Two weeks of preparation produced an efficient 24-minute onslaught that propelled Saint Louis to its third straight ILH title.
After spending a bye week engrossed in film study, Crusaders quarterback Chevan Cordeiro completed 18 of 25 passes for 267 yards and four touchdowns — all in the first half — and top-ranked Saint Louis rolled to a 38-2 win over No. 4 Kamehameha on Saturday at Aloha Stadium.
“Because of that long span that you have, you don’t know what’s going to come out in two weeks,” Saint Louis coach Cal Lee said following the Crusaders’ third win over the Warriors this season. “But I give (the players) a lot of credit … because we had great practices.
“They understand that even though you played them twice … anything can happen. So they practiced really hard and it showed tonight.”
With one goal secured, the Crusaders (8-0) can reset their focus toward defending their state tournament Open Division title after clinching the ILH’s berth in the four-team bracket and will have three weeks to prepare for their semifinal matchup on Nov. 10 at Aloha Stadium.
Kahuku and Mililani wrapped up berths with OIA Division I semifinal wins on Friday. Waianae and Campbell will play for the final spot in the OIA third-place game on Nov. 4.
“Our mind-set is to get to where we were last year and we just have to come in next week and work hard,” Saint Louis linebacker Noa Purcell said after the Crusaders kept the Kamehameha offense out of the end zone.
Kamehameha needed a win in Saturday’s ILH second-round finale to force a rematch with Saint Louis for the overall league title this week. But the Warriors managed 64 yards of total offense in the first half to Saint Louis’ 315 and ended their season at 4-5.
“It hurts. It’s been a long ride and hat’s off to Saint Louis. They came to play and we just didn’t execute,” Kamehameha quarterback Thomas Yam said after his final high school game.
“We accomplished a lot this season and we felt we built a strong foundation for the team. Throughout the year, we came together and played as a team.”
The Warriors gave Saint Louis its toughest test of the regular season in a 23-12 loss to the Crusaders on Sept. 29. But Saint Louis set the tone early on Saturday when Lawai’alani Brown blocked a punt on Kamehameha’s opening drive to set the Crusaders up at the Kamehameha 29.
Cordeiro capped a four-play drive with a 6-yard touchdown pass to Mitchell Quinn to open the scoring.
“We were hungry,” Cordeiro said. “We were watching film this whole time and we wanted to step on the field and play.”
Cordeiro’s next attempt was intercepted, but he got back on track quickly and threw TD passes to Roman Wilson, Quinn (a 46-yarder on third-and-16) and Koali Nishigaya to send Saint Louis into halftime with a 31-0 lead.
Kamehameha broke up the shutout on the second play of the third quarter when Hoku Arias and Kalawaia Pescaia combined to sack backup quarterback Maika Bonner in the end zone for a safety.
The Warriors offense drove inside the Saint Louis 5 twice in in the second half but was turned away each time. Bonner recovered to complete all seven of his attempts for 108 yards and a touchdown.
