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Kalani Takase | ScoringLiveOctober 19, 2024, 11:44pm
Sat, Oct 19, 2024 @ Radford [ 6:30 pm ]
ALIAMANU — There was no slowing down Titan Lacaden Saturday night.
Lacaden ran for 256 yards and four touchdowns to carry No. 5 Saint Louis to a one-sided 50-14 win over sixth-ranked Punahou in an Interscholastic League of Honolulu Open Division football game at Radford's John E. Velasco Stadium.
The win pulled the Crusaders (5-3 overall) into a three-way tie with the Buffanblu (3-5) and No. 7 Kamehameha (5-3) in the ILH's second round title race. All three teams went 1-1 in the second go-around of the double-round robin format; Saint Louis won the first round.
There will be a card draw early next week to determine the seeding for the three-team playoff. None of that mattered much to Lacaden and the Crusaders Saturday night.
"That's really not on our minds. Our minds are on just winning the ILH and whatever we gotta do to make that happen we're gonna get it done and we're gonna finish the mission," Lacaden said.
It was much the same sentiment from Saint Louis first-year coach Tupu Alualu in his post-game comments.
"We'll continue to practice and continue to wait for our situation. We're not in control of anything the way the ILH is and however the system goes so we're just going to wait for the next game," Alualu said.
Lacaden, a senior whose natural position is as a slot receiver, was in total control against the Buffanblu. He averaged 17.1 yards per rush on 15 carries and scored on runs of 8 and 72 yards in the first half and runs of 80 and 10 yards after halftime.
"Wow," Saint Louis coach Tupu Alualu said of Lacaden's performance. "We wanted to see him run the ball and we were trying to get him ready through the next game and so he was amazing tonight."
Lacaden missed several games earlier in the season due to a foot injury he suffered in early August. Alualu said that Lacaden is still on the mend from the injury.
"I mean, we're glad to have him back. I don't think he's a hundred percent, (but) you guys saw what I saw too, I mean, he did a great job," Alualu said.
After Saint Louis opened the scoring late in the first quarter on a 32-yard touchdown pass on fourth-and-18 from Nainoa Lopes to Jordan Nunuha, TJ Alualu came up with an interception two plays into Punahou's next possession.
The turnover gave the Crusaders the ball at the Buffanblu 31-yard line. Four plays later, Lacaden took a direct snap and found a crease behind the right side of the offensive line and scooted his way into the end zone from eight yards out.
Lacaden ran in the two-point conversion on each of Saint Louis's first two scoring drives.
Punahou sandwiched a pair of touchdowns — a 1-yard TD run by John-Luke Twigg and a 5-yard Hunter Fujikawa-to-Donte Utu scoring strike — around a Saint Louis touchdown in the form of a 39-yard Lopes' TD pass to Stytyn Lasconia.
Fujikawa's TD pass cut the Crusader lead to 24-14 with 2:39 left in the first half, but Saint Louis scored 13 points in a span of 1:23 just before halftime to find some breathing room.
Two plays after Utu hauled in the scoring pass — as well as the two-point conversion that followed — for the Buffanblu, Lasconia put together a highlight-reel run that saw him cutback multiple times and break at least seven tackles on his way to a spectacular 75-yard touchdown run.
"My coaches tell me to just stay patient, use my explosiveness to get to through the line and that's what I did and the o-line did their thing. They blocked perfectly so I saw a nice little seam and I hit it and from there it was just a foot race and green grass," Lacaden said.
After Punahou went three-and-out on its final first-half possession, Saint Louis needed just two plays to score. Lopes hit Lacaden for a 33-yard pick-up then connected with Roxten Popa-Hernandez one play later for a 22-yard scoring strike to give their team a 37-14 lead at the intermission.
The teams combined to score 43 points in the second quarter.
Lacaden didn't waste time racking up the stats after halftime. On the first play from scrimmage out of the break, Lacaden busted through the line of scrimmage and went untouched 80 yards for his third touchdown run.
"Same thing. Just trying to be patient, just looking for my reads and I give all the credit to my line," Lacaden said.
"These guys put in the work throughout every single week, every single day that we come out here and these guys open up the holes and my job is just to make guys look silly and I feel like I'm doing my job, but I can't do my job without everybody else, so I thank them," the University of Hawaii-commit added.
Lacaden closed out the scoring with a 10-yard TD run around left end to send the game into mercy-rule running clock with 8:29 left in the third quarter. The score was set-up by Dallas Pelen-Talalotu's interception of Fujikawa on a third-down pass.
Punahou was limited to just 138 yards of total offense, including only 43 second-half yards. Outside of a 30-7 loss to Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth, Calif.), Saturday's loss produced the Buffanblu's lowest scoring output of the season.
Lacaden was sure to shout out his defense, among others.
"I just want to give everything out to my coaches, my teammates, the defense and everybody played a part today. If it wasn't for the defense and the special teams capitalizing on when we needed to have a turnover and give us the ball back — and just my line, to the QBs, to the receivers everybody blocking and doing the job — I tip my hat off to them; it's really not me, it's all them," Lacaden said.
Of Punahou's 14 total first downs, five of them were a result of a penalty against Saint Louis.
The Crusaders were flagged 13 times for 118 yards, but 12 infractions came in the first half alone.
Saint Louis amassed 624 yards of total offense, including 378 rushing yards. Lopes finished 12-of-16 passing for 246 yards and three touchdowns, but was intercepted twice — both times by Utu.
Fujikawa was also picked off twice. He completed 11 of 28 passes for 101 yards and a touchdown.
The Crusaders picked up 14 of their 22 total first downs via rush.
Since back-to-back losses at Kahuku and Mililani by a combined three points to open the year, Saint Louis has won five of its last six games. Its 50-point performance against Punahou Saturday marked the most points it has scored in a game this season.
"I think we're starting to click on all cylinders of the game," Lacaden said. "The main thing for us is just being consistent and just continuing to put work onto the practice field and obviously you could see it today that everything that we put in on the practice field is paying off."
Saint Louis swept both meetings against Punahou this season, including a 31-21 decision on Sept. 21 at Alexander Field.
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