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Brandon Ching | ScoringLiveAugust 31, 2019, 12:22am
Fri, Aug 30, 2019 @ Aloha Stadium [ 7:30 pm ]
HALAWA — In a battle of nationally-ranked football powers, Saint Louis defended the home turf with a convincing 31-19 win over Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas) in the Aloha Football Classic at Hawaiian Financial FCU Field at Aloha Stadium Friday night.
The Crusaders, the top-ranked team in Hawaii and ranked No. 12 in the USA Today Super 25 Expert Rankings, improved to 3-0 overall on the season as they won their 29th-game in a row.
"It was a great feeling to represent the state and for the whole team to show everybody what the 808 is about," Saint Louis linebacker Nick Herbig said of the win.
"Winning is great, but we can always get better. This is bigger than Saint Louis and or bigger than football. We put Hawaii on the map for sure," Saint Louis receiver Roman Wilson added.
The Gaels, who beat Orem (Utah) 40-7 to open their season and are ranked No. 13 in the Super 25, fell to 1-1.
Crusader quarterback Jayden de Laura threw for 297 yards on 23 of 30 passing, two touchdowns and one interception and added 57 rushing yards.
Koali Nishigaya had a game-high 10 catches for 104 yards and a score. Three other Crusaders receivers had more than 60 receiving yards. Roman Wilson had 69 yards and hauled in de Laura's first touchdown pass, Matt Sykes added four receptions for 64 yards and Isaac Silva had six catches for 60 yards.
"Everyone on our team is special. Jayden did a beautiful job, Koali did a beautiful job. Everything was just perfect so there's nothing else you can ask for," Wilson said.
After the Gaels punted on their opening possession, Saint Louis needed 10 plays to get into the end zone as de Laura threw a 31-yard touchdown pass to Wilson for a 7-0 lead.
"He was pressed on me on the inside and we watched it on film a lot. I knew I had to get a good release off the line and he (Jayden) was going to throw it. Jayden threw a beautiful pass and the o-line blocked long enough so it was perfect," Wilson said of the opening touchdown.
De Laura capped a seven-play drive that started at the Bishop Gorman 48 with a 10-yard touchdown strike to Nishigaya to make it 14-0.
The Crusaders had a 17-yard touchdown pass negated due to a holding penalty, but three plays later, Kaohu Kamakawiwoole scored on a 5-yard run for a 21-0 lead.
Five out of their six first half offensive possessions resulted in punts before the Gaels found a groove and responded with a seven-play, 87-yard drive that took 2 minutes, 16 seconds. Micah Bowens found Rome Odunze for a 12-yard touchdown to get Bishop Gorman on the scoreboard for the first time with 3:17 to go in the first half.
The Gaels were held to 260 yards of net offense with the Crusaders containing their speedy playmakers.
"It took a lot out of us. They are a great team, well-coached and they have a great offense. We had to pull within ourselves to come out with a strong defense in the second half," Herbig said of the team's defensive effort.
Bishop Gorman's Dahlin Mesake was injured as he was trying to tackle de Laura and was transported off the field in an ambulance with 2 minutes and 55 seconds left before halftime. The game resumed at about 9:05 p.m. and finished at 10:41 p.m.
The Gaels closed the gap after Charlotin Charles intercepted a de Laura pass off a deflection in the end zone, and nine plays later, Bowens' 11-yard keeper brought Bishop Gorman within eight, 21-13, after the kick failed.
Jadyn Ott couldn't get a handle on what he thought was a pass as he jogged to pick up what was actually a loose ball via lateral. Lawaialani Brown and Herbig fired in to hit Ott simultaneously, with the former knocking the ball out for the latter to return 11 yards to pad the lead to 28-13.
"Coach always tells us to go through the whistle. I didn't hear a whistle. It looked like a backwards pass too so I just kept going through the play, the ball bounced right into my hands and I was there to make a play. The boys were getting down and they were getting the momentum so it was key for us to get that back," Herbig said of the scoop-and-score.
Lason Napuunoa was 4 for 4 on PAT kicks and made a 30-yard field goal.
Bowens threw his second touchdown pass of the night to Odunze for the game's final score.
Bowens was 12 of 21 for 163 passing yards, two scores and had 44 rushing yards. Odunze caught six passes for 107 yards.
Crusaders have a four-game home stand at Aloha Stadium starting with Interscholastic League of Honolulu rival Kamehameha on Sept. 6.
"This win doesn't mean anything for our season, so we have to continue to go back to practice and get better for the next team," Wilson said.
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