Saint Louis' quarterback AJ Bianco accumulated 478 yards of net offense against the Warriors. Bianco threw one touchdown and rushed for two to help the Crusaders clinch their sixth straight HHSAA state tournament appearance. CJ Caraang | SL

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Fri, Nov 5, 2021 @ Aloha Stadium [ 7:00 pm ]

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Saint Louis

35

Kamehameha

21

Final	1	2	3	4	T
Saint Louis (6-4-0)	7	7	14	7	35
Kamehameha (3-3-0)	7	7	0	7	21

• Pass
• Rush
• Rec

Kealii Ah Yat 162 yd 1 TD

Alexander Bianco 358 yd 1 TD

Kealii Ah Yat 41 yd 2 TD

Alexander Bianco 117 yd 2 TD

Raiden Morris 48 yd

Trech Kekahuna 125 yd 1 TD

HALAWA — Make it six in a row for Saint Louis. 

AJ Bianco passed for 358 yards, ran for another 117 and factored into three touchdowns to lead top-ranked Saint Louis to a 35-21 win over No. 2 Kamehameha at Aloha Stadium Friday night. 

The Crusaders (5-3) captured their sixth consecutive Interscholastic League of Honolulu crown and will be the league's lone representative in the Open Division state tournament in December. 

After it lost three of its first five games to start the year — including a pair of defeats at the hands of the Warriors (3-3) — Saint Louis has won three in a row. 

"I think the way we were just able to overcome adversity this season, with two early losses to Kamehameha, I think it just showed a lot about our team, the character, the guys we got in that locker room and the coaches and it's just a credit to all those guys just sticking together and coming out on top," said Bianco, who certainly displayed his own share of resiliency Friday. 

On Bianco's first dropback, he was sacked by Kamehameha's Hunter Ah Loo. On his very first pass attempt — one play later — Bianco was intercepted by Ah Loo. But Bianco completed a string of 16 straight passes and went on to finish 19-of-22 passing. 

Bianco's only touchdown pass of the night went for 21 yards to Trech Kekahuna and gave Saint Louis its largest lead with 4:24 left in the third quarter. The scoring play came on the heels of a failed fourth-down conversion by Kamehameha, when punter Dwight Apao tried to run for a first down, but came up six yards short of the yard to gain. 

On the very next play, Bianco lofted a pass over the middle for Kekahuna, who hauled it in for the touchdown. 

"That was kind of like the first time they gave us that look all night really. They were real tight in the box, the backside safety, he was real tight on Trech and I'll take Trech against anybody in the state," Bianco said. "He just made a great play, ran a great route and he gave me a lane and I was able to put it on him."

Following the extra point by Lason Napuunoa, the Crusaders held a 28-14 lead. 

Kekahuna's TD grab came just 75 seconds after Saint Louis broke a 14-all tie with Mana Catrett's 10-yard TD run. That scoring play was set-up by Bianco's 32-yard completion to Kekahuna three plays prior to move the chains on third-and-6.

"Huge. Huge, huge, yeah," Bianco said of the back-to-back scores. 

"I felt like right there was where the momentum really starting swinging, you know. We punched that first one in to go up seven and then the defense had a huge stand — three-and-out — got the fourth-down stop and then being able to score the next play, I thought that was the turning point in the game," he said. 

Kamehameha made it a one-score game early in the fourth quarter with quarterback Kealii Ah Yat's 1-yard bootleg. Winston Freitas added the PAT to cut the Saint Louis lead to 28-21 a minute into the final stanza. 

But Bianco and the Crusaders weren't about to let the Warriors back in this one. They orchestrated a 14-play, 82-yard drive that took nearly seven minutes off the clock and culminated with a 1-yard TD run by Bianco on an option-keeper. 

Bianco registered seven carries on the drive, including the final five plays of the possession. Twice he converted third downs with his legs, but after a 5-yard pick-up on an option-keeper to set-up third-and-goal from the 1, Bianco struggled to catch his breath. 

Saint Louis coach Ron Lee called timeout to buy some time for his quarterback to compose himself. 

"I landed on the ball," Bianco explained, "but the coaches were nice enough to call timeout and then I was good to go."

Bianco was stopped for no gain on a sneak on third down, but was able to find the end zone from a yard out on fourth-and-goal with Bianco's short TD burst. The insurance score extended the Crusaders' lead to 35-21 with 4:02 to play 

"I just think coach Ron has all the confidence in the world in us and I think he just wanted to just make a statement," Bianco said of the decision to go for it on fourth down rather than kick a field goal. 

Bianco finished with 20 carries and averaged 6.0 yards per rush. 

Saint Louis tallied 257 total rushing yards, nearly double its per-game average of 130 rushing yards prior to Friday. 

Bianco's first TD run tied it at 7 with about four minutes left in the first quarter. The Crusaders took their first lead at the 9:47 mark of the second quarter on a Hikaa Dancil-Evans 7-yard TD run.

Kamehameha opened the scoring with Ah Yat's 1-yard QB Sneak that was set-up by Ah Loo's interception and 24-yard return inside the red zone

The Warriors' other first-half score also came off of a defensive takeaway. Ah Loo stripped the ball from Saint Louis slotback Jaysen Peters-de Laura and Kamehameha's Evan Rau recovered the fumble. Five plays later, Ah Yat tossed a high-arcing pass to Blaze Kamoku for a 19-yard touchdown. That evened the score at 14 inside of the final minute of the first half. 

The Crusaders nearly struck lightning in a bottle on the final play before halftime. Bianco connected with wide receiver Devon Tauaefa on a deep pass down the left side. Tauaefa got behind a defensive back, made the reception, but could not keep his footing and was ruled down at the 3-yard line; It was a gain of 57 yards, but there was no time left on the clock. 

The teams have split their four meetings against each other this season. Kamehameha won the first two meetings by a combined five points en route to the ILH first round title. However, Saint Louis handily defeated Kamehameha a week ago, 41-7, in the ILH second round final, which forced Friday's winner-take-all championship showdown.

"Yeah, that was a battle, for sure," Bianco said. "That was a hard-fought game and we knew it was gonna take that; it was gonna take everything that we had and I told the guys at halftime, ‘whatever it took, it didn't matter.' It just mattered that we got the win."

Saint Louis will now have a chance at a fifth straight Open Division state title. 

"It feels great," Bianco said. "Different team, different year, but I love this team and I think we're gonna do special things."

Tauaefa had six receptions for 136 yards and Kekahuna recorded six catches for 125 yards in the win. 

Kamehameha star running back Noah Bartley, who injured his ankle in the 34-point loss to the Crusaders last week, did not play in the first half. In his stead, Micah Mahiai got the start at running back, but Bartley did play limited snaps in the second half. 

The Warriors were held to 261 yards of total offense. Ah Yat finished 16-of-23 passing for 162 yards. 

Kamehameha was seeking its first ILH championship since 2009. 

The First Hawaiian Bank/HHSAA Open Division State Football Championships get underway with the semifinal round on Saturday, Dec. 18. The semifinal winners will meet for the state title on Thursday, Dec. 23.