If you happened to glance up at the Aloha Stadium scoreboard at the end of the third quarter Saturday, you noticed the Interscholastic League of Honolulu Division I championship football game was knotted at 20-all.
Gut-check time.
Players and coaches from both sides doing everything they can to not give in. To keep the season going. To win the coveted title.
But only one team could, and it was Saint Louis edging Punahou 27-23 for its first league championship since 2010. The Buffanblu’s four-year reign is over.
Heading into the fourth quarter, you knew someone was going to make a huge play or several people would make a series of plays that would account for the final difference.
With 9:37 left, Jet Toner — who told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser’s Paul Honda after the game that he committed to play college football at Stanford — calmly drilled a 50-yard field goal for a 23-20 Punahou lead.
Toner has been known for making long field goals in critical situations. Ask Kahuku about last year. His effort was right down the middle, with plenty of room to spare.
That heroic field goal, however, didn’t hold up in the end.
So, who would be the person (or people) to get this thing done?
Well, Saint Louis quarterback Tua Tagovailoa is one of a handful of players who dealt the final blow. He drove the Crusaders (8-1) for the go-ahead touchdown with 3:50 left and gave words of encouragement to running back Saitaua Lefau, who ran home the final 4 yards around left end.
This particular sweep that Tagovailoa called for Lefau worked a few times during the night, but other times it failed with yardage lost.
“At first, I thought Tua was going to keep it, but he told me he believed in me and that I could do what I had to do,” Lefau said.
The extra point by Jacob Tobias looked like it was going down the middle, but it hooked and hit the top of the left upright. It appeared to bounce off to the right and through, but two referees conferred for about 10 seconds before giving it the “good” signal for Saint Louis’ 27-23 lead.
“I wondered why they waited so long to make the call,” Punahou coach Kale Ane said after the game. “It looked good to me.”
Ane knew that with Toner in the game, the difference between a 3-point and a 4-point lead was major. Instead of trying to get into field-goal range for the sure-footed Toner, the Buffanblu would have to go all the way to keep their season alive.
It didn’t happen. Saint Louis defensive end Tanielu Evaimalu batted down a pass and then he sacked Punahou quarterback Nick Kapule.
That sack set up the final dagger. Kapule put up a high-arcing wobbler that Saint Louis’ Ronson Timbreza intercepted to effectively end the game.
“When I saw the ball in the air, I knew I had to get to it and get to it at its highest point so he (the receiver) wouldn’t get it,” Timbreza said.
It’s an early season-ender for Punahou (8-2), which is used to playing well into November.
“It was two good teams battling,” Paulo Soa, the Buffanblu’s 310-pound sophomore guard said after the game. “It was a very good game and pretty exciting and it came down to the team that made the least mistakes. This loss will stick with us and we’ll be thinking maybe we should have done more, maybe we should have taken that extra rep. But it was a good season overall.”
The Crusaders were sky high after bringing coach Cal Lee his first championship in his return to the team after many years coaching elsewhere. He won 14 Oahu Prep Bowl titles (the precursor to the state tournament) and one state championship with Saint Louis between 1983 and 1999 before returning to a second-place finish behind Punahou in 2014.
Saint Louis’ quest for its first state Division I title since 2010 continues. The Crusaders will likely get a bye in the first round and begin play in the state semifinals the weekend of Nov. 13-14.
“It’s amazing,” Evaimalu said. “Four years I play for Saint Louis and not once did we beat Punahou or come close to beating Punahou until now. Now we can bring the Koa (trophy) home.”
Great Coaches return to Saint Louis to make it happen, great players too , but the key was Cal Lee and Ron Lee returnning to Saint Louis to make this happen, all the players and parents and fans could feel this coming when Cal and Ron returned at Saint Louis, they are great Coaches and everyone could feel the difference between the Lee Brother’s and other coaches at Saint Louis, the Lee Brother’s made this happen, I’m a fan of the Crusaders since the mid 60’s, Go Crusader’s
@ilh I think great coaches is a slight understatement!! More like the greatest Hawaii high school football has ever seen! I believe legendary is more appropriate! Anyways congrats to St. Louis and good luck in the states!
STL won because of coaching. Punahou had more talent but talent that doesn’t always hold up to great coaching. STL has great coaching, Punahou has average coaching. With all that talent and only 1 title to show for it, Punahou has wasted many opportunities for state titles.
