From start to finish, nobody was better.
The preseason unanimous No. 1-ranked Saint Louis Crusaders never budged from their top-dog status, running the table for the second consecutive year with a 38-17 win over Mililani on Saturday night to complete the First Hawaiian Bank/HHSAA Football State Championships at Aloha Stadium.
Senior Korvin Feagins intercepted three passes and Saint Louis (11-0) sacked Mililani quarterback Dillon Gabriel nine times to close out a third consecutive Open Division state championship.
The Crusaders are the first school to win three consecutive state titles in the top-tier division since the tournament format began in 1999 and have won all three Open titles since the third division was created in 2016.
Win No. 284 in his 26th season as Saint Louis head coach brought Cal Lee his fourth state championship to go along with his 14 Prep Bowl titles.
“This feels like the first one. I don’t think we keep count,” Lee said. “I don’t know how many people count it. I’m not.”
Saint Louis’ 26-game winning streak overall matches Kahuku’s run from 2000 to ’02 as the third-longest streak in state history behind two previous Lee squads.
The Crusaders won 55 games in a row from 1985 to 1990 and 31 straight from ’95 to ’97.
“It’s not easy,” Lee said. “Give the credit to all of the coaches and the players. They’re the ones who did everything. I was lucky to be here.”
Saint Louis’ junior linebacker duo of Nate Herbig and Jordan Botelho dominated from the outset and both found the end zone in a 24-point third quarter to put the game away.
Herbig, who had four sacks, scooped up a punt blocked by Kila Kamakawiwo‘ole and returned it the short distance for a touchdown for a 24-3 advantage after Saint Louis led 14-3 at the break.
Saint Louis held a commanding 31-3 lead when Gabriel scored on a 1-yard run to make it 31-10.
Trojans sophomore Fatu Iosefa intercepted a Jayden de Laura pass and Mililani was in the red zone when a heavy rush caused Gabriel to drop the ball behind him.
Botelho was right there to scoop it up and he ran untouched 74 yard the other way for the back-breaking touchdown.
“Nick. He’s great. He’s a baller. Me and him, I don’t know. It’s something special. That’s my boy and I love him. Just greatness,” said Botelho, who had 2 1/2 sacks. “I saw the ball bounce and it just hopped in my hands. I didn’t know. It’s just a blessing.”
Feagins had 10 tackles in addition to the three picks and Timothy Timoteo added two sacks.
notes locked himself in his room, hid under his bunk bed and wept after the great Saint Louis win. He then played his Justin Bieber CD to help ease the pain while salty tears ran down his cheeks. Spooning with his Big Red T-shirt did not bring him comfort. Thanks.
LOL you funny, yeah, education first aka mr punahou aka HiLifer aka whatever other user names you have. we know that the only kahuku haters here is you and your army of user names. FACT: St Louis recruits. FACT: St Louis used 19 year old players and will bend the rules whenver they feel like. FACT: St Louis doesn’t win championships, they buy them. FACT: st louis should win every championship. the fact they don’t shows you how overrated cal is as a coach
Wow @notes….. breathe just breathe….in with the good air, out with the bad air…. say it with me….. Saint Louis are the State Champions….. you angry because Saint Louis DID NOT recruit you? Coach Cal did not answer your letter?? What’s up with the hate?….jealousy is not a good look… Saint Louis deserves the bragging rights… they earned it
FACT: most kids at St. Louis are on financial aid to some degree. Your argument holds no water. Whether the gets aid to play football or play in the band it’s still better than the education he’d get from the DOE. That’s a FACT!
Please Stop Hating !! Life is too short.
GOOD JOB CRUSADERS!!!!
Crusader Strong🤙🏽🤙🏽🤙🏽G2G
sour” notes…your jealousy and salty tears make us happy. You peons of life are funny.
RRFL….that term sounds like a prison sentence.
Thanks.
notes….couldn’t under your blabbering through all your weeping. Try again, whiner.
Fact kahuku fans didnt show up for the game against st.louis.. fact kahuku fans only show up when winning..as a member of the kahuku community I know this to be true
education first aka mr punahou aka fake notes aka HiLife aka Hawaii born: stop lying. how many user names do you need to hate on kahuku? i’m standing up for the not as privileged and you just pretend to be from kahuku to hate on us. sad!
As a football factory, StL. Is known. As a renown education institution, what is their national ranking? So please don’t say “education is better” then DOE. I know many Stl. alum in police, sheriffs,prison guard,stevedore, fire HECO, cable guy etc. Some even serving federal time.
