Saint Louis WR Devan Stubblefield elevates for a pass reception over Baldwin's Preston Paranada. Ben Juan | Special to SL

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Sat, Aug 10, 2013 @ War Memorial [ 5:00 pm ]

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Saint Louis

55

Baldwin

0

Final	1	2	3	4	T
Saint Louis (6-3-0)	28	13	7	7	55
Baldwin (6-5-0)	0	0	0	0	0

• Pass
• Rush
• Rec

Jonovan-Taje Akaka-Foster 133 yd

Ryder Kuhns 207 yd 3 TD

Dusty Flores 27 yd

Adam Noga 86 yd 1 TD

Kawelakeapono Kaeo-Mata 67 yd

Devan Stubblefield 133 yd 3 TD

WAILUKU - It doesn't matter what island as Saint Louis continued its dominance of Baldwin in a 55-0 non-league prep football win Saturday afternoon.

A War Memorial Stadium crowd of about 1,000, including a small contingent of Saint Louis supporters, saw the Crusaders take a 41-0 lead at the half, forcing the mercy rule running clock for the second half. Though there were a lot of points, it wasn't as noticeable on the 6-square-feet temporary scoreboard that was hoisted up at the bottom of the giant stadium scoreboard. The original scoreboard apparently suffered damage from Tropical Depression Flossie.

Last year on O'ahu, Saint Louis beat Baldwin, 48-0.

Junior quarterback Ryder Kuhns completed 9 of 10 passes for 207 yards and three touchdowns. Senior wide receiver Devan Stubblefield, who has an offer from the University of Hawaii,  caught five passes for 133 yards and three TDs. Running back Adam Noga had 86 yards on 10 carries, including a TD. They did all their damage in one half.

"He's amazing," Kuhn said of Stubblefield. "He's fast. He's agile. He can do anything. He's got hands."

Kuhns was hot, starting off 9 for 9.

"I thought that Ryder executed," Saint Louis second-year coach Matt Wright said. "We still have a lot of work to to. He took what was given. He went through his progressions. He's developing into the quarterback that we want and we need. We're still a ways away, but we're heading in the right direction."

Actually, the damage could've been worse. After taking the opening kickoff to their 45, the Crusaders drove to the Bears' 25 after two plays. Noga broke free on second-and-9 and had a clear path to the end zone, but lost control of the ball, which rolled into the end zone and out of bounds for a touchback.

But the Bears were three downs and punted away 19 yards to just the Baldwin 38. Two plays later, Kuhns hit Stubblefield on a 36-yard TD strike to ignite the onslaught.

The Crusaders scored on their next two series - on Kuhns TD passes of 32 yards to Stubblefield and 49 to Jordan Eugenio - in taking a 21-0 lead still in the first quarter.

The Saint Louis defense got into the act when DB Jaisen Sanchez returned an interception 30 yards for a score to make it 28-0 with 1:05 left in the first quarter.

The Bears showed some life on their ensuing possession and reached the Saints' 46 after a 16-yard pass from Jonovan-Taje Akaka-Foster to Kawelakeapono Kaeo-Mata. But on first down, an Akaka-Foster fumble was recovered by Saint Louis' Peter Sagapolutele at the Saints' 46. Nine plays later, Noga scored on a 3-yard run with 6:51 left in the half. The PAT missed, keeping it 34-0.

More frustration for the Bears came when their punter couldn't handle a snap and was downed at their own 27. It took Saint Louis two plays to score on a 22-yard TD pass from backup Colton Nascimento to Stubblefield to make it 41-0 with 3:43 left in the half.

The Bears took the second-half kickoff, but end up having their punt blocked at their own 22. The Crusaders capitalized with Nascimento's 11-yard TD pass to Javin Spears to make it 48-0 in the third quarter.

The Crusaders opened the fourth quarter with a 67-yard drive capped by RB Raymond Caayon's 46-yard TD run to make it 55-0 with 9:06 left.

Saint Louis used Nascimento and Jimmy Nunuha at quarterback after Kuhns, who played the first six series of the game. Nascimento was 2 of 3 for 33 yards and two TDs, while Nunuha was 3 of 7 for 71 yards. Wright credited the tutelage of QBs coach Vinnie Paasas.

"Ryder is our guy right now, but we've got some great young quarterbacks who are right on his heels," Wright said. "The competition is good. It's good to get these guys on the field in game situations."

Akaka-Foster, who played on the JV last year, was 12 of 24 for 133 yards with one interception. Kaeo-Mata had five receptions for 67 yards to pace the Bears.

Despite the lopsided score, Baldwin's first-year coach Keneke Pacheco was pleased with the effort.

"I was proud of our guys," Pacheco said. "They kept playing to the end. We wanted to see. This was an evaluation game for us. They're (the Crusaders) a great team. If we want to compete in the states, we have to become that kind of team."

The Bears started the game with about half of their team not suited because of academic issues or didn't have the mandatory minimum practice days to play. Meanwhile, Saint Louis suited 74 players.

"We had 26 (players) out," Pacheco said. "About half of them just came out and didn't have the mandatory days. The 34 we had out here today, I enjoyed watching them play. They played with a lot of heart. They had some good mannerisms out there. They really kept their composure."

It doesn't get any easier for either team. Saint Louis plays two-time defending state champion Kahuku Saturday at Aloha Stadium. Baldwin, which will open MIL play on Aug. 23 against Maui, will have another non-league game when it takes on Mission Viejo (Calif.) on Aug. 30 at War Memorial.

Although the Kahuku game for Saint Louis is still non-league, don't look for the Crusaders to test out other players. They're going at it like a title game.

"It's Kahuku," Wright said. 'You forget about the fact that it's preseason. Any time Kahuku and Saint Louis play, it's not a preseason game. But we're going into it with the same mentality that we go into every day at practice, which is we're going to execute to our highest capacity one play at a time. The fact that it's Kahuku, there's going to be more attention on it, but our focus is still executing what we have to do."