 3-(minus-1); Wyatt Williams 2-7.

PASSING—Punahou: Morris 25-37-2—272; Saint Louis: Perbera 9-19-0—137; Nihipali 0-6-0—0.

RECEIVING—Punahou: Grace 6-120; Chris Shiramizu 2-30; Koa Duncan 8-37; Reyn Wicklund 2-18; Strickland 7-67. Saint Louis: Kauleinamoku 6-79; Hanohano 3-58.

• Iolani 21, Damien 6: Sophomore quarterback Kiran Kepo'o, making his first ILH start, completed 10 of 23 passes without an interception for 188 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Raiders (4-2 overall, 2-0 ILH) past the Monarchs (1-2, 1-1) at Aloha Stadium.

Kepo'o, a 6-foot, 200-pound left-hander, completed a 63-yard touchdown pass to sophomore Kekai Kealoha to put Iolani up 6-0 with 8:39 left in the first quarter.

Kepo'o added a 28-yard scoring pass to Paul Bennett with 6:43 left in the half, and Mike Hirokawa's two-point conversion run made it 14-0.

Kepo'o connected with Kealoha on another touchdown pass three minutes into the third quarter, this time from 25 yards out.

Damien scored on the game's final play from scrimmage, on Tevita Williams' 3-yard touchdown pass to Elwin Gapuz.

Iolani running back Raynold Stowers, the 2002 ILH rushing leader, sat out his second straight game with an injured shoulder. The Raiders were held to 39 yards rushing.

• Iolani (2-0) 6 8 7 0—21
• Damien (1-1) 0 0 0 6— 6

IOL—Kekai Kealoha 63 pass from Kiran Kepo'o (kick blocked)
IOL—Paul Bennett 28 pass from Kepo'o (Mike Hirokawa run)
IOL—Kealoha 25 pass from Kepo'o (Nicholas Wong kick)
DAMI—Elwin Gapuz 3 pass from Tevita Williams (kick blocked)

RUSHING—Iolani: Hirokawa 13-32, Kepo'o 9-(minus 1), Peter Heimerdinger 7-8. Damien: Va'a Faualo 6-7, Ranson DeCosta 12-54, Williams 11-46.

PASSING—Iolani: Kepo'o 10-23-0—188. Damien: Williams 17-37-1—154.

RECEIVING—Iolani: Karl Motoyama 2-21, Kealoha 2-88, Travis Nishioka 1-20, Bennett 2-37, Kai Iwasaki 1-2, Blayne Yama 2-20. Damien: Faualo 2-18, Gapuz 4-24, DeCosta 4-46, David Tuiasasopo 1-13, Andrew Canoy 4-44, Landen Dela Cruz 2-9.