The men on the rugged slopes of Kolaepohaku are coming back for whats rightfully theirs. The Crusaders are back!
St. Louis has awesome coaches and alot of talent from all over the State. Punahou Coaches are just as great as St Louis. Kale Abe is right up there with the Lee’s. Congrats to the saints. RRFL
Kale Ane! And I don’t think Punahou had more talent. Both teams has talent from all over the State . That’s the advantage the ilh has over the oia .
I think both teams have great coaching…they can afford the best.
I disagree as far as talent comparison. St Louis has much more talent than Punahou this year…and it showed on the field.
Congrats to St Louis. You earned it. See you at states.
Congratulations to the Crusaders they played a hell of a game and made the stops they needed to make when it counted. Great coaches make great calls and I believe the call to have Kapule the starter over Tuliloa is one of the most Bone Headed calls of all time. Yes he is a good player and yes he has a bright future ahead of him but c’mon Coach. No senior leadership in the biggest game of the year in the huddle, no field general on the field in crunch time and to top it off no big game experience when the season is on the line. Good job Crusaders but what a waste of talent by Punahou.
@ilh CAN ST LOUIS stop taking players away from kahuku ?? You guys dont have homegrown players ??
Who cares! Any parent who turns down an offer for their child to attend a private school needs to have their head checked. Steal all you want ILH because it’s our kids who are benefiting.
Men of Kalaepohaku? Do any of their football players even live in town? They are all recruited from different parts of the state, yes, Maui, Kauai, Kahuku, Waianae, Kalihi…I think you should call them the Men of Hawaii.
The Crusader 2015 Football Team is typical of what goes on at St. Louis. It is best described as making the MOST with what little their is. Raw talent…nothing compared to Punahou or Kam, or Kahuku, Mililani, Kapolei, Campbell, Farrington or Waianae. The team looked good because they were taught to work hard as individuals and play together as a team. These are the ingredients of a champion team and the ingredients of a successful life.
@ Big Red, I didn’t know you guys own kids and they cannot go anywhere else. That is such a dumb and archaic way of thinking. The kids are not slaves and are free to do to school wherever they want. Kudos to their parents for doing what they think is best for their children. Your comment is almost as dumb if someone wrote, “Big Red stop taking away players from Planet Earth.”
Families are free to make any decision they want and no community owns a family or kid just because they chose to buy a home there, rent there, or reside there. I am appalled by your incentive way of thinking. I apologize on behalf of you to all human-kind.
Also @ BigRed, using your thinking every kid should have to go to school at UH since all the kids live in Hawaii. Hawaii owns them. All of the colleges should stay away. Marcus Mariota should have never been at Oregon, and therefore should have had to play at UH most likely not helping him get to the NFL now since Hawaii QB’s from UH don’t get there.
Sad!
all i am saying is if every kid would have stay at their school st louis would be nothing ..
What is their school? The kids that go to St. Louis belong to St. Louis. Why you may ask? Their parents choose for their kids to go there. End of story.
That’s like saying if every kid would stay by their grandma’s house, then Kahuku would be nothing. What does that mean?
I’m sorry but my head hurts now. I hate how a community, coaches, and others think a kid belongs to anyone. They belong to themselves and their family. The owe their community absolutely nothing other than to be good citizens.
You are getting way to emotional. Put the key board down and step away from the ledge.
@Really,
…and I hate how someone takes another’s opinion as that of the whole community. Funny, I don’t think of you as the spokesperson for St Louis.
As a diehard Red Raider alumni, I am a little confused as to all the hate towards St.Louis.Yeah,they got some of our homegrown players but with Punahou in the picture now, the Crusaders don’t get anywhere near what they used to get from before days.I will always support me beloved Red Raiders, but if a private school offered my child a schollie be it from punahou,kam,or Saint Louis,id have a hard time turning it down.There is a reason why we hardly send our kids to UH,A BETTER opportunity.Sorry if this offends some of my RRFL Ohana.
Congratulations to Saint Louis coach staff and players and to Punahou too. What ever goes on about these school offering scholarships to these kids, beside sports, they have an opportunity the gain a good education thru a private school and prep for college. I wish these kids would stay home to represent there community, but remember we need to look out for Hawaii future, our kids. Nothing wrong with the public schools, I’m a product of a public school but they need help. Good luck to all the schools in the play offs. GO BIG RED!
