Saint Louis quarterback Tua Tagovailoa passed for six touchdowns and added three more on the ground to help the Crusaders rally past the Buffanblu. John Lujan | SL

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Fri, Sep 9, 2016 @ Aloha Stadium [ 7:45 pm ]

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Saint Louis

64

Punahou

44

Final	1	2	3	4	T
Saint Louis (10-1-0)	0	28	22	14	64
Punahou (7-3-0)	13	17	6	8	44

• Pass
• Rush
• Rec

Nick Kapule 495 yd 5 TD

Tua Tagovailoa 447 yd 6 TD

Sitiveni Kaufusi 19 yd

Tua Tagovailoa 104 yd 3 TD

Ethan Takeyama 189 yd 4 TD

Tosh Kekahuna-Kalawe 165 yd 2 TD

HALAWA — You only need one word to describe Tua Tagovailoa's performance Friday night — elite.

Tagovailoa accounted for nine total touchdowns to help second-ranked Saint Louis overwhelm No. 3 Punahou, 64-44 in an Interscholastic League of Honolulu Division I contest at Hawaiian Tel Federal Credit Union Field at Aloha Stadium.

The senior quarter completed 31 of 42 pass attempts for career-highs in passing yards (447) and touchdowns (six). He also rushed 15 times for 104 yards and three touchdowns.

Tagovailoa, who verbally committed to play for the University of Alabama in May, was quick to deflect praise after the game.

"First and foremost all glory goes to God," he said. "More importantly, I'd like to thank our O-line. I'd like to thank our receivers for catching the ball and making big plays and I'd like to thank the defense for getting the ball back. It all just worked out with everyone playing as a team." 

The Crusaders trailed 13-0 after the first quarter, but outscored Punahou in each of the remaining periods to improve to 3-0 overall and 2-0 in league play. 

Punahou (2-1, 1-1 ILH D1) was able to score on six of its eight first half possessions and had 382 yards of total offense before halftime, but struggled to move the ball against the Saint Louis defense after the break. The Buffanblu scored just twice and was held to 163 yards of offense in the second half.

"They kept the pressure on," said Punahou coach Kale Ane. "We faltered and they took advantage of it. They're a good team. Tua really hurt us with his running. When we tried to blitz, they threw behind us. They did a great job."

Even though Punahou's offense torched the Crusaders in the first half, they still were able to force the Buffanblu to settle for three field goals from Jeff Chan. The Saint Louis defense also forced three turnovers to give the offense more possessions, and Tagavailoa and company were able to score on all three takeaways. 

"Punahou, they were going at it, as far as offense," said Tagovailoa. "It was kind of like we score, you score, we score, and the one who has the ball last usually wins. We just (want) to thank God for giving us the ball and having the defense do (well). We just had to take advantage of everything."

Tagovailoa's favorite weapon Friday night, Tosh Kekahuna-Kalawe, also had his best game of his career. The junior slotback caught eight passes for 165 yards and two scores. He also had two receptions that took him down to the 1-yard line, which set up two quarterback sneaks by Tagovailoa. 

"He's second string, and to see that kind of performance from a second string guy is truly amazing," Tagovailoa said of Kekahuna-Kalawe. "He likes to put God first and I really think that is the main reason why he performed tonight." 

But Kekahuna-Kalawe wasn't the only one doing damage for Saint Louis. Senior slotback Noah Alejado had eight receptions for 112 yards and two second-half scores and Ronson Young added eight more receptions for 88 yards and the go-ahead touchdown with 3:16 left to play in the third quarter. Young also caught a 2-point conversion to tie the game at 36 apiece.

"I think we did a couple of different things, and then Tua made great decisions and he ran when he had to," said Ane. "When we tried to blitz, he would throw it behind us. They did a great job game planning the whole game."

Punahou quarterback Nick Kapule completed 30 of his 59 pass attempts for a career-high 495 yards and five touchdowns with one interception in the loss. His first four touchdown passes was to senior wideout Ethan Takeyama, who finished with 10 receptions and 189 yards to go with his four scoring grabs. 

Takeyama caught his fourth touchdown of the game after the Crusaders went three-and-out to begin the second half, but it was all Saint Louis the rest of the way. The Crusaders score 36 unanswered points before Punahou found the end zone again.

Both teams play their next game on Sept. 17. Punahou will look to bounce back on the road against Iolani while Saint Louis will look to continue its winning ways when it takes on Kamehameha at Aloha Stadium.