Football
Three tournament survivors seeking perfect season




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].




Show your support

Every contribution, no matter the size, will help ScoringLive continue its mission to provide the best and most comprehensive coverage of high school sports in the state of Hawaii and beyond.

Please consider making a contribution today.

ADVERTISEMENT


MORE STORIES

Bears squeak by Warriors to set up all-MIL final with Maui

Kaden Anderson pitched five innings and made an incredible running catch to deep right-center field to...

No. 1 Mililani claims fourth D1 state crown, first since 2014, with rout of No. 2 Kamehameha

Sunni Kahanu belted a pair of home runs and drove in five runs and Hinano Bautista fired a four-hitter...

No. 10 Kapaa dominates PAC-5 to end perfect season with D2 state title

The Warriors hammered out 12 hits in their 12-run rout of the Wolfpack to win their first Division II...

Damien rallies past Waianae to return to championship game

Tryten Vicari drove in Francis O'Connor for the go-ahead run with his RBI-sacrifice fly in the bottom...

No. 10 Kamehameha-Hawaii pulls away from Kauai to reach D2 final

Dominic Christensen batted 2 for 2 with a double and drove in four runs to lead the third-seeded Warriors...

Warriors rout Bears to punch ticket to D1 softball final

Peahi Grilho-Armitage fired a five-inning no-hitter and Kamehameha pumped out 13 hits to pull away from...