No. 1 Saint Louis dominates No. 11 Waianae


Saint Louis WR Makoa Close gets by a Waianae defender for a 33-yard gain in the second quarter. John Lujan | SL

HALAWA — Two-time defending Open Division state champion Saint Louis looked like it was in mid-season form Friday night.

The top-ranked Crusaders scored in all three facets of the game and quarterback Jayden de Laura accounted for four first half touchdowns to power Saint Louis to a 69-6 win over No. 11 Waianae at Hawaiian Tel FCU Field at Aloha Stadium in an interleague matchup.

Korvin Feagins got Saint Louis (1-0) going with a 29-yard pick-six on Waianae's first pass play of the game.

After forcing a three-and-out, the Crusaders got the ball on the Seariders' 30-yard line and got their first offensive score of the night on de Laura's 8-yard TD run.

The junior quarterback, who sat out all of last season after transferring from Damien, threw his first passing TD as a Crusader on the very next play of Saint Louis' ensuing series, a 29-yard strike to Chance Beyer to make it a 20-0 game with 4:55 to play in the first quarter.

Waianae (0-2) saw some life on offense on its ensuing series and was able to move the ball down the field thanks to a roughing-the-punter penalty and an encroachment penalty against Saint Louis on a fourth-and-1 situation near midfield.

The Seariders then reached the red zone after Justin Tacgere's 30-yard pass play to Kenneth Joseph Jr., but the drive stalled at the Saint Louis 17-yard line.

Looking to get some points, Waianae sent Elijah Aiken out to kick a 34-yard field goal but holder Chad Pule fooled everyone with a scramble out of an aborted fake kick pass play to get the Seariders on the board, making the score 20-6 with 9:49 remaining in the first half.

Saint Louis quickly responded with de Laura's 48-yard TD pass to Roman Wilson, 46 seconds after the Seariders' score. The junior quarterback also threw 37 and 33-yard completions on Saint Louis' next series to set up Kainalu Tumpap's 1-yard TD run, and he was able to find Koali Nishigaya for a 35-yard TD pass just before the end of the first half to give the Crusaders a 41-6 lead at the break.

The Crusaders' rout continued when Malosi Sam started the second half with a 77-yard kickoff return to the house. Sam also bookended Saint Louis' second half scoring with a 61-yard TD run late in the fourth quarter.