Tagovailoa sets school record vs. ‘Iolani

GAME NIGHT 9/23: No. 2 Saint Louis 42, ‘Iolani 24

Another game and another career highlight for Saint Louis quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.

The 6-foot-2 senior lefty gunslinger became the fifth quarterback to top 7,000 career passing yards and broke Jeremy Higgins‘ school record for passing yards in a game with 493 in a 42-24 win over ‘Iolani on Friday evening at Kozuki Stadium.

Tagovailoa finished 41-for-47 with five touchdowns and an interception, breaking Higgins’ mark of 484 yards in a 55-28 win over Kamehameha that stood for eight years.

“First and foremost, all glory goes to God on (the passing record),” Tagovailoa said. “I have coaches like coach Ron (Lee) and coach Cal (Lee) to install a kind of offense and system. It is not an easy system but they make things easy for me and I thank God for that opportunity.”

Tagovailoa did toss his first interception of the season — in the end zone no less — but made up for it to help No. 2 Saint Louis improve to 5-0 overall and 4-0 in the ILH.

Tagovailoa completed 30 of his first 33 passes before throwing two deep balls with seconds left in the first half that were incomplete.

A 12-yard pass to Noah Alejado in the second quarter put him over 7,000 career passing yards, joining Timmy Chang (Saint Louis), Andrew Manley (Leilehua), McKenzie Milton (Mililani) and Brett Kan (Punahou) as the only quarterbacks on Oahu to reach that mark.

Tagovailoa’s last completion of the game gave him 7,192 yards, moving him past Kan for fourth on the list. Next up is Milton with 7,303 yards.

He fell two yards shy of Punahou QB Nick Kapule‘s ILH Division I record of 495 yards set earlier this month against Saint Louis.

The Crusaders, who beat Punahou 64-44 in the first meeting, will face the Buffanblu next Thursday in the rematch at Aloha Stadium.

—— The Star-Advertiser’s Christian Shimabuku contributed to this report.