Cal Lee was in good spirits after Saint Louis’ 38-2 win over Kamehameha on Saturday night at Aloha Stadium.
Facing elimination from ILH title contention and state-tourney qualification, Kamehameha was resilient in the trenches. Saint Louis didn’t give up a point, stopping the Warriors in the red zone multiple times. Lee was unusually proud of the defensive teamwork.
“The kids can rest, get rejuvenated, get excited to come back and play in the state tournament. That’s a goal you shoot for,” Lee said of his defending state champions. “I don’t what’s going to happen in the next two weeks, but we had great practices. They practiced really hard and it showed tonight. You work toward winning the ILH championship and the gift is the state tournament. It’s a credit to their hard work and they deserve everything they get from this point on.”
The only glaring issue?
“Penalties. Talk to me about it. We’ve got to cut the penalties, stupid penalties,” Lee said. “I can’t wait to, not punish, but make the corrections. We’re not here to make penalties.”
The secondary of Saint Louis kept a lid on Kamehameha’s receiving crew. Safety Isaiah Tufaga came up with a late-game interception on a play-action pass by Thomas Yam.
“The game plan all week was to play man, lock down our receivers and have our front seven pressure the quarterback and force him to make bad decisions,” Tufaga said. “All their momentum came off our penalties. That’s our fault. That’s something we have to fix. Nothing wrong with our coverages, but we were killing ourselves with penalties.”
The Crusaders’ front seven was stellar even as standout defensive tackle Faatui Tuitele played with a wrap on his left arm.
“Guys stepped up. It’s a credit to them when someone is out. Mikey Malepeai, Gino Quinones, Isaiah. Sam Scott, he looks like a halfback, but he’s a defensive lineman,” Lee said.
There is, as Lee often says, work to be done.
“We didn’t play a perfect game, but that’s what we tried to do. We had some holding, but we’ll try to cut that out,” he said. “We’re looking for that perfect game.”
“Penalties. Talk to me about it. We’ve got to cut the penalties, stupid penalties,” Lee said. “I can’t wait to, not punish, but make the corrections. We’re not here to make penalties.”
you mean “i can’t wait to, not punish, but to recruit more. If my players are making stupid penalties, we’ll just cut them and raid north shore communities for better players.”
the ILH agenda is pathetic. It’s easy to win when you just steal the best players from everybody.
anywaaays, I am good friends with a former 1st team All-Star football player from St Louis who played in the 1970s. He tells me Cal Lee is one the behind all the recruiting. That it’s him who determines what scouts go to what playfields to scout Pop Warner players. He also told me St Louis quietly eased out Cal Lee in 2001. I was shocked and asked him how that could be. He just shrugged his shoulders, did not answer my question, and had a look in his eyes that told me he told me more than he should have, and that I should just be grateful he told me that, and don’t ask any more questions about it.
I am not a robot.
anywaaays, I am a product of the 1970s. I’m telling you, back then the ILH recruited maybe 1 bonafide Pac-10 player a year. That was it, and that evened things out between the ILH and OIA. And those players also played baskeball. If the ILH admitted those only by test scores, the OIA would kill the ILH in football every year. ILH schools allow in anyone who can pay the high tuition. yeah, high test scores matter, but the main criteria for admittance is ability to pay the full tuition. Then mid 1970s, Maryknoll started recruiting basketball only players. ILH schools never recruited volleyball players back then either, now they do. Look at the top 3 wahine volleyball schools, all ILH. Big gap between them and the OIA. You can fall for the “better coaching” if you are dumb.
I am not a robot.
anywaays, I have no problem with ILH schools recruiting to make them competitive with the other teams. The problem I have is when the recruiting becomes so excessive that no other team stands a chance against you. You kill the sport that way, it destroys the competitive balance of Hawaii high school football. St Louis is a win-at-all-costs football program. So is Bishop Gorman of Las Vegas.
I saw every prep Bowl from 1987 to 1997. It was like going to a funeral. No excitement before the game. The teams playing St Lulu knew they had no chance to win. Yeah right, good Catholic values.
I am not a robot.
All comments made about St. Louis is just a bunch of cry babies, even though you say they recruit , tell me out of the 22 players that start, how many is from Kahuku, i’m sure there is not 22 players from Kahuku, go do your math and tell me how many players is from Kahuku. Remember, when Cal Lee left in the early 2000″s, Punahou started to recruit, looks like Cal Lee is a better recruiter, hehehehehehehe
ilh, Punahou HAD to recruit if they wanted a competitive football program. They were forced to recruit if they wanted to keep pace with St Lulu. Looks like Iolani bowed out from the rat race and just focused on winning Div 3 state title. But no way does Punahou convince a OIA player sit out his jr year after transferring in and playing just his senior year (Jordan Iosefa). No way would Punahou recruit outer islands for 1 year of play (Tristan Nichols). Look at all the St Lulu football recruits that ended up at Mt San Antonio jr college. That’s where all the derelicts end up. Last chance U. No way does a Punahou recruit, or an Iolani recruit, end up there. Even Nate Herbig, he belongs on Kauai so his family can see him play. You leave home when you are 18, not 15.
