---

Punahou lives (barely) for another day.

Linebacker Zachary Hernandez's 20-yard interception return for a touchdown with two minutes, two seconds left ended Saint Louis' hopes of a miraculous rally in a 31-19 win Thursday night at Aloha Stadium to force a playoff against idle Kamehameha for the Interscholastic League of Honolulu Division I title Nov. 3.

If anything, it means the champion will celebrate on the field. Had Saint Louis pulled off its comeback, the Warriors would've been celebrating their championship from the stands or at their homes. Kamehameha and Punahou are tied with 6-1 records. The teams split their regular season meetings. The ILH champion will get its league's only Division I state tournament berth.

"It's unreal," Hernandez said. "I couldn't believe what was going on."

A collective sigh of relief from the Punahou seats was matched by just a sigh from the Saint Louis side after Hernandez's TD preserved the Buffanblu's lead.

"They played their heart out," Punahou running back Steven Lakalaka said of his team's defense. "Zach made that excellent catch at the end, so that saved the game."

Lakalaka led the Buffanblu with 144 yards and two TDs.

Saint Louis (6-4 overall, 3-4 ILH) was as listless as the humid night for nearly three quarters. The Buffanblu were cruising with a seemingly commanding 24-0 lead after RB Steven Lakalaka scored on a four-yard run with 8:49 left in the third quarter.

But all of a sudden, the Crusaders, held to 32 yards in total offense in the first half, found their rhythm late in the third quarter.

Kawai Mook-Garcia connected with Joseph Kea for a 13-yard TD pass, but Andrew Baltazar missed the PAT to pull Saint Louis to 24-6 with 56 seconds left in the third quarter.

Saints' RB Kamana Pimental, who had nine yards on four carries in the first half, started picking up yards in chunks, scoring on the Crusaders' next two series with a three-yard TD run with 7:35 left in the game and then a 54-yard jaunt with 4:29 left to pull his team to 24-19.

Now it was up to the Saints' defense to get the ball back. The ensuing kickoff put Punahou at its 22. It eventually faced fourth-and-1 at the Saints' 48 with 2:19 left. It appeared the Buffanblu were going to go for the first down before calling time. They punted to the Saints' 15.

On first down, Mook- Garcia tried to hit Jordan Maganis on an out rout near the right sideline. But the pass was short and Hernandez picked it off some four yards in front of the receiver and sprinted for the end zone to seal the game.

"We had to dig deep," Hernandez said.

After Saint Louis received the ensuing kickoff, Punahou drove in the proverbial nail in the coffin when DeForest Buckner sacked, forced and recovered a fumble by Mook-Garcia to give Punahou back the ball with 1:52 left.

Punahou dominated the first half, taking a 17-0 lead into the break. The Buffanblu scored on their first three series. Lakalaka scored on a one-yard run with 5:38 left in the first quarter. Kaimi Fairbairn's PAT made it 7-0.

The Buffanblu scored just before the second quarter when QB Larry Tuileta hit Jacob Ioane on a play-action, four-yard TD pass to make it 14-0.

After Saint Louis punted after a third consecutive series, Punahou answered with a 38-yard field goal by Fairbairn to make it 17-0.

Although Punahou didn't score the rest of the half, neither did Saint Louis.

Punahou took the second-half kickoff and promptly rolled down field with Lakalaka capping the nine-play, 69-yard drive with a four-yard TD run to make it 24-0.

Considering how things started for the Crusaders, whose four losses in league were Kamehameha and Punahou, coach Darnell Arceneaux was proud of how his team performed.

"Our kids played hard," Arceneaux said. "They could've easily thrown in the towel and gave up in the first half. They played tremendously and did a great job and I'm very proud of our guys."

As for his team's slow start, Arceneaux credited Punahou.

"They're a good football team," he said of the Buffanblu. "Sometimes it takes some of those plays to get you jump-started. It was just the little things here we had to correct. But the effort was awesome. I'll take the blame for that last one. It's now on Kawai; I could've called another play."

Saint Louis' Pimental led his team with 144 yards rushing, 135 of them coming in the second half.