Saints look to continue march
By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writer
Although their records indicate teams heading in opposite directions, when Interscholastic League of Honolulu powers Saint Louis and Punahou meet, you can toss out wins and losses.
The top-ranked Crusaders (4-0 overall, 2-0 ILH) will meet the No. 8 Buffanblu (1-3, 1-1) at 7:45 tonight at Aloha Stadium in the feature game of a doubleheader.
The Crusaders have been marching long behind Jeremy Higgins, the only quarterback in the state with a plus-200 passing efficiency rating (220.3) and double-digit average in yards per attempt (11.2.).
Meanwhile, the struggling Buffanblu have been trying to develop a rhythm between QBs Kaiana Eldredge and Liloa Travis. Both are expected to see action in this game, Punahou coach Kale Ane said.
"We as a staff are looking to maximize what their strengths are," Ane said. "One's more mobile (Eldredge) than the other one (Travis), which is surprising because Liloa gets out of the pressure as well. He's surprised us with that, so we'll be using both of them."
Saint Louis coach John Hao, a former Crusaders and University of Hawai'i QB, said Eldredge and Travis are talented and just need a little more protection.
"Any good quarterback without the o-linemen is not going to be playing to his full potential," Hao said. "He's more or less going to be on the run and when the quarterback's on the run, the offensive scheming has to be changed."
Moreover for Punahou's offense, it will face yet another defense with good closing speed.
In ILH Division II, a potential high-scoring affair could happen tomorrow when No. 10 Pac-Five plays No. 9 'Iolani, 7 p.m. at Kamehameha. Quarterbacks P.J. Minaya of Pac-Five and Jarrett Arakawa of 'Iolani have more than 2,300 yards and 35 TD passes between them.
In the O'ahu Interscholastic Association Red West tonight, Campbell (2-3, 1-2) will need to generate more offense than it has the past two weeks at No. 7 Leilehua (2-2, 1-1).
The Sabers have scored one offensive TD in their last two games, while the Mules are coming off their best defensive game in a 10-6 win against Kapolei last week.
Campbell has UH-bound Samson Anguay, an all-purpose player who catches passes as well as runs, while the Mules are armed with reigning Offensive Co-Player of the Year in QB Andrew Manley.
The Mules, Division I state runner-up, have been laboring offensively, scoring an average of 16 points in league play.
In another potentially evenly matched game, Kapolei (2-3, 1-2) visits Waipahu (3-2, 1-2) in an OC16-televised event, 7:30 tonight.
In the OIA White, 'Aiea (4-1, 3-1) visits Kaiser (2-2, 2-1) tonight and Radford (2-2, 2-1) meets Kalaheo (3-2, 2-2) tomorrow at Kailua High.
First-place Moanalua (4-1, 4-0) plays Kalani at 5 p.m. today. There is no JV game, as Kalani has forfeited, the league announced.