Not only Saint Louis has players from all over the State, Punahou, Iolani, Kamehemeha, Damien, Pac-5, Saint Francis and any other Private schools has it’s students from all around the state, that why it’s called PRIVATE SCHOOLS, PAY OR GET SELECTED TO GO THEIR , PLANE AND SIMPLE MATH, And it’s not going to change.
I am offended that Kale Ane and Cal Lee come into our Kahuku community and offer our top athletes Financial aid to attend their schools. If they really cared about the Keiki of Hawaii they would make it possible for the average non-athletic kid Financial Aid into their Private education system. But No, they only take our elite athletes so they can win football games and the Pun/Crusader Alumni can walk the golf courses bragging about their teams, or the millionaire corporate alumni can get richer off the backs of our Kids.
That is why the remaining “left overs” kids in Kahuku play with a chip on our shoulder, Yes I played in the 90’s for Kahuku and saw my gifted football friends leave to private schools and I felt left behind. We have no money no resources but all we have is each other, yes, something that the elitist private school people dont understand. So before anyone accuse us of an archaic way of thinking, that the boys from Kahuku belong to Kahuku, well you are just afraid of the rise of the “middle class” because as ONE we can overcome anything but as individuals we can do nothing. St. Louis alumni cant stand the fact the Kahuku has more state titles then them so they pump more money into their school. Where does that money end up going? ..into the recruiting of top athletes to draw them into the ILH schools. Cal Lee couldnt win a game at Kalani with average athletes, but at St. Louis he is now ILH champ? John Hao was let go from St. Louis because he couldnt draw the talent. All Cal lee is, is a respectable figure that can draw talent into the school…anyone feel like “BUYing YOUR CHAMPIONSHIP!
You want to talk about coaching? Look at the coaches of our Big Boy youth and pop warner programs that volunteer their time and money for free to motivate the little kids to play football. This is where the big time blue chipper athletes all around the island are created, not at St. Louis or Punahou. Anyone can pick the cream of the crop kids from around the island that already have the athletic ability and discipline and stack them on a Crusader team or Buff-N-Blue team.
Kahuku is unique because we born and breed our boys from the womb, the little neighborhood kids running up and down the street, yes, we watch and raise them, they are our children, nephews, grandkids – THEY ARE LITERALLY OURS! It takes a village. Born and bred to where red!
ps – thank you Felipe Ojastro (oc16 commentator) for your constant reminder of the youth programs that these high school football players are coming from. True credit goes out to the parents and volunteers.
ps- Felipe if you are reading, please stop trying to predict the penalty before the officials announcement, kinda annoying, lol, thanks bro!
geez. from the way NSfootball is talking you would think that kamehameha, punahou, st louis, and all the private schools ONLY have athletes and rich people. that’s actually not the case, especially at kamehameha, which gives preference to orphan and indigent children. punahou also is doing a lot of outreach to communities by providing free tuition to kids who test into the school but don’t have the income to pay tuition.
yeah, private schools do have an advantage over public schools in sports because of facilities, money, and the ability to select kids from all over the island or even state, but let’s not pretend that there’s some kind of private school conspiracy among alums and the faculty to raid kahuku of its athletes so that they can brag on golf courses while sipping on mimosas and telling their butlers to restock the wine cellar.
most private school grads i know don’t really care about high school football very much.
Sure they don’t…
Bravo BleedRed!
@North Shore Football are you telling me that Kale Ane and Cal Lee are walking around the neighborhoods of Kahuku with a contract and pen in hand ready to sign up athletic kids? If so you should report them IMMEDIATELY to the ILH office. Per ILH rules, the ILH coaches can only talk to parents after the parents have made first contact. This is just bad. I am almost at a loss for words.
Buddy, you may have uncovered some really bad and unethical shenanigans going on here. I encourage you to do what is right and get on this immediately. Justice should prevail. I would make sure you have the time and dates when both Coach Ane & Coach Lee are doing this for legal documentation and credibility. Breaking rules and giving kids an opportunity for a higher level of academics is evil!
After that you should go after all the colleges who offer athletic scholarships to elite athletes and not the regular Tom, Dick, and Harry’s…
@NSfootball
1) *wear
2) There’s literally ONE starter from Kahuku at St. Louis
3) All players (but the one starter) from Kahuku pay full tuition, none came on scholarship. So there’s that…..
4) Your possessiveness of human beings is concerning.
5) No one made those players come. Free country and all that jazz, you know?
