For the second consecutive year, the Hilo High football team came oh, so close to making history.

The Vikings gave perennial powerhouse Kahuku all that it could handle for more than three quarters Friday night, but ultimately fell short once again. They held a 10-0 halftime lead but allowed 20 straight points by the Red Raiders to become yet another first-round casualty out of the Big Island Interscholastic Federation.

The league is now 0-16 all-time in the 16-year history of the First Hawaiian Bank/Hawaii High School Athletic Association Division I Football State Championships.

"We tried our best," said Vikings' linebacker Ofa Fahiua, who finished with a team-high seven tackles. "The whole week of practice we've been trying to prepare ourselves and we think we played a pretty good game.

Fahiua, one of 29 departing seniors on the team, also had two tackles for losses, one sack, a fumble recovery.

Another senior, defensive back Donavan Kelley, said he hopes the performance gained some respect for Hilo.

"I think Hilo High, our school and our program, were represented well tonight," said Kelley, who intercepted a pass and recovered a fumble. "Even though we came out with a loss, we represented well and that's all that matters. We gave it our all, we have heart and we have a system with boys that believe in the system. We've never played anybody as high a caliber team as Kahuku before."

Kelley suffered a concussion in the first half and did not return to the game. He went to the hospital as a precautionary measure and returned just after the final whistle.

"I listened to it on radio and was going off," Kelley said. "I'm taking it in slowly. It's hard to take it in. It's a big game, we had to win it and tonight we didn't, but it's been a fun year."

The Vikings held a 17-14 third-quarter lead against Campbell in a first-round game of last year's state tournament on the Big Island.

"I think what I take away is — you know, everybody is really positive and talks about how we're getting closer, we're getting closer — but you know, I'm just really not a consolation guy. I'm not a moral victory guy," Hilo coach Dave Baldwin said. "I think you get measured by your wins and your losses and two years of getting close really doesn't bring me the satisfaction that it might bring anyone else, because I'm not trying to get close. I'm trying to make history and get things done on a state level that I fell short on two years in a row."

Baldwin said the Red Raiders' physicality took its toll over four quarters.

"I think we needed to not have turned the ball over and we had so many injures in the game," Baldwin said. "We were trying to finish the game with our second- and third-team players all the way through, (because) we got so banged up. That was a very, very physical defense we were playing. We had injuries that they seemed to exploit and kind of take advantage — which was great coaching — and after they got that three points and the momentum shifted and I just need to have done a better job of re-obtaining, getting back that momentum and I failed."

The loss signified the end of a special run with his senior class, which qualified for two of the Vikings' four state-tournament appearances in school history.

"I think mainly I'll just take from this the memories with my seniors and what they've done personally, what I fell short on as a head coach and what I need to improve for our program," said Baldwin, who took ownership for the loss. "The victories go to the student-athletes and my coaching staff, (but) the defeats are on me. The buck stops here."