I like how Anywaaaays!! aka EducationFirst aka Punahou alum, keeps talking bubbles to make Kahuku look bad. He is too afraid to use his original name “EducationFirst” because Kahuku fans put a bounty on him for talking ish about the Kahuku students. Dude has bad karma! LOL
St. Louis has a 4 week rest period till the State tourney they should be full strength and will be some epic games.
All you kahuku fans who crying about the ILH is making kahuku look bad. Just shut up,man up and play football. Stop whining about other programs and worry about yours:
Cal you da man👍👌👏🎈🎉
Mahalo for coming back to Saint Louis.
Crusader Players u got ILH goal under ur belt.
No get big head and cut down on penalties (especially excessive celebration).
Now on to the ultimate goal, States, practice hard, stay focused and U will achieve success.
lol Mahatma Gandhi just busted himself. Only one Kahuku cry baby constantly used the term “St lulu” waaaaah waaaaah RR4L waaaaaah we are the best and if we lose then you recruit waaaaaah I’m going to talk trash in all articles not about Kahuku waaaah waaah waaah poor us waaaah grades don’t matter waaaah waaah more important to stay in an inferior school and play football than receive a college prep education waaaah
@Awrite!!: you talk a lot smack for a guy who won’t give out his (or her) real name and contact info. You sound like one of those wannabes who wear their RRFL and “rooted not recruited” T-shirt’s around town but have no athletic experience or coordination because you’re 5’6” and weigh 300+ pounds. I’ve admitted I never played high school sports because of a medical condition and my mom didn’t want to sign the parental waiver form. Why don’t you get educated and lose a few pounds. Punahou already sold their soul by letting in athletic mercenaries just to stock their sports teams with ringers (especially in FB and BB) so talk about something other than Kahuku FB although I know that’s the only thing the North Shore has pride in. Many alumni feel the diversity scholies should go to underrepresented minority students who excel in academics and other areas like music, etc.
EduationFirst is now “There is only one Me” so now you are posing as a Kahuku fan (Anywaaays!!) making trouble, but the fact is you are only making Punahou look bad.
Wow you busted yourself Mr Punahou! Keep being bitter that your team is season over, I guess you still havent found an academic forum to post your education first rants and spiels so you come to a sports forum with that nonsense. Misery needs company too I guess. oh and BTW Mr EducationFirst you are famous in Kahuku.
Only one starter is from Kahuku and that’s the coaches son who is also a St. Lulu alumni. Yes the Wily kids family is from Kahuku but guess what? He doesn’t live in Kahuku. Rooted not recruited my okole. Maybe instead of wasting your money giving to that scam of a church and spending it on your children’s education you’d be better off. Spend more time worrying about your health instead of dying of diabetes by age 40.
I CANNOT WAIT UNTIL WE DOSE ST LULU!!
RECRUIT BETTER!!
How many red zone opportunities did Kam have??? And you think that either Milz or Big Red won’t cash in on those opportunities??
All ILH fans are turning a blind eye to the fact that this St LuLu team is not in the same league as last year’s team…why? Tua. End of story. They don’t have a running game. They rely on their QB to make plays…guess what?? He’s not Tua…not even close.
If Milz and Big Red are on opposite sides of the State bracket, it’s gonna be an ALL-OIA final. Good win St LuLu…and congrats. Recruit better for next year, k?
RRFL!
Toomeke- what do you know about football coming from the guy who owes me 2 lunches because you said that punahou was going to smash St. Louis. I’m telling you now like I said at the beginning of the season St. Louis is a better then last year because of the whole team effort. Yeah Tua was amazing but this year the defense is way better and the offense as a whole is way better. Just look at the points there putting up with playing only half of there games. Last year the second string offense barely even played because of all the close games. Worry about your team because you guys aren’t even close to what you were last year on defense and offense.
Go make another hype video about how Kahuku is under privilege. They are that way because all they concentrate on is football. Concentrate on school and maybe you can better your community instead of crying about it. Even the guys at customs know Kahukus deal and are turning away kids from out of country. At least Mililani isn’t recruiting internationally. Come state’s all these fuams gonna go back to shutting up. I predict Kahuku doesn’t make the state championships. After that they all going to be on their phones calling every relative to have their sons come live with them in Kahuku. Rooted and get booted.
RR4Life living the lie is living the lie alright. Everything he’s saying is a complete fake news lie. Kahuku is one of the only teams that run a clean program. No recruits. Just good kids moving back to the north shore to be with family.
But I understand all the hate for Kahuku out there. We win. We always win and we don’t recruit and play dirty to do so. Our very existence is an insult to the ILH agenda, that’s why the media is so biased and recruiters try to wreck our communities.
