Lopes, Nunuha hook up for three TDs to carry Crusaders past Knights

Brian Bautista | SL

Nainoa Lopes and Jordan Nunuha connected on three touchdown passes to carry No. 1 Saint Louis to a 34-27 win over visiting Bishop Montgomery (Torrance, Calif.) at Radford's John E. Velasco Stadium Saturday night.

The Crusaders (2-0) scored a string of 27 consecutive second-half points to surge ahead of the Knights, who held a 14-7 lead at halftime.

Lopes, a senior quarterback verbally committed to Cal-Berkeley, threw scoring strikes of 10, 20 and 35 yards to Nunuha, a senior wideout.

Lopes threw for 174 yards on 12-of-21 passing without an interception. Nunuha caught seven passes for 126 yards.

Tenari Fuamatu-Maafala ran for 115 yards on just 10 carries, including a 24-yard touchdown run that gave Saint Louis a 28-14 lead with 4:25 left in the third quarter.

Saint Louis has a bye next week before it visits Mililani on Sept. 6.