Kahuku and Saint Louis battled for the HHSAA Open Division football championship on Friday at the University of Hawaii’s Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Complex, with the Crusaders coming out on top 17-10 in front of a crowd of 8,566.
Saint Louis completes Year 1 of the Tupu Alualu 9-3 overall, winning its first state title since 2019.
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Meanwhile, Kahuku season ended at 9-5 overall, its quest for four straight state title stopped short.
The first quarter was a scoreless, defensive struggle between both teams. Saint Louis turned the ball over on downs in the first drive of the game at the Kahuku 2 in a drive that lasted eight minutes.
The Crusaders got on the board with a 1-yard Titan Lacaden rushing score with 1:38 left in the first half. Kahuku evened the score 90 seconds later on a 34-yard Mana Carvalho reception from Matai Fuiava on fourth-and-long.
Saint Louis jumped back in front on a 3-yard Lacaden score with 3:43 left in the third.
After Stone Ah Quin intercepted a Fuiava pass near the end of the third quarter, the Crusaders drove deep into Kahuku territory and took a 17-7 lead with 8:39 left on a 22-yard Makena Kauai field goal.
Manoa Kahalepuna kept Kahuku in the game with a 36-yard field goal with 7:04 left, cutting the deficit to 17-10.
Kahuku forced a Saint Louis punt and got all the way to the Saint Louis 11. After both teams exhausted all their timeouts, the Red Raiders turned the ball over on downs at the Saint Louis 8 with 32 seconds left, allowing the Crusaders to kneel out the clock.
Lacaden ran for 155 yards on 31 carries and also caught a pass for 11 yards.
Defensively, Mana Carvalho and Malaki Soliai-Tui each had 11 tackles and a tackle for loss each for the Red Raiders.
For Saint Louis, Dallas Pelen-Talalotu had a team-high 10 tackles with a tackle for loss.
Friday’s game was a battle between two of Hawaii’s biggest high school football powers, as well as the two lone winners of the HHSAA’s Open Division since its inception in 2016. The Crusaders won four straight from 2016 to 2019, while Kahuku won three straight from 2021 to 2023. There was no state football tournament held in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.