Three weeks into this wildest of Interscholastic League of Honolulu football seasons, Iolani — a Division II team — is now sitting in first place.

Saint Louis knocked off No. 1-ranked Kamehameha, 21-14, last night to leave Iolani as the ILH's only unbeaten team in league play. Although they are classified as Division II, the Raiders are still eligible to win the ILH title but would play in the DII state tournament if they did.

All three Division I teams — Kamehameha, Punahou and Saint Louis — have 1-1 league records after playing each other. Iolani (5-1 overall, 2-0 ILH) faces Kamehameha, its first DI league opponent, next week.

"To me, there's nobody that's gonna finish this thing batting 1.000," Kamehameha coach Doss Tannehill said after last night's loss. "This league is too competitive."

His Warriors (4-2 overall) and No. 10 Saint Louis proved it last night in a tense game that was tight from start to finish.

The Crusaders won only after Cody Wells' 1-yard touchdown run with 30 seconds remaining and a final defensive stand that stopped Kamehameha at the Saint Louis 33-yard line as time expired.

By winning, the Crusaders (3-2 overall) avoided having their record fall below .500 for the first time since 1990.

"We used that as motivation," said quarterback Cameron Higgins, who completed 17-of-24 passes for 228 yards and one touchdown. "We had to show the doubters."

Saint Louis started strong, taking the opening kickoff and going 84 yards in just six plays, culminated by Wells' 17-yard touchdown run. The Warriors answered with a 10-play, 58-yard scoring drive ending in a 7-yard TD run by Bryson Vivas.

The Crusaders took a 14-7 lead with 10:20 remaining in the second quarter after Higgins' 24-yard touchdown pass to Kulia Aiona. They held that lead until 3:53 left in the game, when George Ka'ai connected with Aaron Nichols on a 12-yard scoring pass and Drew Ueno's extra point tied it at 14-14.

After Shane Ahlo Jr.'s 41-yard kickoff return, the Saints marched to the Kamehameha 27, where they faced a third-and-14 situation. That is just about the limit of kicker Kenton Chun's range, but Higgins made that moot by lobbing a 26-yard strike to receiver Cameron Bayne down the left sideline to set up first-and-goal.

"We were thinking touchdown all the way," Higgins said of the drive.

After Well's touchdown, Ka'ai completed a 15-yard pass to Kaleo Perez and then a short pass to Justin Saniatan, but Saniatan was tackled at the 33 after weaving through a crowd of defenders as time expired.

KAMEHAMEHA (4-2, 1-1) 7 0 0 7 — 14

SAINT LOUIS (3-2, 1-1) 7 7 0 7 — 21

STL—Cody Wells 17 run (Kenton Chun kick)

KS—Bryson Vivas 7 run (Drew Ueno kick)

STL—Kulia Aiona 24 pass from Cameron Higgins (Chun kick)

KS—Aaron Nichols 12 pass from George Ka'ai (Ueno kick)

SL—Wells 1 run (Chun kick)

RUSHING — KS: Jeremiah Dela Pe–a 13-100, Kaleo Perez 1-(minus-3), Vivas 9-36, Ueno 2-4, Gerritt Vincent 4-17, Ka'ai 1-(minus-1), Justin Saniatan 1-13. STL: Wells 16-77, Higgins 7-10, Preston Lynch 2-12, Lene Auelua 1-(minus-1), Cameron Bayne 1-3, Shane Ahlo, Jr. 1-(minus-2).

PASSING — KS: Ka'ai 10-30-0—117. STL: Higgins 17-24-1—228.

RECEIVING — KS: Nichols 4-51, Kalani Pickard 1-(minus-5), Adam Duncan 2-24, Perez 2-27, Saniatan 1-20. STL: Bayne 9-148, Lynch 1-3, Aiona 1-24, Jordan Paty-Miner 2-40, Ahlo, Jr. 4-13.

IOLANI 42, PAC-FIVE 0

Kiran Kepo'o completed 13-of-16 passes for 220 yards and four touchdowns — all in the first half — to lead Iolani past Pac-Five yesterday in the first game of an ILH doubleheader at Aloha Stadium.

The Raiders, ranked No. 4 in The Advertiser's statewide Top 10 poll of coaches and media, improved to 5-1 overall and 2-0 in the ILH. The Wolfpack fell to 2-4, 0-2.

Pac-Five also suffered a huge loss in the second quarter, when quarterback Bryson Beirne went down with a knee injury. Beirne was taken to a hospital for examination, and it was feared he may have torn his medial and posterior collateral ligaments, the latter of which would sideline him for the rest of the season.

Beirne is one of only a handful of returning starters for the Wolfpack, who have 42 sophomores on a 71-man roster.

"If it's the PCL, that's bad," Pac-Five coach Kip Botelho said. "We just gotta wait and see."

Mark May caught touchdown passes of 31 and 37 yards, and Travis Nishioka and Mike Hirokawa also caught TD throws in the first half, when Iolani jumped out to a 28-0 lead. Hirokawa then returned the second-half kickoff 93 yards for another score, sending the game into a running clock.

IOLANI (5-1, 2-0) 7 21 7 7 — 42

PAC-FIVE (2-4, 0-2) 0 0 0 0 — 0

Iol—Travis Nishioka 26 pass from Kiran Kepo'o (Kody Adams kick)

Iol—Mike Hirokawa 27 pass from Kepo'o (Adams kick)

Iol—Mark May 31 pass from Kepo'o (Adams kick)

Iol—May 37 pass from Kepo'o (Adams kick)

Iol—Hirokawa 93 kick return (Adams kick)

Iol—Lionel Fujioka 26 pass from Ryan Dung (Adams kick)

RUSHING—Iol: Hirokawa 7-34, Kepo'o 1-8, Justin Yamamoto 7-11, Reid Furukawa 1-1, Alex Lim 1-4. Pac: Bryson Beirne 8-22, Royce Alvarado 8-31, Jordan Ho-Ching 1-(minus-7), Jon-Ray Rodrigues 5-(minus-34), Phillip Sarubbi 4-30.

PASSING Iol: Kepo'o 13-16-0—220, Ryan Dung 4-6-0—62. Pac: Beirne 4-6-0—44, Rodrigues 6-10-2—79.

RECEIVING—Iol: May 3-75, Nishioka 4-67, Hirokawa 3-55, Blayne Yama 3-23, Lionel Fujioka 2-27, Furukawa 1-25, Aaron Fong 1-10. Pac: Ho-Ching 4-40, Sarubbi 1-9, Matthew Bayan 2-34, Alvarado 3-40.

Reach Wes Nakama at wnakama@honoluluadvertiser.com.