For all you haters out there, maybe you should consider why you keep blindly eating up the ILH agenda’s propaganda and their smear campaign against us. RRFL!
The only haters are a couple of you donkeys who always bash the ILH . If you look at all the other topics and past post you will see it’s the same people who bash the ILH and then other people respond to back them up.
Here we go again, States coming soon and all kahuku fans wants to talk about recruiting because they know where the Koa belongs
Kahuku doesn’t recruit? Oh yeah I forgot they are related to everyone in the world. So if a kid gets a GE or moves into district they will use the same ol sad song of “Ho Aunty, that’s Tuli’s cousin’s nephew’s aunty’s former roommate so they makes him family and from the community.”
Classic!
This is an honest question because there seems to be a lot of debate going on about recruiting. If you are a parent who cannot afford a private school education and your child is given a chance to be recruited to a private school where the tuition is at minimum $15,000.00/year, why would you pass it up? Why not give your child a chance to a college prep private school education if they are good at any sport? Is recruiting that bad? Recruiting by high school coaches more and more resembles what college coaches do in their quest to find and attract top players. Public school unfortunately have rules that they have to follow in their recruiting while private schools have very little rules, it’s a known fact that recruiting is something that happens in any sports. I just don’t get why such a big debate. I personally cannot afford a private school education for my children but if they are great at any sport and are possibly recruited by a private school, at the end of the day, if my child said, “yes”, then I would be fine with it and not have any issues. If your child gets recruited to a really good college vs playing at home here, would you say no to that? Why such a big difference if it’s high school or college?
Aloha,
Throughout this whole Open and Division 1 playoffs, I am mainly concerned about one thing. Who in the ILH is going to play in the Division 1 bracket? Saint Louis has had an amazing season, but this year theyʻre only taking one ILH team into Open Division? Last year, Punahou went into Open as well. what is going on ?! Is no ILH team going into the Division 1 Bracket?
Justamom, sports in general is just a big pissing match for the adult males of this world. College is different because every single college has scholarships to recruit so the playing field is even.
In high school only two schools on the island give scholarships and thats St. Louis and Punahou, they recruit the best talent on the island. Those two private schools are awesome and offer great opportunities but when they pound on the public schools and strut around like they the big dogs then you gonna create divisiveness on the island. Thats why Kahuku became very vocal about the ILH schools coming in to recruit their top kids only to turn around and beat Kahuku every year in the prep bowl with those Kahuku kids on their roster.
In Cal Lees recent return to St. Louis in 2014 he knew Kahuku fans were irritated of his tactics to lure Kahuku kids to St. Louis so now you dont see as many Kahuku kids at St. Loius, but what St. Louis did start doing was recruiting outer islands, kids from Kauai, Maui and Big island are starting to funnel into St. Louis.
Mililani is seeing a lot of success with their attempts to attract a few poly kids from Aiea and Kalihi, but Mililani is really doing things the right way by creating a great program and environment which is sustainable and I expect Mililani to be a top OIA team every year. I would hope that other schools like Farrington and Waianae as well as Campbell take notes from Mililani and create a top contending program too.
DiamonHead, thank you for your reply and explanation. I can appreciate how other areas like Kahuku or the North Shore for that matter would want their kids to stay and play in their “back yard” but some on here get so heated like recruiting is a really bad thing and I just don’t see it that way. I don’t live in Kahuku or the North Shore so maybe I don’t get, but I have to look at from a single parent’s point of view as my child just received a scholarship to attend a school where I cannot afford to pay the tuition and the education he or she will be receiving at attending a top notch school would be worth it.
If these so called recruited kids didn’t want to attend either St. Louis or Punahou, then I get it, but clearly the ones that are recruited have their own personal reasons and agenda for not staying home and playing in their “back yard.” I would hate for others to get upset if any child or adult for that matter is just trying to secure a better future for him or her by attending a private school. I guess the saying of “don’t hate the player hate the game” here kind of applies.
On a personal note, I see how deep rooted the Kahuku community is and I personally think it’s awesome. I was at last years Championship game and all I can say about Kahuku and how they come together is, WOW! It was a sight to see.
…comments that make sense! It’s all about what’s best for the kids! Parents understand options are what it’s all about. Wannabes will always complain! Give parents and kids better options and watch what happens. Good luck to all teams and more importantly, keep moving forward everyone. Change is GREAT! March on Trojans!
Just go back to the prep bowl form. The OIA better win the states they got 3 chances out of 4. What a joke and u guys crying about being unfair. U guys cried last year about having two ILH teams in the state when the OIA had four in 2016. Wait we can’t bring back the prep bowl format because some cry babies thought that was unfair too lol. After kahuku loses in the OIA champ n then the state semi give Kaneohe zippys a break they tired of seeing people in red shirts crying over their zip PAC. Lol
They dont recruit, its the tradition that brings players in idiots.