6) Why are all the Kahuku fans on here bashing Saint Louis KIDS who just won a championship? What happened to just “congrats”? All of you so far up your pride that you don’t even know how to congratulate teenagers on doing a good job, but turn all that in to negativity.
6) I’m 98% sure that most your religion sort of frowns on the actions stated in #5 (I read it somewhere in the bible. It’s there. Jesus told me)
7) 90% of these comment sections are FILLED with Kahuku supporters bashing. I mean…. Don’t y’all work? How are you on this 24/7 posting? Where is your life? Are you being paid for this? If so, let me know. I’m interested.
8) With that said, good luck this upcoming week. I’m personally excited to see who’s going to win. Good luck to both teams! Pau.
Why do Kahuku loyalist always say that Punahou and St. Louis use the phrase”stealing our kids”? Why can’t they see that their kids want to go to a better school,
BALL IS LIFE (youtube channel)
Congrats St.Louis! Gonna be a tough road ahead facing the OIA runner-up.
Cmon guys. You killing me.
FIRSTLY: ILH private schools don’t have their “own kids”. Private schools geographic zones are the entire state. That’s just the way it is. We all know that if they were limited only to the mediate areas surrounding their campuses then ALL of their extra-curricular teams would suck. Reality is they can recruit whomever they want and parents have to make that decision. Check it out – if I lived back home in da islands and my kid got offered free tuition to Punahou or Iolani den guess what?? My kids would go. (Sorry Kam and St Louis – but your academics are no longer that great – plenny of my friends pulled kids outta Kam lately due to lowered academics standards these days).
SECONDLY (and pay attention ILH fanatics): Since ILH can recruit da best, then it is only fair that they only have one rep in the state tournaments/competitions. Sorry…you can’t have your cake and eat it too. Therefore, your entire season = playoffs. Win and you’re in. Is that not fair? Especially for the kids who DONT GET RECRUITED?? Duh. Use your Akamai.
That being said, GO BIG RED!!
@ Crusaders, several of them (not all) have to bash you guys. I mean if you take away football what do they have? High test scores? High level for academics? A lot of kids going to prestigious colleges? Maybe they can call Tita’s (wonderful food and people) a famous landmark or accomplishment, but what else? I understand the hate and anger for some people.
@Realistic. I like how you say “I understand…” …when you really don’t.
You ‘realistically’ (like how I used your handle?) CAN’T understand because you haven’t walked in our shoes…so don’t make ASSumptions about things of which you know very little.
ILH aside let’s look at how the OIA treats one of its’ own schools compared to other OIA programs.
In a nutshell, how many other OIA schools are getting new/upgraded facilities at a cost of MILLIONS, while Kahiku’s decades-long request (dare I say ‘battle’) to get upgraded facilities continues to fall on deaf ears. And how many state championships have those other OIA schools won??? vs how many we’ve won?! This is why we have no problem labeling ourselves as “The enemy of the state.”
That’s why I always say: all you schools keep building new facilities…we’ll just keep building CHAMPIONS!! Nobody…and I mean NO.BO.DY…does more with less than Kahuku.
So go be Realistic about something else… Something for which you might actually be an ‘subject-matter expert’.
GBR!!
At Go Big Red even though there are zones, like many others said no one owns these kids. Parents have the option to go to send their kids to private school, get a GE to go to another school, or stay at their “home” school. I don’t know where this thinking has started where a kid belongs to a community and if they leave then another school did something wrong. It’s that kind of “selfish” and “slave mentality” that burns my skin. You talk about STATE TITLES, but I hear no mention about academic achievements. I am reading a lot of excuses. I call this the AL BUNDY syndrome, when the high point of your life is High School Football, lol. All extra-curricular activities are just as important as each other, whether it is football, baseball, track, art, music, dance, or playing in the band.
And truth be told, I’d rather have my kid play the violin or piano than play football. We all know how much those two things help cognitive development.
I wonder if the St. Louis’, Punahous, Iolanis and other private schools offered financial aid to be in the band if GOBIGRED would be as offended? I am guessing not since like Realistic said above it seems football is the only thing they can attach their success to.
Let me ask you this GOBIGRED, after winning so many State Titles, (other than a select few and I mean very few), how many of these State Title Winners go on to college?
@Rok888, you say, “Why do Kahuku loyalist always say that Punahou and St. Louis use the phrase”stealing our kids”? Why can’t they see that their kids want to go to a better school.”
