AJ Bianco knew his team needed to win three games in a row to stay alive and so, in essence, he said, “Climb on my back.”
Bianco, the 6-foot-4, 220-pound Saint Louis quarterback, finished what appeared to be an impossible climb to the Interscholastic League of Honolulu championship by the top-ranked Crusaders on Friday night at Aloha Stadium. He rushed for 117 yards and passed for 358 and came through in the clutch for a 35-21 victory over Kamehameha that puts Saint Louis in the state Open Division tournament.
“Great feeling, you know,” Bianco told Bedrock Sports Hawaii just before being bombarded by TV reporters. “We had to face a lot of adversity this year. Early on, we didn’t start the way we wanted, but we’re ILH champs and we definitely finished the way we wanted to. Honestly, there was a lot of outside noise, especially after we lost those two games to Kamehameha. We were so close in those and never gave in. I felt like the team showed a lot, coming back from this type of adversity.”
AJ Bianco is just about to cross the goal line for a touchdown that gave Saint Louis a 35-21 lead with less than five minutes to play in Friday night’s ILH championship victory over Kamehameha at Aloha Stadium. (Image credit: Nick Abramo/Bedrock Sports Hawaii).
The second-ranked Warriors were without the state’s leading rusher, Noah Bartley, for most of the night and it put a huge dent into their attack.
Kamehameha, whose two wins over Saint Louis during the regular season were by scores of 23-21 and 34-31, didn’t fall easy, though. The Warriors (3-3), whose season is now over, were in it and knocking heads, trying to take down the four-time defending state Open Division champion Crusaders (5-3) until the late stages.
When Kamehameha quarterback Kealii Ah Yat bootlegged around end for a 1-yard TD with 11:00 left in the game, the Warriors were in striking distance at 28-21.
That’s when Bianco came through in a huge way, leading Saint Louis on an 82-yard drive and capping it for a commanding 35-21 edge with a bruising off-tackle 1-yard TD run on a crucial fourth-and-goal situation.
On that drive, in which Saint Louis ran the ball 12 times, Bianco hoofed it seven times for 26 yards, and a beautiful block by Dacoda Brown gave him the space to get in for his second rushing TD run of the night.
What’s more is Bianco was hurt two plays before that final TD run due to his midsection landing on the ball on the previous play. At first, he was unable to take the snap, so Saint Louis called timeout while he trundled off and then trundled back in. But he had enough strength to burst through some hard-nosed defenders for the TD.
“I wasn’t coming out,” said Bianco, who is committed to play for the University of Hawaii. “We needed that one.”
When told that it was possible Kamehameha could have stuffed him, Bianco said, “Nah. I have all the confidence in my line.”
Ah Yat, who had quite a night himself with 162 yards and a TD passing and 41 yards with two TDs rushing, drove Kamehameha past midfield, but the Crusaders’ Kawaihinano Kalaukoa put the final dagger in the Warriors’ season by intercepting an Ah Yat pass with 2:56 left.
Earlier, the two teams slugged it out to a 14-14 first half. Ah Yat and Bianco traded 1-yard TD sneaks.
Then, Hikaalanikekiai Dancil-Evans’ 7-yard TD run for Saint Louis was offset by Ah Yat’s 19-yard scoring throw to Blaze Kamoku.
In the second half, the Crusaders grabbed the momentum, thanks to Keonimanamemanao Catrett’s smash-mouth 10-yard TD run and Bianco’s only TD pass of the night — a 21-yarder to Trech Kekahuna.
A risky and failed fake punt by Kamehameha’s Dwight Apao — on fourth and 8 from the Warriors’ 19 — led to Kekahuna’s TD that gave Saint Louis much-needed breathing room.
Hunter Kaulana Ah Loo was a major factor in the Warriors’ season and also in the early stages of Friday night’s game.
With the score 0-0, Ah Loo followed a sack of Bianco with an interception to set up the Warriors’ first TD. Later, with Kamehameha trailing 14-7, he stripped the ball out of Saint Louis receiver Jaysen de Laura’s hands at the Warriors’ 3-yard line. Teammate Evan Ran recovered, and then Ah Yat wound up driving the squad 97 yards for the tying TD.
“I’m just heartbroken,” Ah Loo told Bedrock Sports Hawaii after the game while fighting off tears. “I feel like we deserve a second chance. It’s tied 2-2 (in the season series) and I feel like we deserve a shot to play and decide the state playoffs. We balled everything and gave everything we’ve got. They’re (the Crusaders) a good team. I love our boys and I’m so proud of them. They gave everything they’ve got.”
Even though Kamehameha beat Saint Louis twice in the regular season, by ILH rule the top seed (Kamehameha) needs to lose twice to be eliminated. Saint Louis started that job a week ago, beating Kamehameha 41-7 to set up this winner-take-all matchup.
Prior to beating Kamehameha last week and again this week, Saint Louis also needed to beat Punahou two weeks ago to advance, and they did so by routing the Buffanblu 35-0.
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ALSO AT BedrockSportsHawaii.com:
>> Ten Videos From The Saint Louis Crusaders’ 35-21 ILH Championship Victory Over Kamehameha
>> Bedrock Sports Hawaii’s Friday Football Scoreboard
>> The Agony Of Defeat In Human Form: Kamehameha’s Hunter Kaulana Ah Loo
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