Dallas Labanon and the Monarchs will face off against Tsubasa Brennan and the Wolfpack for the second time in as many weeks Friday. ScoringLive photo illustration

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How much of a difference does a week make? That's what Pac-Five and Damien will find out Friday night.

Just seven days after the Monarchs rallied to a 26-21 win over the Wolf Pack in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu first-round finale, the teams will square up once again in a second-round game. The stakes are high, as the winner advances to the second-round final, while the loser's season is over.

Iolani, which won the first-round title and is the top seed in the second round, hosts Pac-Five at 3:15 p.m. Friday at Kozuki Stadium.

Damien rushed for 181 yards and threw for 204 a week ago to overcome 343 passing yards and three touchdowns from Pac-Five quarterback Kainoa Ferreira and Tsubasa Brennan's 13-catch, 150-yard, two-touchdown performance.

We caught up with the head coaches for both teams a few days before their showdown in Halawa.

ScoringLive: Describe your team's current situation in one word.
Kip Botelho, Pac-Five coach: "Must-win. The loser goes home, so it's a must-win game for us. We're hungry for a win, too. We started off 2-0 and then ran into Saint Louis, Kamehameha, Iolani, Punahou and we were looking forward to Damien, too. They're a tough, scrappy team and it was a great football game. We had opportunities that we didn't cash in, so we're looking forward to the rematch."
Eddie Klaneski, Damien coach: "I would say a little banged up. I just think that we have a few guys who are a little bit banged up that we didn't expect to be banged up at this point in time, but for the most part we've been playing with low numbers for most of the season, so by the time the game comes around Saturday we should be ready to go."

SL: How near or far is your team from playing at its potential?
Botelho: "We've got so much young tenth-graders on the field so the potential is there. There's so much upside, but then again we've got a few seniors who are big-play guys like Tsubasa Brennan, Sean Kinel — those two guys are our two seniors — but we've got tenth-graders all over the field. Our starting center, quarterback, wide receiver, two inside linebackers, our long snapper and our punter are all tenth-graders. We have them all over the place and in key positions, (so) as far as getting experience, it's great, but we're asking them to step up and play big right now."
Klaneski: "After looking at the film today, we made a lot of mistakes in the (Pac-Five) game. We got a lot of penalties here and there, we were a couple of plays away, a couple of turnovers away from playing a lot better, (but) we're not at the top of our game yet. We're still striving there everyday in practice, working on the same stuff from Summer time, trying to perfect the little things so we can be better on game day."

SL: Which player(s) or position group is the heart of your team?
Botelho: "The heart of our team is probably our skill-(position) guys. They're the senior guys and we're going to ride them out."
Klaneski: "I guess within our line, is probably the heart and soul of the team. Even though we're undersized, everything goes through them on offense or on defense. We don't have a lot of kids, but we have a lot of kids playing on both sides of the ball. That's where it all starts and ends, in the middle there."

SL: Do you feel league games between Division I and Division II teams is beneficial or detrimental?
Botelho: "For us, detrimental. Just because those are the games that we've had several concussions in all three of them, so for us, detrimental. It had no benefit."
Klaneski: "It's a question that's been raised this whole season and for us in the end, in the big picture, the way the ILH is set up, I honestly think it's kind of detrimental for us in D2. If there was a way that we could go back to when those games actually meant something, (because) if we beat those D1 teams it doesn't affect us in D2, so in the long run I think it's a little detrimental for us because we sustain some injuries in all the games. Sometimes when we go up against bigger guys, it's a little tougher. This year we did a better job of hanging with those guys, (so) we came out of those games a little better."

SL: What's your take on your opponent this week and how do you feel you match up?
Botelho: "Damien is a scrappy bunch. They play hard and we matchup well, I think. It's a D2 game where both teams are pretty evenly matched it comes down to the fundamentals of football: blocking, catching, throwing, tackling. We expect a good game."
Klaneski: "We're going to be playing them back-to-back and we feel that they have a few receiving weapons on offense, (but) we just have to be on our best game; we can't make mistakes. They did a good job last week of game-planning against us, they stopped some of our weapons, their quarterback threw for 400 yards, Tsubasa Brennan — who's one of the best on their team, if not the state — and a couple other kids did a nice job. They're real scrappy. We've got to play our game from beginning to end and limit our mistakes as coaches and as players. We've got to expect them to do everything this week. In the past against Pac-Five they've always had some kind of change or trick play — and we both know that this is a no-holds barred type of elimination game — so there's nothing that we won't expect them to do and we'll have to be prepared for everything from an onside kick to a double pass to a reverse. We expect a battle and whoever makes less mistakes will be victorious."

SL: Is playing the same opponent two weeks in a row a good or bad thing?
Botelho: "It's good for us because we lost so we get another crack at them. It's bad because you know what both sides are doing, but like i said, it comes down to fundamentals and trying to scheme something different."
Klaneski: "I guess it's kind of both. The good thing is we can prepare kind of the same way, get to see the same personnel, same type of offense, same type of defense, but at the same time, you're always thinking in the back of your mind what will they do based off last week, so you've got to prepare for things they didn't do and correct mistakes that we made in the game, make sure that we're sound on offense, defense and special teams, so it's a good and a bad thing. We prepared for them all last week, we'll prepare for them this week as well, but but it's just the unexpected stuff to figure out how will they change or if at all."

Kickoff between the Wolf Pack and Monarchs is set for 5:30 p.m. Friday at Hawaiian Airlines Field at Aloha Stadium.