Punahou's Kanawai Noa completes a pass reception ahead of St. Louis' Tanner Oshiro and takes to the end-zone for a 74-yard touchdown. Sean Nakamura | SL

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Punahou's Dakota Torres finds his way over St. Louis defenders and into the endzone. Amber Popovich | Special to SL

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Punahou linebackers Tumuauatasi Tuinei (3) and Boyd Chung (6) halt an advancing St. Louis running back Adam Noga. Kristen Izumigawa | Special to SL

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St. Louis' Tanner Oshiro, left, and Samuela Mafua, right, sandwiches Punahou's Wayne Taulapapa. Sean Nakamura | SL

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Punahou's Wayne Taulapapa carried 22 times for 196 yards in a match against St. Louis. Sean Nakamura | SL

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HALAWA — Turns out, there won't be the need for any tiebreakers after all.

Punahou, the top-ranked team in the ScoringLive/OC16 Division I Power Rankings, went back-and-forth with fourth-ranked Saint Louis in an Interscholastic League of Honolulu game Friday night, but ultimately held on for the 35-32 win before a crowd of about 7,000 fans at Hawaiian Airlines Field at Aloha Stadium.

Quarterback Larry Tuileta passed for 298 yards and five touchdowns and running back Wayne Taulapapa ran for 196 yards on 22 carries to help the Buffanblu improve to 7-0 overall and 5-0 in the ILH.

With the win, Punahou will earn the outright No. 1 seed — and a bye to the title game — in this month's ILH D1 postseason. Saint Louis, which has now lost to both Kamehameha and Punahou, fell to 5-2 overall and 3-2 in the ILH. The Warriors and Crusaders will play in the semifinal round, with the winner moving on to face the Buffanblu. A Saint Louis win Friday would have meant a three-way tie amongst all schools in the D1 race, with a "card draw" to determine the seeding.

"You know, we talk about mental toughness and playing to the whistle and playing all four quarters and fortunately so far this year, we haven't had to put the guys in that long," Punahou coach Kale Ane said. "But you know, they were ready, they're conditioned, they're mentally-tough and to play four quarters against a team like this is really rewarding."

Saint Louis took a 25-21 lead with just over eight minutes left in the third quarter — the first time that Punahou trailed all season — on Ryder Kuhns' 46-yard touchdown pass to Devon Stubblefield.

"They came through when they had to," Ane said of his team. "Saint Louis is great, you know? No one's going to stop them and they put tremendous pressure on you the whole game and they keep plugging away and that's what makes a game like this great because they don't give it and you've got to earn it and our kids definitely earned it tonight."

The Buffanblu reclaimed the lead for good late in the third quarter on Tuileta's 30-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open Dakota Torres. Tuileta stood in the pocket and took a shot from a Crusader defender just as he delivered the pass to the wide-open Torres over the middle. Charles McDonald made the PAT to put his team ahead 28-21 after three quarters.

Punahou extended its lead to 35-25 minutes into the fourth quarter on a 5-yard touchdown pass from Tuileta to Torres to cap an eight-play, 82-yard drive.

"It took a lot of drive from ourselves and it's a good challenge for us," said Tuileta, who completed 20 of 35 pass attempts, including his final six throws. "Coming into this game, we knew Saint Louis was going to be awesome and that's what they showed us. (It was) their homecoming, they had a lot of spirit, they had a lot of fire coming into this game and that's football. You have to come into the game expecting the best from the other team and that's exactly what they gave us — their best — and they gave us a run for our money. Fortunately, it ended up our way."

Saint Louis came back on its ensuing drive, which spanned 80 yards in 12 plays, took nearly four minutes off the clock and was highlighted by a 2-yard touchdown pass from Kuhns to Drew Kobayashi. After the Matthew Mariota PAT, Punahou's lead was cut to 35-32 with 5:40 to play, but the Crusaders never got the ball back.

"This team has come a long way, so we just try to better ourselves in everything we do," said Taulapapa, who rushed for 128 yards on 13 carries after halftime, thanks largely to a triple-option attack out of the pistol formation. "That's a play we just practiced a few days ago — we didn't start using it until later in the second half, but yeah, it opened up a lot of stuff for us."

Punahou opened the scoring midway through the first quarter on a 23-yard touchdown pass from Tuileta to Micah Maa, who beat the defensive back on the post route. Charles McDonald added the extra point to give the Buffanblu a 7-0 lead.

Saint Louis got an answer early in the second quarter on a 69-yard scoring strike from Kuhns to Spencer Johnson, who was streaking wide-open down the seam on the play. The extra point was blocked by Punahou's Tumua Tuinei.

Tuileta struck right back for the Buffanblu with a 7-yard touchdown pass to Kanawai Noa, which was set-up by a 66-yard connection between the same duo just three plays earlier. McDonald's PAT gave Punahou a 14-6 lead with nine minutes and 21 seconds left in the second quarter.

"It always starts with the (offensive) line, they did a great job protecting and opening holes and giving Tui time to throw to Kanawai and Dakota came through as well," Ane said. "Kanawai is a special kid and Tui, you know Tui will get the ball to him."

Matthew Mariota pulled the Crusaders within 14-12 with a 45-yard fumble return off a fumble by Tuileta for the scoop and score. Christopher Quinn's extra point pulled Saint Louis within a point, but the Buffanblu got a quick score on the very next play. Tuileta hit a wide-open Noa over the middle for a 74-yard touchdown pass with 4:20 left in the first half. Noa finished with six receptions for 169 yards.

Kuhns and company came back on their next drive, which covered 80 yards in just four plays and was capped by his 59-yard touchdown pass Devon Stubblefield, who caught the ball near the Punahou 25-yard line and dragged a pair of defenders across the goal line. The PAT was no good and Punahou took a 21-19 lead into halftime.

Quinn had a chance to give the Crusaders the lead just before the intermission, but his 28-yard field goal attempt was wide left.

Kuhns finished with 326 yards on 21-of-34 passing with four touchdowns. Stubblefield caught 11 balls for 185 yards — both game-highs.

Punahou completes the regular season against Pac-Five Friday at Aloha Stadium, which will follow the 5 p.m. game between Saint Louis and Saint Francis.