History will be made Saturday night at Hawaiian Tel FCU Field at Aloha Stadium.

Hilo and Damien are seeking their respective team's first-ever state championship in school history when the two teams meet in the Division I title game of the First Hawaiian Bank/HHSAA State Football Championships tripleheader this weekend.

The Vikings are in the big game after earning their first win in the state tournament with a 26-7 semifinal win over Maui on Nov. 4.

"This year, I think we're more prepared," said Hilo senior quarterback Kaleo Apao. "We're more close this year. Our bond is just way more stronger this year."

Meanwhile, the Monarchs are back in the championship match for the first time since 2003 when they fell to Aiea in the Division II title game, 9-7. Even though it plays on the D2 level in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu regular season, Damien declared to be eligible for the D1 state tournament with the new four-team three-tier state tournament format.

"We didn't go the easier route," said Damien coach Eddie Klaneski. "We had to go all through these major battles and people made it hard for us."

The move has paid off as the Monarchs will have an opportunity to close out their season on Oahu. When they were competing on the D2 level the past two years, the Monarchs had dropped two state tournament games on the road: a first round loss to Konawaena in 2015 and a semifinal loss to Kapaa last year.

"Everything up to this point, we planned to be in this game from when the season ended last year," said Klaneski. "We wanted to be in the championship game."

Another thing that has motivated the Monarchs was pre-season expectations. Although Damien won the past two ILH D2 titles, it checked in at No. 9 in the pre-season ScoringLive/Hawaiian Electric D2 Football Power Rankings.

"You always have to have something to kind of motivate your kids sometimes, and that was a great thing where to me I felt we were underrated, but that was OK though," said Klaneski. "We fought our way back to the top and kind of used it as fuel for our kids and it motivated them to play better, to practice harder, to do things a lot better. We're glad that we made (it) to where we are today."

The Monarchs are led by three-year varsity senior quarterback Marcus Faufata-Pedrina, a two-time All-Hawaii D2 second team quarterback. Hilo coach Kaeo Drummondo said stopping the Damien signal caller will be key for his team this weekend.

"He's a lot better than I thought," Drummondo said after seeing Faufata-Pedrina on film for the first time. "He makes so much plays with his legs, with his arms. He takes off back there and he doesn't even need to set his feet. He can get the ball out. He's an issue. If he's not contained, he'll be a big issue."

 

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Hilo's defense is no slouch, however. The unit is holding opponents to under 14 points and 150 yards of total offense per game, and has contributed to win the Pizza Hut Defense/Special Teams Contest with four defensive touchdowns and a forced safety during the regular season.

"Defense will have to win us this championship," said Drummondo. "No. 10 (Faufata-Pedrina) is good enough to where he has to be contained. If he's not contained, then our offense is going to have to put up a lot of points. Personally, I don't want to be in that type of game so hopefully we can prepare our defense well this week, get them ready to play."

Klaneski, who played for the University of Hawaii as a defensive back, noted that his team has its work cut out for them against the Hilo defense.

"They just got some fast guys. They got some big guys up front. Their nose guard is tough. They got some really good defensive backs that can cover guys one-on-one. They're very aggressive. They blitz a lot, so it's going to be a challenge for us to handle, what they bring with their speed and their size up front."

On the other side of the equation, the Vikings have a talented running back in Kahale Huddleston, who has accounted for 194 total points in 2017 so far. Running the ball has worked for Hilo throughout the season, but Drummondo hopes to utilize the full arsenal against the Monarchs.

"We want to establish the run game. I think that's not a secret at this point," he said. "We want to utilize the run game to open up the passing game, but we need to be ready to throw the ball. If the box is stacked and if they start bringing pressure, playmakers on the outside have to be ready when their number is called."

Kickoff will be approximately 30 minutes after the conclusion of the Division II title game between Konawaena and Lahainaluna.