They have to say that because the alternative is what happened to either themselves, their children, or their family that is these prestigious schools didn’t come wanting them. That is the real source of bitterness, anger, and jealousy.
Don’t worry some will keep coming with the attacks, insults, excuses, or whatever they can come up with.
While not as well known, but private schools do offer financial aid for let’s say MATH TEAM. No one here cares, right?
@Realistic Knew you would come back. Just wanted to say that congratulations on your son getting into college with a 3.4. I am not sure I would brag about it on a public forum because that Naviance system at Punahou allows students and parents to easily guess who gets into a college with the lesser GPA than what is required of others.
Are we talking about football yet?
All Private schools in the whole nation recruits. Stop with this crybabywhining already. That’s just the nature of the beast. We (Kahuku) have enough talent to go around whether kids leave or not. If you complaining about Private schools taking our kids away then you don’t have confidence in our current athletes. Get over it. Kahuku is strong and will always be strong. RR4L. I encourage the ILH to take our kids. Give them the opportunity they need if they can’t make it work in Kahuku. The rest of the true RR4L can stay home and play for the Red Raiders!!! RR4L
The whole purpose of a Private School in Hawaii is to give children from around the 808 an opportunity for a better education. If they are getting in through sports, so what? Be happy that these kids want a better education. Did you ever think that some of these kids who leave their local schools might not be good enough to play there? So they opt out for a private school. They may have gotten better by working out at their nice facilities over the years but not every kid that leaves their local high school always leaves at the height of their athletic talents. Kahuku is good and will always be good. Who cares if these other schools take your kids. Maybe they wasn’t anything when they left. Kahuku Reloads, PERIOD!!!
Could you have the same passion for academics as you do with football? You do know the smart play is academics right?
Congratulations to all the players and coaches at St.Louis! I think it’s awesome that they were able to take the ILH title back! Im one of the reddest raiders out here and I have no problem with our kids going to private schools. It’s awesome to be able to have our kids play against their old teammates from Laie Park Big Boys or Koolauloa Raiders teams. They all support each other till this day! I see it on their Instagram and FB pages. Congratulating their old teammates for their success. Why can’t we be like them? It’s the fans who are creating a rift between our communities and schools. Im a die hard RED RAIDER , but I support and I’m happy for all our kids who make it in this life, no matter what school you go to! Keep doing your thing boys and we’ll keep supporting! Hawaii Football unite!
you guys realize that punahou and iolani coaches don’t walk around the streets of laie with scholarships in hand offering them to kids, right? most, if not all, ILH schools don’t recruit because it’s against their rules. if you guys know of any examples of kale ane scouting a pop warner game or a kahuku practice and guaranteeing them a scholarship to go to punahou, please let punahou schools know. it’s a pretty big violation.
in fact, the schools themselves, as far as i know, don’t give out athletic scholarships. players will get financial aid packages based on their economic need, but every student gets that.
I think I just got dumber reading these posts by some bitter fans. Just imagine what kind of nonsense they are going to write when St. Louis beat them at the states. Smh
me got dummer two
Mr Tanoai Reed hit it right on the dot!! Great people from the North Shore. Just those bad apples who still think they can play…lol. But there are bad apples everywhere. I hope people read what he wrote. Aloha!
@ewaewa
Not possible
Haha that was such a good one GOOD STORY!
Originality – 10
Creativity – 10
Humor – 10
How do you come up with such zingers! You are wasting your talents on this blog! “Not Possible?” HAHAHA! How ever did you come up with something like that. I never heard of that before.
What’s going on Good Story you have been very quiet lately.
Maybe working on her stand-up?
Well gosh thats alot of bad apples… LOL!!!
Im also happy for the kids that jam to private schools… why not be happy for them???
I look at the Tuliloa kid from Laie thats at punahou… There ain’t no way he’d have a chance to throw the ball like that if he stayed at Kahuku… well then again maybe but id take my chances going to the ILH if i was a good QB!
RRLF BAYBEE!!! Dont fret my fellow redraiders Kahuku will always be a contender! No matter who goes and stays!
Congrats to St. Louis
@Lee Boy
Just sitting back and letting the boys handle their business. Plus it seems like things have tone down. Between 88 and GoBigRed, there’s really no need for me to jump in. But no worries, I read these forums everyday and I’ll chime in if need be.