It’s hard to come up with a better adjustment than the one No. 3 Punahou made on Thursday night.
Three weeks after allowing Saint Louis quarterback Tua Tagovailoa to account for nine touchdowns, the Buffanblu shut down Tagovailoa completely, holding the Alabama commit without a score in a 33-20 victory at Aloha Stadium.
Senior Nick Kapule threw for 308 yards and two touchdowns for the Buffanblu (5-1, 4-1 ILH), who moved into a first-place tie with Saint Louis (5-1, 4-1) with one league game remaining in the regular season.
Saint Louis plays Kamehameha at Aloha Stadium on Oct. 7 and Punahou hosts ‘Iolani that same day.
Tagovailoa was just 12-for-26 for 118 yards with two interceptions and a fumble lost just six days after setting a school record with 493 yards passing in a win over ‘Iolani.
“They’re a good team. I feel we just didn’t execute on our part,” Tagovailoa said. “They were well prepared as far as (going against) our passing. This is the best time for us to have a loss. We’ll be coming back the next game with a chip on our shoulder.”
Ryan Dominick had a sack, an interception and a fumble recovery, and Miki Suguturaga had two sacks, with one recording a safety to give Punahou a 16-0 lead in the first quarter.
The Buffanblu jumped out to a 13-0 lead after a quarter in their previous game against Saint Louis only to give up 64 points over the next three quarters.
Saint Louis couldn’t respond the same way in the rematch, accounting for only 235 total yards.
“The credit has to go to our defensive coordinator, Agenhart Ellis,” Dominick said. “In practice ever since our last game, we’e been working on breaking down and not losing contain. Our main goal was to do our assignment.”
Ronson Young rushed for two touchdowns in the third quarter, but the game was well in hand when backup quarterback Chevan Cordeiro scored on an 11-yard touchdown run on the final play of the game.
Punahou led 26-14 early in the fourth quarter when it faced a fourth-and-10 on the Saint Louis 44. The Buffanblu decided to go for it and converted with a 10-yard pass from Kapule to Keala Martinson that was spotted just ahead of the first-down marker after a measure.
Running back Enoch Nawahine capped off the drive with his second rushing touchdown of the game to put the Buffanblu ahead 33-14.
Punahou dominated the first half with 239 yards while holding Saint Louis to only 25.
“I just thought Punahou played well,” Saint Louis coach Cal Lee said. “Give them all the credit in the world because they did a nice job. We couldn’t stop them. They put pressure. They had good coverage in the back end and we’ve got a lot of work to do to get better.”
Tagovailoa doubled his interception total from the first five games with two, including a pick in the red zone to Dominick with seconds remaining before the break.
Punahou started hot, with touchdowns on its first two drives. Kapule, who set an ILH Division I record with 495 passing yards in the first meeting, capped off a nine-play, 80-yard drive to start with a 24-yard touchdown pass to Ethan Takeyama.
Takeyama, who had four touchdown receptions in the first meeting, had six receptions in the first half for 68 yards.
Kapule added a 12-yard touchdown pass to Martinson for a 14-0 lead and Nawahine plunged in from the 2-yard line on a run for a 23-0 lead.
Tagovailoa also was sacked twice in the first half, including once in the end zone for a 20-yard loss by Suguturaga that resulted in a safety.
“We had a lot of pressure coming on that play,” Suguturaga said.
Punahou ran 47 plays in the first half to Saint Louis’ 17 and controlled the ball for 18 out of 24 minutes.
The Crusaders were shut out in the first half with Tagovailoa at quarterback for the first time since he made his first start as a sophomore in a 55-7 loss to Punahou in 2014.
The loss by Saint Louis leaves Kapaa out of the KIF as the only undefeated team in the state.
