The Lunas will kickoff the First Hawaiian Bank/HHSAA Football state tournament when it hosts Waipahu Friday in a 3:30 p.m. tilt at War Memorial Stadium. Glen Pascual | Special to SL

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Instead of traveling to Oahu, Lahainaluna, Baldwin and Hilo are all looking forward to hosting the opening round of the First Hawaiian Bank/Hawaii High School Athletic Association Football State Championships, which starts on Nov. 4.

Lahainaluna, the Division II Maui Interscholastic League champion, takes on Oahu Interscholastic Association runner-up Waipahu in the first game of a doubleheader at War Memorial Stadium. Kickoff is slated for 3:30 p.m.

"It feels good when you can play kind of at home. I feel sorry some of our parents and fans that won't be able to make the time," said Lahainaluna co-head coach Garret Tihada, on the early kickoff time.

The Lunas will have their hands full with a potent Marauder offense that can score from almost anywhere on the field.

"They can strike real quick and their size is concerning. We don't see that too often, Baldwin was big this year, but I think Waipahu is big across the board," Tihada said on Waipahu.

Lahainaluna dropped their first league opener to Maui, but regrouped to finish 5-3 in the league claim the MIL D2 crown.

"The regular season we started slow with a loss. Slowly our kids came around and we loved how they competed this year—even in our losses against Baldwin, I liked how they competed to the end," said Tihada.

As far as who to look out for on the Lunas, Tihada explained it's more of a team effort than one go-to individual.

"We don't have a consistent playmaker. It depends who we're facing and what's working," said Tihada.

For the nightcap on the Valley Isle, Baldwin, the Division I MIL champion, will host Mililani. Coach Pohai Lee feels the familiarity of playing at War Memorial is an advantage for his team.

"We're happy about not having to travel and we're in our comfort zone. We're looking forward to it and our fans are looking forward to it. It will be a chance for the kids to represent Maui in front of their home crowd. War Memorial is not the big venue like Aloha Stadium, but it's nice," said Lee.

The Bears finished the MIL season at 8-0, which was a goal at the start of the season. Junior quarterback Chayce Akaka has thrown nine touchdowns and one interception and rushed for seven TDs this season.

"This team did better than last year, we went through the MIL undefeated and that was one of our goals and that was a big accomplishment. We are not flashy in style, but no one is looking at that other than the W's and L's," said Lee.

Baldwin has to find a way to slow down Mililani's offense that has averaged 38.3 points per game and 358.1 yards of net offense. The Trojans' defense only allowed 237.5 yards of offense and 24.7 points per game.

"Mililani is an open division caliber team. They attack offensively and defensively, they're explosive so we have to play our best game," said Lee, on the Trojans.

Hilo captured the Big Island Interscholastic Federation Division I title and drew the tournament's top seed to host Leilehua. Being awarded the top seed caught second-year coach Kaeo Drummondo off guard.

"I was kind of surprised to receive the top seed to be honest. At this point, it is what it is. How we're seeded or not is not our decision, the best thing is that now we're matched up, it's time to prepare and get ready," said Drummondo.

In the past two seasons, the Vikings travelled to Oahu to take on Kahuku in 2014 and Mililani in 2015, but in this state tournament, the team travels less than 30 minutes south to Keaau High School.

"The previous two years we travelled here. Traveling is exciting for the kids, but at the same time there's a lot of distractions. Then there's the thing about community members not being able to make it, for a lot of the family members, it's great for our kids to play at home and have our fans come out," said Drummondo.

Hilo went unbeaten (8-0) in league play, but lost quarterback Kaale Tiogangco to injury around week four. Since then, freshman quarterback Kyan Miyasato has taken the reins and Kahala Huddleston and Nainoa Kane-Yates have been effective running the ball.

"For us, we're trying come together as a team. We lost our starting quarterback in around week four I believe—Kaale was a big part of what we do on offense. Now we have to rely on our line to generate a run game so that front five has to open holes. It's been good and hopefully we can continue to keep this journey going," said Drummondo.

The fact that Leilehua can move the ball effectively through the air and has averaged 241.4 yards of passing offense behind quarterback Kona Andres and utility Kaeloaloha Piceno is a concern for Drummondo and the Vikings. But he is hoping the offense can control the clock and keep the Mules off the field.

"They have a very high octane offense. They can throw it 40 or 50 yards as often and accurately as they do. They have a lot of playmakers and we'll try to limit them. Also, our offense has to be our defense and keep them off the field," said Drummondo.

Kickoff for the Mules and Vikings is slated for 7 p.m.