Football
Saint Louis' Lee marks return with challenging non-league schedule




It is only fitting that the winningest football coach in Hawaii high school history is welcomed back with the most challenging non-league schedule.

Cal Lee, who turns 68 in October, returns for his third stint as coach for the Saint Louis Crusaders. At 239-32-5 over 21 seasons (1972, 1982 to 2001, all at Saint Louis), he is the only 200-game winner and owns the highest winning percentage at .875 among coaches with triple-digit coaching victories. He spent eight years (2004 to 2011) as an assistant at the University of Hawaii, including as defensive coordinator, and was defensive coordinator at Kalani the previous two seasons.

The Crusaders, who finished third in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu Division I last season under Matt Wright, will open their non-league schedule at Mililani, 6:30 p.m. Saturday at John Kauinana Stadium in a game that will be streamed live by ScoringLive.com. The Trojans, who return All-Hawaii running back Vavae Malepeai and defensive lineman Rex Manu, are the defending O'ahu Interscholastic Association Red champions and state Division I runners-up.

If that wasn't enough, two weeks later Saint Louis will meet defending California Interscholastic Federation Open Division champion St. John Bosco of Bellflower, Calif., 7:30 p.m. Aug. 22 at Hawaiian Airlines Field at Aloha Stadium. The Braves beat a foe familiar to Saint Louis - De La Salle of Concord, Calif. - for the title to cap a 16-0 season and finish with a No. 1 national raking by MaxPreps. The Braves' preseason national ranking is No. 11. Saint Louis lost to De La Salle in 2002, 31-21, a season after Lee had handed the reins to defensive coordinator Delbert Tengan.

"I really think it's a blessing," Lee said of the non-league games. "It's a test for us. They're quality teams, well-coached, (they have) good players…I think these preseason games are going to help us find out what we need to do to become better."

St. John Bosco will be led by quarterback Josh Rose (6-4, 205), who has verbally committed to UCLA. He is one of the top 20 recruits for this season, according to MaxPreps.

"When you win the state championship of California, that says volumes about how good a program that is," Lee said.

Since Saint Louis started playing football in 1920, it has played schools from the Mainland 23 times, compiling a 17-5-1 record, 13-1-1 under Lee's tenure. His only loss was against CIF Southern Section power Canyon, which won 40-0 in 1990, to snap the Crusaders' 55-game win streak, which is still a state record.

After Mililani and St. John Bosco, Saint Louis is rewarded by opening the ILH season against defending Division I state champion Punahou, Aug. 29, at the Stadium.

Kamehameha, which has a bye during the ILH's opening weekend, will continue its non-league play when it travels to Loomis, Calif., to play Del Oro High on Aug. 29.

The Del Oro Golden Eagles have been a contender in the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section in the past decade, winning four section titles and three runners-up. They finished 13-3 last year and was runner-up in the CIF Division I state championship, losing to Bakersfield, 56-26. Saint Louis beat then-nationally ranked Bakersfield in 1991, 30-13, at Aloha Stadium.

The Warriors open their non-league slate Friday at Waianae. The two met in Oahu Prep Bowls in 1975 (Kamehameha winning, 20-14) and 1978 (Waianae winning, 14-6).

Punahou will travel to Leilehua Friday. The JV game will start at 5 p.m. with the varsity to follow. The teams have not met since the 2008 Division I state title game, won by the Buffanblu, 38-7.

Lee Leslie makes his debut as Kahuku football coach when the Red Raiders host Campbell on Friday. The Sabers ended the Red Raiders' season last year in the OIA third-place game for the league's final Division I state berth.

The 51st Father Bray Memorial Football Classic is Saturday at the Stadium. Pac-Five plays Kalani at 4 p.m. with host Iolani meeting Kamehameha-Maui at 7 p.m.

Because of the OIA Division I's (formerly Red) new format, this weekend is the only tuneup for the OIA schools. Both OIA Division I and Division II start regular-season play next weekend. Some schools, such as D1 Red Kaiser and D2 Radford, did not schedule non-league games. Joining them will be Waialua and Aiea. Their Friday meeting was canceled because Waialua does not have enough players, according to OIA football coordinator Harold Tanaka.

Public schools statewide might see a shortage of players over the next two weeks because of the academic probationary period.

The only other development regarding scheduling involves the OIA. With the new public schools bus contract, OIA games on Fridays will an hour later at 6 p.m. with the JVs. The varsity games that follow will start at about 8:30 p.m. The exception this weekend is when Leilehua hosts Punahou. Punahou, of course, is not affected by the DOE bus schedule.



Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at [email protected].




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