WAILUKU » Saint Louis showcased its high-powered offense Saturday on the Valley Isle to easily post a 55-0 rout of Baldwin at War Memorial Stadium.
A crowd of about 1,200, including a strong contingent of Crusaders supporters wearing red and blue, watched as junior quarterback Ryder Kuhns completed nine of 10 pass attempts for 206 yards and three touchdowns in two quarters of work.
The 6-foot-1, 225-pound right-hander connected with senior wide receiver Devan Stubblefield five times, including touchdowns of 36, 32 and 22 yards. All three scores came in the first half, when the Crusaders built a 41-0 halftime lead.
"I thought the boys gave a good effort," said Saint Louis coach Matt Wright. "We asked them to go out there and execute every play and I thought they did a good job of doing that.
"We are far from where we need to be and we have a tough opponent in Kahuku coming up (Saturday). But I thought for the first time coming out in a real game, I thought the boys executed well enough."
Saint Louis finished with 503 yards in total offense, 393 coming in the first half with Kuhns at the controls.
"We have some weapons on offense and I think we are still developing into the system. But we saw the potential the offense has when we execute the way that we need to and the way that we know we can. We need to be more consistent with it and at the same time we want to try and utilize all of our weapons.
"I thought we did a good job of blending the run with the pass tonight, and when the big play was there we took it.
Stubbs (Stubblefield) had a great game and Ryder was Ryder — calm, cool and collected and delivered even when he had to step into the pocket."
Said Baldwin coach Keneke Pacheco: "They never gave up and that’s what we wanted. We wanted them to come out here and play football and keep working hard.
"We certainly expected them to throw the ball — that’s St. Louis. They played well, you have to give them credit. For us, it’s a good measuring stick. If we are going to compete with the best in the state that’s the point we have to get to. So we have a long road ahead of us, you can see that."
Defensively, the Crusaders were led by end Peter Sagapolutele and linebacker Luiu Faafatai. Baldwin was held to 129 yards in total offense, crossing midfield just twice in the game. The Bears’ best drive came on their second possession, traveling 77 yards on 12 plays, before ending on a missed 29-yard field-goal attempt with 5 minutes, 36 seconds to play in the first quarter.
"We have a great group of seniors. The veterans stepped up and our young guys were able to get a few notches in their belt and we got them on game film. So now we have to go back because we have Kahuku," Wright said.
At War Memorial Stadium
Saint Louis (1-0) 28 13 7 7 — 55
Baldwin (0-1) 0 0 0 0 — 0
StL—Devan Stubblefield 36 pass from Ryder Kuhns (Matthew Mariota kick).
StL—Stubblefield 32 pass from Kuhns (Mariota kick).
StL—Jordan Eugenio 49 pass from Kuhns (Mariota kick).
StL—Jaisen Sanchez 30 interception (Mariota kick).
StL—Adam Noga 3 run (kick failed).
StL—Stubblefield 22 pass from Colton Nascimento (Mariota kick).
StL—Javin Spears 11 pass from Nascimento (Chris Quinn kick).
StL—Raymond Caayon 46 run (Quinn kick).
Full statistics not reported.