Leilehua players celebrate after a touchdown late in a scrimmage against Saint Louis. Sylvia Lee | SL

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WAHIAWA – Fans of Leilehua got a sneak peek at new quarterback Mack Eberhardt in a scrimmage against Saint Louis Friday night before a boisterous crowd of about 1,000 at the Mules' Hugh Yoshida Stadium.

Eberhardt, a 6-foot, 170-pound transfer from Groton, Mass., completed 8 of his 15 passes for 103 with a two touchdowns in his Leilehua debut.

"It was exciting, no doubt," said Eberhardt, who also ran for 29 yards on four carries. "The team was great. We showed all fight at the end being down 28-7, came up and didn't give up one bit."

Eberhardt, who threw for over 1,500 yards and rushed for another 1,000 at Groton-Dunstable Regional High as a junior, tossed a 10-yard scoring strike in the first quarter and found Dustin Ancheta-Maeda for a 2-yard TD pass to tie it at 28-all with under a minute to play.

"Coach said we wanted to make a statement tonight playing against Saint Louis, but I think we can definitely still improve all around," Eberhardt said.

Mules' coach Nolan Tokuda said he was pleased with not just Eberhardt, but backups Justin Jenks and Kalani Pauole.

"I thought he was awesome – I thought all the quarterbacks were awesome," Tokuda said. "We wanted to play everybody and give some good energy to set the tone for the rest of the season."

Jenks finished 7-of-11 passing for 90 yards while Pauole completed 4 of his 9 passes for 68 yards with two TDs and one INT.

Eberhardt, whose dad is in the Army and stationed at Schofield Barracks, thanked Jenks, the 2012 starting QB, for his help in transitioning into the Mules' system.

"Justin has been so welcoming teaching me the offense and we became great friends as soon as I got here,"Eberhardt said. "He knows everything – he's so smart – he helps me out all the time in practice. It's been awesome having him here."

Tokuda said with his team not scheduled to play until an Aug. 17 game at Iolani, he wanted the players to take a more game-like approach.

"That's exactly why we wanted to treat it like a real game and then go back and assess where we're at so we're ready for that Iolani game," Tokuda said.

Other standouts from the scrimmage included Saint Louis running back Adam Noga (16 carries, 204 yards, 2 TDs). Noga broke off a 53-yard TD run on the second play from scrimmage and added a 36-yard score later in the first quarter. Quarterback Ryder Kuhns completed 7 of his 17 passes for 68 yards with one TD.

The scrimmage ended in a 28-28 tie.

The first half was played with regulation 12-minute quarters, while the second half operated under 10-minute running quarters.

Saint Louis opens its non-league schedule with a road game against Baldwin Saturday at War Memorial Stadium.