Nick Kapule and the Buffanblu take on Taulia Tagovailoa and the Hurricanes in the second Open Division first round matchup at Aloha Stadium Saturday night. ScoringLive photo illustration

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A couple of teams ranked in the top five of the ScoringLive/Hawaiian Electric Division I Power Rankings will square off in the final game of the opening weekend of the First Hawaiian Bank/HHSAA Football State Championships Saturday night.

Fifth-ranked Kapolei will make its D1 state tournament debut when it takes on third-ranked Punahou in the feature game of an Open Division doubleheader at Hawaiian Tel FCU Field at Aloha Stadium.

Kickoff between the Hurricanes (9-2) and Buffanblu (7-2) is scheduled for approximately 7:30 p.m. The game will follow the Waianae-Farrington first-round game at 4:30 p.m.

Kapolei went 6-1 in regular-season play, with its only loss coming to Waianae back in week 2. It went on to win seven straight games before a down-to-the-wire 33-27 loss to Farrington in the semifinals of the Oahu Interscholastic Association tournament.

The Hurricanes played that game without star slotback Jaymin Sarono (93 receptions, 956 yards, 17 TDs this season) and 285-pound running back Antoneo Brown — both of whom were ineligible for a violation of team rules.

Both players returned to the field in last Saturday's 27-15 win over Waianae in the league's third-place game — with Sarono tying his season-high mark of 12 catches for 109 yards and a touchdown — but the matchup the ‘Canes drew in the state tournament left coach Darren Hernandez surprised.

"I think in the future it would be awesome if the winner of the third-place OIA game would have the more advantageous path, but of course, no game is easy in the state tournament, but it just seems strange," said Hernandez, whose team would play top-seeded Kahuku in the semifinals if it advances past the Buffanblu. "That was beyond our control, so we're just grateful for the opportunity to be in the open division. Obviously we can't control where we go. It worked out the way it did, there's nothing we can do about it, so we've just got to go out and play the game."

Grateful was also a word used by Punahou coach Kale Ane, whose team will be playing its first state tournament game since losing to Mililani in the final of the 2014 season.

"We're grateful for the opportunity," Ane said. "It was tough last year not making it to states, but this year, with the new format, we were able to get in and we're really excited and grateful for the opportunity."

The Buffanblu have been amongst the top three teams in the Power Rankings all season. Their only losses have come to Interscholastic League of Honolulu champion Saint Louis. In between those two blemishes, they won five straight games in arguably the state's toughest division — including a 33-20 win over the Crusaders, the lone loss on their otherwise-perfect season.

Hernandez did not mince words when offering his thoughts on Punahou's offensive unit, which is averaging just less than 38 points and 409 yards per game.

"I tell you what, they're the most explosive passing offense that we will face this year," said Hernandez, who is banking on familiarity to help his defense Saturday night. "I think there are two things that are helpful: one is we played them in a scrimmage and I thought we matched up pretty good with them. Now, obviously they're different, we're different because that was a long time ago, that was in August, but the other thing is our defense faces a passing game type of offense like that every day in practice, so we're pretty used to that kind of stuff."

Kapolei has been no slouch with the ball either. Under first-year offensive coordinator June Jones, it is averaging over 35 points and 374 yards per game, including 305 through the air.

"June is great," Ane said. "He's very strategic. You can see the adjustments he makes in the second half, so the kids are responding to what he's doing. They're got a great quarterback, a big line, a good running back and quick receivers, so for us, it's going to be a handful to contend with defensively."

The game will feature the state's top quarterbacks in passing yardage with Punahou senior Nick Kapule, who has thrown for 2,666 yards and 30 touchdowns, and Kapolei sophomore Taulia Tagovailoa, who leads the state with 3,305 yards and 36 touchdowns.

Each quarterback has completed 60 percent of his passes.

Tagovailoa has been intercepted six times, but not more than once in a single game this year.

Kapule is coming off his worst game of the season, when he was picked off five times in a 28-14 loss to Saint Louis in the ILH championship game two weeks ago. He had thrown just three interceptions prior.

"He had a tough game," Ane said of the southpaw. "Saint Louis played real well and put a lot of pressure on him. The good thing was we took a look at the film and we saw a lot of things we could have done differently and it was nice to have that extra week off to look at film and review and correct things and move on."

Both defenses will be tested, but each has one of the state's best in the trenches in Punahou's Miki Suguturaga (6-0, 260) and Kapolei's Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa (6-4, 270).

Ane said the bye week allowed the Buffanblu to recoup and he expects them to be "relatively healthy" for Saturday night.

The Hurricanes, meanwhile, will play without junior running back Josh Kansana (knee), who was injured against Farrington two weeks ago, and senior linebacker Geoffrey Fiafaimane (knee), who went down one week prior in a quarterfinal win over Moanalua.

Not that it matters at this point, Hernandez said.

"It's been a long season and we've played almost every week, so we're banged up — I'm not going to lie — but you know what, every team is banged up," Hernandez said. "It's nothing that all the other teams aren't dealing with. It seems like it's ‘old school' to say this, but really it's the next man up has to be prepared to step up and do the job."