Tua Tagovailoa had completed his climb up the passing charts.
He all but secured the last accolade missing from his high school résumé with his last dash.
The Saint Louis quarterback walked off the field at Aloha Stadium for the final time Saturday night as the state’s all-time leader in passing yards and, more significantly, as a state champion.
“Beating the record was all right. I just wanted a state title. Thank God that we got to do both,” Tagovailoa said.
As he spoke, Tagovailoa clutched the state championship trophy in the left hand that completed 16 of 25 passes for 243 yards and a touchdown in the Crusaders’ 30-14 win over Kahuku in the inaugural Open Division final of the First Hawaiian Bank/HHSAA Football State Championships.
The trophy eluded the Crusaders his previous two varsity seasons, with Saint Louis falling short of a state tournament berth his sophomore season and losing to Kahuku in the Division I state final a year ago, when the Red Raiders intercepted him three times in a 39-14 win.
In the rematch against the vaunted Red Raiders defense, Tagovailoa accounted for 379 yards in total offense in Saint Louis’ first state title since 2010 and the first in legendary coach Cal Lee’s third stint as the Crusaders’ head coach.
He complemented his passing numbers with 136 on the ground and a fourth-quarter rushing touchdown.
“After last year he felt we had to do something and he did everything he had to do to get to where we are today,” Lee said.
Tagovailoa arrived at Aloha Stadium 86 yards short of the state passing record held by former Crusaders great Timmy Chang, who threw for 8,001 yards in 41 games from 1997 to ’99.
Tagovailoa passed Chang on his eighth attempt and sixth completion of the night, a 52-yard strike to Jonah Panoke for a touchdown that gave the Crusaders a 13-7 lead.
He closed his career with 8,158 passing yards while completing 66 percent of his attempts. He also rushed for 1,727 yards and finished with 111 total touchdowns (84 passing, 27 rushing).
“I’d just like to say congratulations to Tua, the Saint Louis Crusaders, the Crusader brotherhood and to his family,” Chang said last week. “I’m very very proud of him and humbled by him. And to Tua, keep up the good work.”
The teams traded the lead twice more and Saint Louis faced fourth-and-1 at its 29 with 6:16 left while protecting a 16-14 lead. Lee called a timeout and decided to keep the ball in his quarterback’s hands.
“Sometimes you go with your gut feeling and I said, ‘Let’s go for it,’” Lee said.
Tagovailoa walked up to the line of scrimmage and took the snap. With the play designed to go up the middle, he bounced it outside and outran the Red Raiders for a 28-yard gain.
“(Lee) said, “If you guys can do it, let’s do it,’ ’’ Tagovailoa said. “He trusted us and he believed that we could do it.”
Three plays later, the Crusaders called a quarterback draw and the nation’s top-rated dual-threat quarterback bolted up the middle for a 30-yard touchdown with three words running through his mind — “Seal the deal.”
That he did and punctuated his legacy in Crusaders lore.
“All the accolades that he has or will receive, it’s well deserved, there’s no question,” Lee said. “He is right now on top of his game and on top of the state as far as football is concerned.”
