KAHUKU — A clear favorite has emerged in the Hawai‘i prep football scene in 2025.
In a rematch of the 2024 HHSAA Open Division championship game, visiting Saint Louis marched into the North Shore and handled Kahuku in a 20-0 victory on Saturday night. The contest put a bow on opening weekend in Hawai‘i, the first state in the country to kick off its respective high school football season.
Year 2 of the Tupu Alualu era for Saint Louis began far more definitively than his debut season. Although the Crusaders went 9-3 overall, including a 17-10 win over Kahuku in the state title game, they began 2024 with a pair of close road losses, including a narrow 14-13 defeat to the Red Raiders.
Saturday's contest marked nearly a year to the day that Alualu made his head coaching debut, also at Kahuku. On Aug. 10, 2024, Saint Louis built a 13-0 lead over Kahuku at halftime, only to see the Red Raiders rally with two touchdowns in the second half.
Saint Louis built an identical 13-0 lead on Saturday night but finished the job this time. After the game, Alualu told his team to remain humble. The Crusaders, in turn, avoided any sort of trash talk after the game that may be customary when a high school team beats a rival. Over the course of a year, winning has become the expectation again for the Men of Kalaepohaku under Alualu.
"We're just grateful for Kahuku to let us come here and play them, giving us the opportunity for the first game for our preseason," Alualu said after the game. "For the school to give me the opportunity to be the head coach, to have great coaches around me, I'm so grateful. We work for this. I mean, it's only the beginning. Like I told the boys, we're going to start strong and we want to finish stronger."
Defensively, the Crusaders held the Red Raiders to 120 yards of offense. Kahuku quarterback Matai Fuiava completed four of his 16 passes for 17 total yards and two interceptions, the first of which was returned for a 44-yard Urijah Belaras touchdown that opened up the scoring for Saint Louis in the first quarter. The second was returned for 42 yards by Hawai‘i commit Jahren Altura in the second quarter.
"It's game one," Saint Louis defensive coordinator Thom Kaumeyer told Aloha State Daily after the game. "Everybody's learning. Obviously, Kahuku is very talented. They'll get it together. They're an awesome team. They got a great staff, good kids, good community. It's just game one. They'll get it together. We started out fast, but we made a lot of mistakes we need to correct before we get into (ILH play) and doing those things. But really excited about how the guys played hard. We got to be tackling better and those type of things."
Although Saint Louis has a California commit in 6-foot-4 quarterback Nainoa Lopes, it was fellow senior Mose Lilo who got the start behind center for the Crusaders. Lopes was inserted into the game in the second quarter and finished out the game with 157 passing yards on 15-for-25 passing and a touchdown to top target Kingston Siliado.
"Today was just a team win. Everyone played a specific role," Lopes said. "We just executed."
While Kahuku has dealt with the fallout of former coach Sterling Carvalho's removal, Saint Louis also had noise to block out leading up to Saturday's contest.
In an Aug. 2 scrimmage at Farrington, disgruntled Saint Louis alumnus Fred Ulu-Perry was present on the sidelines and charged towards Alualu. In the days since, Ulu-Perry explained the encounter on his Instagram account, expressing that he had felt disrespected by Alualu. Ulu-Perry is not currently associated with the program other than being a former standout offensive lineman.
"Coach Tupu does a fantastic job. It's all about the boys. That's what he makes it about," Kaumeyer said. "They know coach Tupu loves them. They know he's what Saint Louis is about, and then we keep the focus on that. I think even though there's a bunch of white noise, I think coach Tupu does a fantastic job to keep it together.
"It's all about the kids. ... We look at certain things, and we don't want to get into fights. We don't want to do those things. We want to play Saint Louis football, and we compete at a high level. The whistle blows, we gotta get back in the huddle and go. So, I think Tupu has just done a fantastic job with the culture with what we want to get at Saint Louis. Very good support with Dr. (Glenn) Medeiros and Dr. (Brittany) Simmons. So, we just got to keep improving, and our boys got to keep doing what we do."
When asked about the week in preparation for the game, Alualu kept the focus on his current team.
"It's a new journey. Same plan with God's plan. I think now the parents understand why I'm so hard with their kids. ... The culture that we have is to go home love your parents, put God first, be good with your siblings," he said. "I'm happy for the parents, I got to give them the kudos and the credit, for trusting me and trusting my coaches. I have great coaches. Happy for the kids, and you know, they love to play football. And I always say that Saint Louis football is a lifestyle."
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Christian Shimabuku can be reached at christian@alohastatedaily.com.
