Saint Francis' Chris Vanisi attempts to tackle Damien's Justice White. The Saints' defense held the Monarchs to season-low 36 yards rushing in their 15-12 win. John Lujan | SL

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Fri, Sep 23, 2016 @ Aloha Stadium [ 5:00 pm ]

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Damien

12

Saint Francis

15

Final	1	2	3	4	T
Damien (7-3-0)	0	7	0	5	12
Saint Francis (5-3-0)	6	3	0	6	15

• Pass
• Rush
• Rec

Kaimanuwai Akana 86 yd

Marcus Faufata-Pedrina 180 yd

Tyson Shimabukuro 133 yd

Justice White 25 yd 1 TD

Scott McCleod 86 yd

Shawn Borges 90 yd

HALAWA — For the first 47 minutes and change Friday night, the Saint Francis offense couldn't find the end zone. But the Saints punched it in when it counted.

Wembley Mailei ran in a 5-yard touchdown for the go-ahead score with 31 seconds left and Saint Francis rallied to a 15-12 win over Damien in an Interscholastic League of Honolulu game at Aloha Stadium Friday night.

The Saints, who are ranked sixth in the ScoringLive/Hawaiian Electric Division II Power Rankings, improved to 3-2 overall and 2-1 in league play with the win, while the third-ranked Monarchs dropped to 4-2 and 2-1.

Saint Francis avenged a 21-16 loss to Damien on Sept. 2. The teams are now tied for first in the three-team ILH D2 standings with one regular-season game remaining.

"Hats off to Damien. They're always a tough opponent," Saints coach Kip Akana said. "For us to get a win off the defending ILH Division II champions is — we're proud of our guys."

The lead changed hands four times. Damien took its largest lead at 12-9 following a defensive score. A high shotgun snap to Saint Francis quarterback Bubba Akana allowed defensive lineman Pomai Kim to drop him for a loss in his own end zone, resulting in a safety.

The Monarchs got the ball back on the ensuing free kick with 2:16 left to play. However, a dropped snap by quarterback Marcus Faufata-Pedrina on first down went for a 7-yard loss and the offense went three-and-out.

Saint Francis took over at its own 35-yard line with a minute to go after a Faufata-Pedrina punt on 4th-and-19 was deflected and traveled just 25 yards.

Akana found Scott McCleod for a 30-yard pass on the very next play. Two plays later, he scrambled to his right to evade the pass rush before hooking up with McCleod for another 30-yard pick-up. That set-up Mailei's go-ahead TD run on 1st-and-goal with just over half a minute remaining.

"Our mantra has been: we play four quarters," Akana said. "Always play four quarters and as you can see, we got the ball back with one minute left — there was still time — the kids stuck together, the coaches stuck together and, you know, we made some plays in the end and made plays when we were needed to and we were able to come out with a victory."

Mailei, a 6-foot-2, 200-pound junior, was the wildcat back on the scoring play. He received the direct shotgun snap, ran to his left and muscled his way through a single defender into the end zone. It was Mailei's team-best sixth rushing touchdown this season.

"It was great to win," said Saints sophomore defensive back Justus Paaluhi-Caulk, who picked off a pair of passes. "We just practiced hard this whole week, jamming, and our offense pulled it together and got the win."

Paaluhi-Caulk accounted for the game's first points with his 30-yard pick-6 that gave Saint Francis an early 6-0 lead late in the first quarter.

"I just baited on the flat and I picked the ball and the end zone was right there," Paaluhi-Caulk said.

Justice White's 2-yard touchdown run and Kaimana Cameron's ensuing PAT gave the Monarchs a 7-6 lead at the half.

The Saints went back ahead, 9-7, on Jacob Poole's 44-yard field goal late in the third quarter. However, Cameron booted a 41-yard field goal to pull his team back in front, 10-9, with 3:32 left to play.

Kim's safety came three plays into Saint Francis' next drive.

Tyson Shimabukuro notched game-highs of 27 carries for 133 yards for the Saints, who finished with 240 yards of total offense.

Faufata-Pedrina threw for 180 yards on 14-of-30 passing with two interceptions. Shawn Borges had a game-high four receptions for 90 yards for the Monarchs, who were held to a season-low 36 yards.

Damien could have clinched the top seed and a semifinal-round bye in the ILH postseason tournament with a win. Instead, the door is open for Saint Francis to force a one-game playoff for the tournament top seed if both teams finish with identical final first-round records.

If the tournament winner and the first-round winner are different, there will be a winner-take-all game for the overall ILH crown and the league's lone berth in the D2 state tournament.

Both teams close out the first round against Pac-Five. The Monarchs face the Wolf Pack Friday, the Saints on Oct. 7.