MILILANI — The state's top-ranked team flexed its muscle Saturday night. 

Nainoa Lopes threw two of his three touchdown passes to Jordan Nunuha and Ricky Liilii led a staunch defensive effort to help No. 1 Saint Louis to convincing 44-14 road win over fifth-ranked Mililani at John Kauinana Stadium. 

A crowd of about 3,500 fans saw the reigning Open Division state champion Crusaders (3-0) excel in all three phases at the expense of the previously-unbeaten Trojans (2-1). 

Lopes, a senior quarterback verbally committed to Cal-Berkeley, threw for a season-high 264 yards on 18-of-25 passing. He connected with his speedy wide receiver on the perimeter Nunuha for scoring strikes of 23 and 19 yards. Lopes also tossed a 4-yard TD pass to Mose Lilo and was not intercepted on the evening. 

"I think he did alright," Saint Louis coach Tupu Alualu said of his second-year starting signal caller. 

Lopes completed eight of his first 10 attempts and was 13 of 19 for 225 yards by halftime. The 6-foot-4, 190-pound quarterback attempted just six passes after the break and completed all but one of those throws. 

"We know what the boys can do and I think he was very consistent with his decision making. I think the coaches did a great job with keeping him the way he was composed tonight, so we were really happy for that and we move on and we'll see what he's going to do — he's a great quarterback," Alualu said. 

Lopes overthrew Nunuha on his second throw of the game, but immediately went back on him on the very next play, which resulted in a 52-yard completion down the left sideline. The long pass set-up Tenari Fuamatu-Maafala's 2-yard TD run two plays later to get the Crusaders on the board just a few minutes in. 

"It opened up big things for us," Nunuha said of his first of five receptions. "The first drive, coming out there and doing that, it just sets the tone for the whole game."

Mililani went three-and-out on its first possession before Lopes and the Crusaders orchestrated an 11-play, 57-yard scoring drive that culminated with Lopes' short TD pass to Lili. The touchdown came on fourth-and-goal from the Trojans' 4-yard line. After Lopes faked a handoff to Fuamatu-Maafala, he threw a jump pass to a wide-open Lilo over the middle to double up the Saint Louis lead. 

With 70 seconds left in the opening quarter a Mililani miscue on special teams put it deeper in the hole. A long snap from center sailed over the head of punter Luke VanAntwerp and out of the back of the end zone for a Saint Louis safety. 

A few minutes later the Crusaders cashed in on their first of two defensive scores when defensive back Dallas Kealohanui stepped in front of a Kekoa Koong swing pass and took it back 11 yards the other way for an easy pick-6. 

"That's what really started the fire. When DK got that pick it just woke everyone up, it just set a fire in us and we just went from there," said Liilii, a sophomore defensive lineman. 

Toa-Rai Ellacott tacked on the extra point to make the score 23-0 in favor of the visitors. 

Ellacott missed a 36-yard field goal wide right about a minute later, but the Crusaders forced a punt on Mililani's next possession and got the ball back with just under five minutes left in the first half at their own 36-yard line. 

Lopes found Exodus Brown down the left sideline for a 32-yard gain on the first play of the drive. Three plays later, on third-and-13, he dumped off a screen pass to Fuamatu-Maafala, who just reached the line to gain and gave his team a fresh set of downs. Two plays after that Lopes fired a rocket over the middle to Nunuha, who hauled in the pass then bounced off a pair of defensive backs on his way into the end zone. 

The flood gates opened on Mililani's next play from scrimmage, when Koong lost possession of the ball on a lateral attempt toward the right sideline. The loose ball was scooped up by Liilii, who returned the fumble 29 yards for another Saint Louis defensive score. 

"I was actually surprised I got that. I wasn't expecting for me to grab that, I thought TJ (Alualu) was going to grab it," Liilii said. 

Nunuha said the scoop and score, along with Kealohanui's earlier interception return for touchdown, provided a boost for the entire team. 

"I can't explain the feeling for our defense. It's very good to see them do their stuff because we all put in the work, so it showed out tonight and our defense, I can't thank them enough," Nunuha said. 

The Crusaders posted 234 yards of total offense by halftime, while the Trojans managed only four total yards in the first 24 minutes. 

Lopes and Nunuha connected for their second TD pass on the first play of the fourth quarter on a similar deep-in route. 

Nunuha said the Trojans' alignment in the defensive secondary dictated much of the focus for the Crusaders' passing game. 

"We were looking to attack the middle. The safeties and corners were down heavy and pressing, so we just wanted to look for the middle kind of ball to get it going for us," Nunuha said. 

He praised Lopes for his steady quarterback play. Saint Louis tallied 14 of its 20 total first downs by pass. Lopes completed passes to six different receivers, including eight to Kingston Siliado, who finished with 62 yards. 

"Nainoa, he's such a good guy. He knows his stuff and he's an all-around player. He's really good, he's a good captain and he's out there leading the offense for us, so he's very huge," Nunuha expressed. 

Lopes was only sacked once and outside of three kneel-downs, the Crusaders' offensive line allowed only three tackles behind the line of scrimmage. 

Saint Louis was 5 of 7 on third downs, while Mililani was 1 of 7 on third downs. 

Jarius Borges accounted for both of the Trojans' touchdowns, first with his 4-yard TD run that halted the running clock with 4:36 remaining in the third quarter, then his 3-yard plunge into the end zone in the closing minutes of the contest.

Mililani was limited to three first downs before halftime and finished with 12 total for the game. 

The Trojans, who were coming off of a pair of wins in the state of Nevada over the last two weekends, were held to 124 total yards. 

Liilii tallied two of his team's three sacks and half of its eight tackles for loss. 

"I think we executed very well. Personally, I made some mistakes that I could have fixed and polished up a little bit, but as a defense we did good," Liilii said. 

Alualu wanted to ensure his team wasn't looking past Mililani with a road test at national powerhouse St. John Bosco (Bellflower, Calif.) on Sept. 19. 

"The game plan tonight was not trying to talk about Bosco before we played Mililani. I said that tonight was going to be live ammunition where we're going to work our way of how we're going to perform at Bosco and what we're going to do with the three phases on offense, defense and special teams, so that's what we did tonight and we just wanted to play Saint Louis football; I'm happy for the kids," Alualu said. 

Mililani will look to rebound Saturday when it hosts Farrington in its regular-season opener. 

The Crusaders avenged a 16-14 loss at the hands of the Trojans when the teams last faced off on Aug. 17 of last year.