Saint Louis quarterback Tua Tagovailoa threw for 390 yards and 4 touchdowns and added another score on the ground in a win over Liberty. CJ Caraang | SL

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Sat, Aug 29, 2015 @ Aloha Stadium [ 7:30 pm ]

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Liberty

16

Saint Louis

43

Final	1	2	3	4	T
Liberty (1-1-0)	0	8	0	8	16
Saint Louis (9-2-0)	21	13	7	2	43

• Pass
• Rush
• Rec

Tua Tagovailoa 390 yd 4 TD

Kenyon Oblad 272 yd 2 TD

Tua Tagovailoa 50 yd 1 TD

Chad Tebay 39 yd

Leelan Oasay 111 yd 1 TD

Darion Acohido 74 yd 1 TD

In its final tuneup before its Interscholastic League of Honolulu season opener, Saint Louis rolled over Nevada power Liberty, 43-16, Saturday night at Aloha Stadium.

Tua Tagovailoa completed 28 of 38 passes for 390 yards and four touchdowns and rushed for another that was 50 yards to help the Crusaders improve to 2-0 in non-league action. Saint Louis, third in the Hawaiian Electric Division I Power Rankings, open the ILH season Sept. 12 against Kamehameha.

"It gets us going," Tagovailoa said of his team's final preparation for the regular season."It fires us up for our first season game."

The visiting Patriots (0-1), from Henderson, Nev., return home and will face Hawaii's best, top-ranked and defending state champion Mililani (3-0), a 67-21 winner against Kapolei Saturday night. The Trojans have never played a Mainland team - home or away - since they started playing football in 1975.

"We knew they were an amazing program, that's why we wanted to take them on," Liberty coach Rich Muraco said. "We want to expose our kids to high-level competition. I was disappointed in our effor the first half, but my hat goes off for Saint Louis. Coach (Cal) Lee's a great coach. They just whooped our butts today."

Liberty, which has won its region five times and lost to eventual Nevada champion Bishop Gorman in last year's semifinals, featured a number of players from here or with ties to Hawaii. But the Crusaders showed no aloha, scoring on five of their first six series of the first half in taking a commanding 34-8 lead into the break.

"I think they're right up there with (Bishop) Gorman," Muraco said of the Las Vegas powerhouse. "We scrimmaged Gorman last week and they're every bit as good as Gorman. We're the second-best team and (Gorman) spanked us. (Saint Louis) would be competing for a state championship in Nevada, for sure."

Saint Louis played Bishop Gorman at Aloha Stadium in 2012, losing 52-40, under then-coach Matt Wright.

Saint Louis amassed 27 first downs, 18 through passing, while maanged 19, most coming in the fourth quarter with the game already decided.

Tagovailoa deftly escaped trouble with his scrambling ability and hit receivers who were generally wide open. If there is an area Tagovaiola could improve is his touch on go routes; several times he overthrew his receiver. Still, 20 of his 28 completions were for 10 or more yards.

"What we went over in practice was no different than what we saw on film," Tagovailoa said. "I think that helped us a lot."

Tagovailoa was pulled from the game with 1:21 left in the third period.

The teams combined for 32 penalties for 340 yards. Saint Louis got the brunt of them with 19 for 210 yards. Saint Louis had three touchdowns nullified by penalties, including two during an eventual scoring drive.

Liberty's sophomore quarterback Kenyon Oblad completed 24 of 38 passes for 272 yards and two TDs.  He also rushed for two 2-point conversions. But Saint Louis kept any potential damage to a minimum by sacking his five times, twice each by Jayce Smalley and Jordan Iosefa. Kaeo Freitas had the other sack.

"He's one of the better quarterbacks in Vegas, for sure," Muraco said of Oblad. "He's only a sophomore. He didn't have a perfect game, but he showed some signs. I think playing against schools like Saint Louis this week and Mililani next week, when we get into our league, we're going to tear it up."

Liberty won the toss and elected to defer to the second half and kicked off to Saint Louis, which quickly scored on a Tagovailoa's 50-yard run, where he broke a tackle going head on against a defender at the 35 and sprung loose for the score. Jacob Tobias' PAT made it 7-0 just one minute, 51 seconds into the game.

Liberty punted from the Saint Louis 35 after its first series, pinning the Crusaders at their 8. But 14 plays and nullified touchdowns later, Tagovailoa hit Young on 27-yard scoring strike to make it 14-0 with 3:46 in the first quarter.

The Patriots' second series ended with a punt that traveled only 17 yards to the Saint Louis 42. Four consecutive pass plays ended with Tagovailoa hitting Lanakila Wilson, who made a diving catch in the end zone for the 30-yard pass play, despite being interfered with. The penalty was enforced on the ensuing kickoff against Liberty, but Saint Louis increased its lead to 21-0 with 1:09 in the first period.

Liberty's next series stalled at the Saint Louis 31, when on fourth-and-1, lineman Samuela Mafua stopped RB Stephon Stowers for no gain.

Saint Louis maarched on, needing only four plays before Tagovailoa, scrambling out of pressure, connected with Wilson on a 41-yard TD pass with 10:08 in the second period to make it 28-0.

The Patriots again drove into Saint Louis territory, but on fourth-and-12 from the 28, Oblad's pass to Darion Acohido was deflected by Saint Louis DB Iosefo Noga.

Liberty finally got Saint Louis to punt on its fifth series, but the Patriots again could not convert on fourth down after Iosefa sacked Oblad at the Liberty 48. This time, the Crusaders finished the six-play drive with a score on Jahred Silofau's 11-yard run with 2:52 left in the half. But the PAT failed to keep it 34-0.

The Patriots ended the half with their first score when Oblad his Nayton Koki on a six-yard pass with 10 seconds left in the half. Oblad ran the 2-point conversion to make it 34-8 at the half.

Liberty took the second-half kickoff, but eventually lost the ball on a fumble, which was forced and recovered by Isaac Slade-Matautia at the Saint Louis 46. But the Crusaders drive stalled at the 28 after a penalty nullified a two-yard TD pass from Tagovailoa to Oasay. Backed to their 28, the Crusaders drive ended on an incomplete pass.

Once again, Saint Louis' defense came up big when the Patriots faced fourth-and-1 from the Saint Louis 47. Tanielu Evailmalo dropped RB Chad Tedbay for a loss and a change of possession that eventually led to Tagovailoa's 10-yard TD pass to Oasay to make it 41-8 with 3:15 in the third quarter.

The Patriots scored with 9:26 in the fourth period on Oblad's 12-yard TD pass to Acohido. Oblad again ran the 2-point conversion to make it 41-16.

The Crusaders added to their score with a safety with 4:46 left when a snap from punt formation sailed into the end zone.