Saint Francis' Micah Kalei returned an interception 45 yards for a touchdown in an upset win over Damien. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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The Saint Francis Saints' football team have come a long way since their days as the perennial cellar-dwellers of the Interscholastic League of Honolulu.

Saint Francis snapped a 16-game ILH losing streak with two consecutive league wins to close out its regular season schedule to give itself chance at claiming the ILH crown should Pac-Five beat Damien Saturday.

Like many teams, the Saints have had to endure the constant ebb and flow of a season. Saint Francis rose some eyebrows with its 62-0 win over Anuenue in its preseason-opener, but saw running back Tyson Shimabukuro go down with an anterior cruciate ligament sprain in a 18-6 loss to Konawaena a week later. 

The Saints got back into the win column with a 46-6 drubbing over Honokaa the following week, but failed to score a point in their final game of the preseason and dropped their first two ILH games of the year to sit with a 2-4, 0-2 record.

It was at that point when Saint Francis did a little soul searching. Offensively the Saints lacked a base formation and were tinkering with multiple sets. Sophomore quarterback Scott McLeod had some success running a spread offense early in the year, but suffered back spasms for much of the season. To fill the void the Saints thrusted DB/WR Wembley Mailei behind center and hoped for the best.

The results weren't pleasing. In his first two games at quarterback Mailei was 8-of-27 pass for 81 yards and two interceptions.

"Before the season and as the season progressed, not having an experienced quarterback posed various problems," said first-year coach Kip Akana. "There was issues for us. We constantly were trying to seek an identity and there were times that we probably overthought things. That in itself, has probably cost us games as opposed to identifying what we are and sticking with it instead of trying out all these offensive sets."

Knowing that the passing game will not work, the Saints put the onus on their beefy offensive line that has a 6-foot-2, 254-pound average. With left tackle Supi Mailei, left guard Kawika Cameron, center Singi Pututau, right guard Fia Mafua, right tackle Saia Kava and rotational guys Lua Fietonu and Trinity Fautana leading the way, the Saints went over the 200-yard rushing mark in both of their league wins.

"They understand that the offense is dependent on them," said Akana. "They play as a unit and they play for each other. They're just a hard force to stop when they're all playing as one."

Saint Francis was also able to get Shimabukuro back at full capacity in its wins over Pac-Five and Damien. In the two wins the sophomore running back racked up 238 yards and two touchdowns on 45 carries.

With success running the ball, the Saints rarely went to the airwaves. Mailei attempted four passes in the 12-9 win over Pac-Five and had just one attempt in the 21-6 win over Damien.

"They just came in and decided to be physical with us," said Damien coach Eddie Klaneski. "We knew from the beginning of the year that they were going to be big and physical because they had the big guys. They just stuck to their game plan and they knew what they were doing."

Help from a former preps legend

Although it was a simple and bland, Saint Francis' offensive game plan was a winning formula. In fact, the Saints could be clad in red and you could have sworn that they were the Kahuku Red Raiders. That's because former Kahuku coach Siuaki Livai has assisted the Saints in their turnaround.

Livai, who led the Red Raiders to four state Division I championships during his tenure, has been around the sidelines and a couple of practices for most of the season because he has family and friends in the Saint Francis' program. When the Saints were down 0-2 in ILH play, they sought out Livai for advice.

"We were searching for answers at that time," said Akana. "Livai was willing to give his advice as long as coaches were asking and willing to listen. He didn't want to come out and say this is what you guys are doing wrong and what not. All our coaches were in agreement and we reached out to him."

Livai helped the Saints get back down to basics and got them moving in the right direction.

"What he brought to the table wasn't groundbreaking, but he made things a lot more clear," said Akana. "He helped simply a lot of things and helped us as a staff nail our focus and our strategy down."

Outlook for the future

Now the question is this: can Saint Francis maintain this success in years to come or was this a one-hit wonder? The Saints' performance in the Intermediate Division suggest that teams should start to worry about them.

Saint Francis went 0-6 in its inaugural season in the Intermediate Division under Akana, but turned it around to go 6-0, 5-1 in the next two seasons. Even though Akana moved up to the varsity program this year, the Saints went 5-1 and claimed the Division II title with Kaniala Makainai at the helm.

The Saints will not lose much to graduation also. With just six seniors on the squad, only three are starters.

"We're very optimistic," said Akana. "We don't like to talk about it too much, but we believe Saint Francis' better days are still in front of us."