Three tournament survivors seeking perfect season


Stacy Kaneshiro | SL

The perfect season is on the line when top-ranked Punahou plays No. 2 Mililani the 16th First Hawaiian Bank Division I state football championship Friday at Hawaiian Airlines Field at Aloha Stadium.

For the fourth time since the Oahu Prep Bowl/State Tournament eras, both teams enter the season finale undefeated and untied. Punahou is 8-0 and Mililani is 12-0. The teams have gone wire-to-wire in the top two spots of the ScoringLive/OC 16 Division I Power Rankings since the Buffanblu beat the Trojans, 28-22, in last year's title game.

In the Division II title game, Maui Interscholastic League champion Lahainaluna (10-0) will try for perfection against seven-time champion Iolani (7-3). The Lunas are shooting to be the first undefeated and untied Neighbor Island champion since Maui High did so in 1995 (9-0) after winning the now-defunct Neighbor Island Championship series under coach Curtis Lee.

The winner of the Division I championship will become the 19th Oahu team to finish its season unbeaten and untied. Punahou, unbeaten last year, will try to be the first to do it in successive seasons since Saint Louis did from 1986 to 1989, the state record.

Waimea had unblemished records from 1981 to 1983. To show its 1983 season was no fluke, the Menehunes beat Waianae, 16-14, in a game that was part of the Oahu-Neighbor Island Bowl. The Bowl series was basically postseason exhibition games pitting the OIA district runners-up against the KIF and MIL champions. The ILH champion, Saint Louis that season, played then-Big Island Interscholastic power Konawaena.

This will be the first time two Oahu teams enter the State Tournament finale with unblemished records. During the Prep Bowl era from 1973 to 1998, three times teams entered unbeaten and untied:

1994: Saint Louis (13-0) played Kahuku, which entered the game at 11-0.
1988: Saint Louis (13-0) played Waianae, which entered the game at 13-0.
1975: Kamehameha (12-0) played Waianae, which entered the game at 12-0.

Should Punahou win, its 9-0 record would be the fewest wins among the undefeated Oahu teams. Also, its nine wins would be the fewest by a State/Prep Bowl champion since Iolani finished 9-2-2 in 1980, the only time there was a tie in the Prep Bowl (Iolani 7, Waianae 7).



Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at [email protected].