First shaking off some rust from a rare three-week layoff, Saint Louis then shook off Punahou in the second half last night to win its long-awaited Interscholastic League of Honolulu opener, 28-14, at Aloha Stadium.

The Crusaders, ranked No. 1 in The Advertiser's statewide Top 10 poll of coaches and media, improved to 4-0 overall. The Buffanblu, ranked No. 2, fell to 3-1 overall and 1-1 in the ILH.

Saint Louis had not played a game since an Aug. 31 victory over 'Aiea, whose roster was depleted by 16 suspended players. The Crusaders looked sharp in last night's opening drive, marching 75 yards in 10 plays culminating in Micah Mamiya's 12-yard touchdown pass to Tamatoa DeMello with 4:10 remaining in the first quarter.

But that was their only score in the first half as Mamiya, The Advertiser's reigning State Offensive Player of the Year, struggled with accuracy. He finished the half 4 of 13, for 82 yards.

"We had to get used to playing again," Mamiya said. "We hadn't played for a long time."

Punahou tied it with 19 seconds left in the half after Dalton Hilliard caught a swing pass from Cayman Shutter on third-and-goal from the 8, juked two defenders and cut past another en route to the end zone.

Mamiya sharpened his game in the second half, taking the Crusaders 76 yards on the opening drive and putting them up for good with a 34-yard TD pass to Lucas Gonsalves.

A 20-yard scoring toss to Ryan Iaea with 3:33 remaining in the third quarter helped make it 21-7, and Mamiya then hit paydirt on a 5-yard option keeper on third-and-goal as Saint Louis made it 28-7 with 9:48 left in the game.

Mamiya finished with 10 completions in 20 attempts for 195 yards.

"It was good to hold them to seven points in the first half," Buffanblu coach Kale Ane said. "But in the second half, even when we had good coverage, Micah made some great throws and his receivers made great catches."

The Crusaders' defense came up with three interceptions and held Punahou to 77 yards rushing on 22 carries. Hilliard, the Buffanblu's explosive junior tailback, had a 44-yard run late in the first quarter but otherwise was limited to 12 yards on nine carries.

"I thought we did a good job containing Hilliard," Saints coach Delbert Tengan said. "He's probably going to make one big play at some point, but we did a good job containing him and the secondary did a good job mixing coverages."

Punahou scored on a 6-yard touchdown pass from Kimo Makaula to Manti Te'o with three seconds remaining.

PUNAHOU (3-1, 1-1) 0 7 0 7 — 14

SAINT LOUIS (4-0, 1-0) 7 0 14 7 — 28

SL — Tamatoa DeMello 12 pass from Micah Mamiya (Warren Spencer kick)

Pun — Dalton Hilliard 8 pass from Cayman Shutter (Robert Izuta kick)

SL — Lucas Gonsalves 34 pass from Mamiya (Spencer kick)

SL — Ryan Iaea 20 pass from Mamiya (Spencer kick)

SL — Mamiya 5 run (Spencer kick)

Pun — Manti Te'o 6 pass from Kimo Makaula (Izuta kick)

RUSHING — Punahou: Hilliard 10-56, Manti Te'o 1-7, Kimo Makaula 5-20, Shutter 6-(minus-6). Saint Louis: Keani Nishigaya 12-88, Isaac Savella 4-19, Vonn Feau 12-94, DeMello 1-(minus-4), Mamiya 6-21, Hoku Isaia 1-1.

PASSING — Punahou: Shutter 9-16-2—86, Makaula 14-22-1—135. Saint Louis: Mamiya 10-20-0—195.

RECEIVING — Punahou: Robbie Toma 7-97, Hilliard 6-59, Kameron Steinhoff 4-19, Galen Arakawa 4-32, Toby Reeuwijk 1-8, Te'o 1-6. Saint Louis: DeMello 3-34, Billy Stutzmann 3-85, Micah McClinton 1-21, Gonsalves 2-35, Iaea 1-20.

Read Wes Nakama's blob on prep sports at http://blogs.honoluluadvertiser.com.

Reach Wes Nakama at wnakama@honoluluadvertiser.com.