There never seems to be a dull moment for the Saint Louis football team, defending state champions and the early favorites to repeat in 2025.
Before the season began, the Crusaders were involved in an altercation in which disgruntled Saint Louis alumnus Fred-Ulu Perry charged after head coach Tupu Alualu at an Aug. 2 scrimmage at Farrington. Video of the incident made the rounds locally on social media.
Saint Louis began its season on Aug. 9, a definitive 20-0 victory at Kahuku. In the following days, Ulu-Perry was arrested in connection with the incident.
The Crusaders continued to keep the focus on their season, their following contest a 34-27 win over California's Bishop Montgomery at Radford on Aug. 23. A brawl between both teams broke out at the end of the game, ending the contest early as police were called onto the field.
Following another bye week, Saint Louis returns to the field this weekend for a matchup at Mililani on Saturday. Kickoff is set for 6:30 p.m. at John Kauinana Stadium. Saint Louis comes in with a 2-0 record, while Mililani is 3-0, including a pair of wins in Nevada. The Trojans defeated Arbor View 28-20 on Aug. 22, then routed Coronado 39-13 on Aug. 29.
Saturday's matchup between the Crusaders and Trojans features a coaching matchup between Alualu and Rod York, who were University of Hawai‘i football teammates and roommates. York has the 1-0 edge over Alualu, a 16-14 win for Mililani on Aug. 17, 2024. The loss gave Alualu an 0-2 start as Saint Louis' head coach in his debut season, but the Crusaders ended up going 9-3 overall, culminating with a 17-10 victory over Kahuku in the HHSAA Open Division championship game in November.
"It was fun," Alualu told Aloha State Daily of sharing an apartment with York in the 1990s. "Very humble, strong-minded person. Never thought that we will be at this situation where, last year was my first time being a head coach, and this is my second time. I'm sure I'm not gonna let him beat me the second time, you know?
"I know it's a battle, but this one is gonna be like a family competition. Everybody's for the kids. I mean, we're here for the kids. And they know God's gonna protect everybody, and let the best team win."
The mutual respect between Saint Louis and Mililani will provide a different tenor to the game than Saint Louis' previous contest against Bishop Montgomery. The contest between the Crusaders and Knights was filled with tension from the get-go. Both teams exchanged trash talk throughout the game before a Saint Louis player was on the receiving end of a blindside block by a Bishop Montgomery player.
"To have that fight, what is that for? We from the island, that's why we always say, no matter where we from, in any high school here on the island, 808, it's 808 against everybody. And that's how I felt that night. ... Before the game, they kind of took our spot where we warm up, so we left that to them. Then I walk in the middle of the field to look who was the head coach, to kind of talk to them, to (exchange pleasantries), because we're their first game but nobody came up."
The Aug. 23 contest was the only contest Bishop Montgomery will end up playing all year. Earlier this week, its season was forfeited due to alleged booster payments towards the parents of transfer players. Alualu was unaware that Bishop Montgomery had its season canceled, but when informed of the alleged payments, said: "Just to beat Saint Louis? Damn, we that hot?"
Alualu has stated multiple times in the past that Saint Louis does not recruit players. During his tenure thus far, the program has relied on players that were already school on a legacy basis, such as standout sophomore running back Tenari Fuamatu-Ma'afala, the son of Saint Louis alumnus and former NFL veteran Chris Fuamatu-Ma'afala.
"It's an honor to carry on the Ma'afala legacy of people coming to Saint Louis. It means a lot to me. It means a lot to my dad," Tenari Fuamatu-Ma'afala said. "Happy to be here and blessed to have my uncle as the head coach."
Another one of Saint Louis' standouts is linebacker TJ Alualu, Tupu's nephew.
"I always grew up watching, I've been around the school, so it means a lot to me," said TJ Alualu, whose father, Tyrone, is also a Saint Louis alumnus.
As it tests itself against one of the top teams in the state on Saturday, Saint Louis refuses to look ahead in its schedule, which features a road contest at California's St. John Bosco on Sept. 19, one of the country's top teams.
"We take one game at a time, because my our mindset is that we're zero and zero right now. We take every week serious," said offensive lineman Trytin Ellis-Navares.
Saint Louis' matchup against St. John Bosco will mark the end of its nonconference schedule. Starting on Sept. 27, the Crusaders will take on Punahou to begin ILH play. Saint Louis will have four ILH games — two each against Punahou and Kamehameha. Three byes have been sprinkled in to the schedule, and regular season play wraps up for the Crusaders on Oct. 18. When asked about the team's eight-game regular season schedule in general, Tupu Alualu voiced his displeasure with the ILH.
"Who gives the state champion three byes? Put that in there. They give us three byes and a bye before we go to Bosco," he said. "You think the ILH is for us? Last year, they moved our game from Radford to Kamehameha for the Ieague championship. Things happen. But this year, I feel worse about the ILH."
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Christian Shimabuku can be reached at christian@alohastatedaily.com.
