Saint Louis defensive back Ronson Timbreza recorded three interceptions, including one for a touchdown, in a win over Kamehameha. Steve Erler | Special to SL

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Thu, Oct 1, 2015 @ Aloha Stadium [ 6:00 pm ]

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Saint Louis

51

Kamehameha

36

Final	1	2	3	4	T
Saint Louis (9-2-0)	0	13	31	7	51
Kamehameha (5-4-0)	12	10	0	14	36

• Pass
• Rush
• Rec

Justice Young 387 yd 2 TD

Tua Tagovailoa 322 yd 4 TD

Jordan Bayudan 91 yd

Tua Tagovailoa 32 yd 1 TD

Kumoku Noa 196 yd 2 TD

Drew Kobayashi 121 yd 1 TD

HALAWA — Twelve minutes made all the difference Thursday night.

Saint Louis used a 31-point third quarter to help erase a 16-point second-quarter deficit to hold off Kamehameha, 51-36, in an Interscholastic League of Honolulu second-round game.

A crowd of about 4,500 fans at Hawaiian Airlines Field at Aloha Stadium witnessed the second-ranked Crusaders (5-1 overall, 3-1 ILH D1) get seven takeaways from their defense that led to 25 points. They scored 38 straight points after trailing the fifth-ranked Warriors (4-3, 1-3) for the entire first half.

Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa threw for 322 yards and four touchdowns — to four different receivers — on 21-of-35 passing. He was not intercepted. Drew Kobayashi had a season-high 121 receiving yards on six grabs and scored a touchdown for the second straight game.

"First and foremost all glory to God," said Tagovailoa, who also rushed for a 6-yard touchdown to close out the scoring. "We couldn't have done it without Him. He's blessed our coaches with the wisdom to be able to teach us, but it was a great team win for us tonight."

Kobayashi and Ronson Young each hauled in a 58-yard touchdown pass from Tagovailoa, who also threw scoring strikes of 14 yards to Leelan Oasay — which ignited the Crusaders' string of 38 consecutive points — and 59 yards to Jahvin Spear, who was left wide open on a fourth-and-2.

Defensive back Ronson Timbreza intercepted three passes, including a 52-yard pick-6 late in the third quarter that gave Saint Louis a 44-22 lead.

"(Warriors' wide receiver Kumoku Noa) was all the way wide out so I just read the play and I bit on the slant and I got the pick," said Timbreza, who now has five interceptions on the year. "(Seven takeaways) sounds really good, but we've still got to work on staying together and believing in God, and just stick together as one whole (team)."

Noa notched game-highs of nine receptions for 196 yards and caught two TD passes from quarterback Justice Young, who threw for a career-best 287 yards on 27-of-51 passing, but was intercepted four times. Young, the third different starting quarterback for Kamehameha this season, bettered his mark of 370 pass yards in a win over Iolani six days prior.

Isaiah Tufaga and Kaimana Young also intercepted passes for Saint Louis, turned it over just once, which resulted in a 14-yard scoop-and-score by Kanoa Gilliland early in the fourth quarter. That came just eight seconds after Kanoa Shannon's 19-yard run that finally halted the Crusaders' string of unanswered points. Tufaga also forced a fumble that was recovered by teammate Isaac Slade-Matautia and returned 42 yards inside the red zone in the third quarter. That eventually led a 25-yard field goal by Jacob Tobias.

"It's very motivating, especially when you're down by so much, and you come back with the win," Tagovailoa said of the takeaways by the Crusaders' defense. "Our defense did an outstanding job, Like I said it was a great team win but all glory goes to God."

Kamehameha came out guns blazing to start the game.

Kainalu Martin tackled Young in the end zone after a short pass for a safety to open the scoring. Less than three minutes later, Adam Stack drilled a 43-yard field goal — his first of two in the first half. Late in the first quarter, Young threw a 1-yard TD pass to Noa to give the Warriors a 12-0 lead.

Noa's second TD was a highlight reel in itself. After pulling down the Young pass, Noa shook a defensive back on a vicious juke near the left sideline before working his way back to the middle of the field, leaving the rest of the defense in his dust for a 79-yard score.

Kamehameha stretched its lead to 22-6 following Stack's 36-yard field goal with 5:07 left in the second quarter.

"I just thought the kids played hard in the second half," Saint Louis coach Cal Lee said. "They know what was at stake and they made some plays. We made some plays, big plays."

After Gilliland's defensive score with 11:46 left in the game, Fatu Sua-Godinet hooked up with Noa for the two-point conversion to pull the Warriors within 44-36, but their next two offensive possessions ended up with interceptions and they turned it over on downs on their final drive of the game.

"We went in the locker room, all came together as one, had a prayer and just thank the Lord and believed in the Lord," Timbreza said.

Lee added, "I think it's a mindset with what you've got to do. This is it, there's no tomorrows after today."

Tagovailoa echoed his coach's sentiment that the halftime adjustments made weren't about X's and O's.

"It was nothing really, we just had to keep playing our ball game," Tagovailoa said. "We just had to keep the faith. I think God was testing us with our faith. Being obedient to God's word, we came out with the victory."

Tagovailoa started off shaky by his standards, completing 11 of his 20 first-half pass attempts for 129 yards. After halftime he connected on all but five of his 15 throws for 193 yards.

Young's night went the opposite way. The junior was 16-of-25 passing for 226 yards with two TDs and a pick before halftime, but completed just 11 of his 26 second-half attempts for 161 yards — and more importantly, three interceptions.

Jordan Bayudan rushed for 91 yards on 13 carries for Kamehameha, which converted on just five of its 18 third-down attempts and has now lost three of its last four games.

It was the second time the teams faced off this season. Saint Louis won, 31-27, back on Sept. 12 in the first-round meeting.