Christian Manera and the Kauai Red Raiders and Kahanu Davis and the Kapaa Warriors face off Saturday night. ScoringLive photo illustration

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One team will be looking to take control of a tight race for the league title while the other is fighting to stay in it when Kauai and Kapaa face off this weekend.

The Red Raiders currently lead the Kauai Interscholastic Federation standings with a 2-1 record and can take a full game lead over second place Waimea (2-2) with a win over the Warriors (1-2).

On the other hand, it's do-or-die time for last place Kapaa as it looks to avenge a 27-17 loss to Kauai back on Sept. 8.

The Warriors are currently in a situation that they have never been in during fourth-year coach Philip Rapozo's tenure. Kapaa won the past three KIF titles and went 17-1 in league play during that time frame, but desperately needs a win this weekend to keep pace in the league standings.

The rematch between the two teams was originally slated to be a afternoon game, but thanks to an agreement between the County of Kauai and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that will allow the KIF to play more games at night during the endangered seabird fledgling season, the contest will be played at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Vidinha Stadium.

We caught up with the coaches of both teams a few days before their showdown.

ScoringLive: What has the mood been like since more night games got added to the schedule.

Derek Borrero, Kauai coach: "It was awesome. The kids and I, the coaching staff and everyone associated with high school football on Kauai was thrilled about that. It's about Friday night lights, everybody enjoys that. Ever since we had day games, the numbers dropped, the attendance. It hurts the (ticket) gate and the food booth. Now that we have Friday night lights, Saturday night lights, we've already seen in the last couple games people coming out. This is a small island and football is king. Everybody enjoys it, especially with what's happening right now. It's the closest in competition that we've had in the KIF in a bunch of years. It's exciting and it's been fun."

Philip Rapozo, Kapaa coach: "Everybody's excited. That's what everybody wants, not just the teams and the schools, but the fans and the communities. They like the Friday night lights, the Saturday night games. It's exciting for everybody."

ScoringLive: Describe your team's current situation in one word.

Borrero: "Opportunity. I think that's the best way to describe what our team is feeling right now. We feel like we have a tremendous opportunity to take advantage of a situation that we've been looking forward to for a couple of years, which his to win a championship here on the island. We're in a position right now where we haven't been in a few years. For the kids and coaching staff, everybody is excited. The energy level is high right now."

Rapozo: "I cannot say desperate… I don't know how to put it. We're fighting. We're fighting for our football lives right now. It's a must-win. We in a situation, (facing) adversity that we've never had before. We've had small adversity before when we lost, but our backs are against the wall right now. But like I told the boys, that's what sports is all about. It's fun, competition, it's not always going to be easy. I think we're excited with our chances. We're still feeling good with ourselves. We know both games we lost, we were in the games."

ScoringLive: How near or far is your team from playing to its full potential?

Borrero: "I think we're near, we're very near. I think right now, we're playing right at 80 percent of our full potential and our ability. Like everybody else, we struggled with a couple of few things here and there, everybody is saying there's going to be injuries and changes, but our team knows exactly what we expect out of them. This Saturday night, we're hoping to hit another gear, 90 percent, and finish strong for the season. These two next games are really important. If we can take of this next few games, it'll be really good."

Rapozo: "Oh man, that's another hard one. We got so many injuries on defense that without everybody healthy, I don't know how far more. We need to play a lot better, but I'd say we at 50 percent right now with everybody that's playing. We got some key injuries on defense, and that's not an excuse, but injuries have hurt us. Hopefully it'll make us stronger. I'm hoping we can win this game and get healthier by the next game, and from there on we get healthy every week and get everybody back and make a run, but right now we cannot wait. We got to win this game (and) I have full confidence in the kids that we have playing."

ScoringLive: Individually, who on your team has been a pleasant surprise so far this season?

Borrero: "I think two guys that deserve mention, but we kind of expected, is Christian Manera and Jaykob Nakaahiki-Young. Those are two guys that are seniors that have the ability to play all three areas of the game, special teams, offense and defense. We made a decision early in the season that with these two boys, we have to leave them on the field."

Rapozo: "Our quarterback Kahanu Davis. If it's a surprise, I would say it's our quarterback because he just turned 15 a couple of days ago. He's doing a helluva of a job. He's not perfect, nobody is, but he's playing well above his time. Our quarterback, he's a 10th grader, he's doing so well for us that it's amazing. I'm excited."

ScoringLive: What did you learn about your opponent the first time the two teams played?

Borrero: "They're resilient. If there was another three minutes on the clock, it could have been tighter or a different game. We have to pick our poison. They have a real good running and a real good passing game. We had to shut something down, we chose to stop the run. It's not that we have no concern about the passing game, because when they decided they needed to move the ball down the field, they were very effective. That Davis kid they have at quarterback, he is really efficient."

Rapozo: "I knew they was going to be really good. "I would say they're a lot faster than I thought they were as far as team speed. We learned that. Everything else, we pretty much knew. They're well-coached, they play hard, so I think their team speed kind of surprised me a little."

ScoringLive: Is there a specific matchup within the game that you feel will be especially important this weekend?

Borrero: "We've been effective running the ball. We haven't thrown the ball as much as we like to or we can, but I think the key to this game is going to be special teams. It's a 40-yard transition from the punt, punt return, kickoff and kickoff return. If we can have a breakaway on a return, I think that's going to be the difference in this Saturday's game. Special teams is going to be key."

Rapozo: "I think the trenches on both sides of the ball. O-line, D-line all the way. That's going to be the most important thing. The last time, we lost that battle. We got to win that battle this time."