3 TIME STATE CHAMPIONS FOR THE LAST THREE YEARS , PRETTY DAMN AWESOME, LIKE WINNING 14 PREP BOWLS, TOUGH TO BEAT, ENOUGH SAID.
post #2 #9 is educationfirst aka mr punahou, he is imitating my name “notes” cause he is bipolar.
Im a proud RR4L and rep kahuku bigred all day! Congrats stl and mills on a great season.
educationfirst u making punahou look bad, you already went tuck ur tail and run lastyear when 88 called u out for lunch…hahahaha! why are u back posting?
Crusaders are having their way with these OIA JV teams – Saints are unstoppable as long as Cal Lee is head coach. Bye! Bye! OIA!
education first aka mr punahou aka fake “notes” aka ILH, buying a championship is different than winning one
Notes, how much hate can you dish? It must give you a great sense of achievement, fulfillment and absolutely happiness to reveal to the world your have for the kids that work their asses off to accomplish what they did. You should be very proud of yourself.
Haters always gonna hate when they not winning! No matter what school you from it should not matter. These young men played their hearts out winning or losing. Many kids get college opportunities from schools like St. Louis, Kahuku, Punahou, Miliani and so on. We should be grateful that OUR local kids have this opportunity. So many other kids get this opportunity because of the players who came before them. Today, we got kids at Alabama, LSU, UCF, Washington, Oregon, Stanford, Notre Dame and the list goes on. It wasn’t like this 20 years ago. All of these schools put OUR kids on the map. So stop being immature adults and be grateful for the opportunities OUR local kids are getting. Great job St. Louis on the 3 peat and bringing national attention for other great players from OUR great state!
How many of those that dont smell the field would be a starter elsewhere??
I know that sometimes its about just being a part of something, in this case, a 3peat state champion.
But as a parent, what do you do when you know you kid is good but just not good enough to start at st. louis?
Benchwarmer State Champ or Starter contributor at another school?
Notes is a bandwagon guy who never played the sport and is a great spectator eating popcorn and hotdogs in the stands with his chearleading palm palms. He must paint his fingernails red too lol. Kahuku is good , dont get me wrong, but they not that good. You expect them to win everygame and win every championship lol. You forget where you come from. Saint Louis is still the rulers of state championships and kahuku is not even close to accomplishing that yet lol. Go back under the bed with your red shirt and bring a dry towel for those tears.
@ILH,
Each kid and their parents have their own reasons for being there at Saint Louis. I cannot speak for them. For me, my son was a benchwarmer. I know he’s good enough to start somewhere else. But he started at Saint Louis from seventh grade. His first football game ever was in the intermediate. He had to catch up to the rest of the kids that have played from a younger age. He hardly played in his first year but he developed well and started the following year. He played one year in JV then took last year off to focus on his golf then decided to play football his senior year and ended up being a benchwarmer. He was fine with it. I wasn’t but it wasn’t my decision to make. As a matter of fact I told him, if it was me, I would’ve quit after two or three games of not playing lol. He told me, this is my school and I enjoy being with my team mates and the brotherhood. I give him credit for that. As a parent, that spoke volume of his character than anything else. I’m proud of his perseverance and the pride he has for his school. To me sports is a great vehicle but it’s not everything. My sons primary sport is golf but it is secondary to education. He is 17 and graduating this May.
As I said each parent have their own reasons for having their kid their. Whether they are football stars or not.
@ILH,
Each kid and their parents have their own reasons for being there at Saint Louis. I cannot speak for them. For me, my son was a benchwarmer. I know he’s good enough to start somewhere else. But he started at Saint Louis from seventh grade. His first football game ever was in the intermediate. He had to catch up to the rest of the kids that have played from a younger age. He hardly played in his first year but he developed well and started the following year. He played one year in JV then took last year off to focus on his golf then decided to play football his senior year and ended up being a benchwarmer. He was fine with it. I wasn’t but it wasn’t my decision to make. As a matter of fact I told him, if it was me, I would’ve quit after two or three games of not playing lol. He told me, this is my school and I enjoy being with my team mates and the brotherhood. I give him credit for that. As a parent, that spoke volume of his character than anything else. I’m proud of his perseverance and the pride he has for his school. To me sports is a great vehicle but it’s not everything. My sons primary sport is golf but it is secondary to education. He is 17 and graduating this May.
As I said each parent have their own reasons for having their kid their. Whether they are football stars or not.