For the fourth time this season, the Saint Francis and Damien football teams will face off Friday night, but this time will be for all the marbles. CJ Caraang | SL

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There can only be one.

For the fourth time this season, the Saint Francis and Damien football teams will face off Friday night, but this time will be for all the marbles.

The Saints (8-3), No. 3 in the ScoringLive/Hawaiian Electric Division II Power Rankings, and fourth-ranked Monarchs (8-3) will take to the turf at Aloha Stadium in a winner-take-all playoff for the Interscholastic League of Honolulu D2 championship and the league's lone berth in the upcoming First Hawaiian Bank/HHSAA State Tournament.

The teams split the first two meetings this year: Damien won 27-20 on Sept. 15 and Saint Francis claimed a 19-0 victory on Oct. 7.

The Monarchs secured the ILH first-round title, but the Saints rallied to take the second-round crown after a down-to-the-wire 15-14 win last Saturday after scoring the tying touchdown with one minute and 10 seconds left in the game, and then converting the ensuing extra point to pull ahead.

With only the winner of Friday's playoff ensured a spot in states, it's a win-or-go-home situation for both teams.

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

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

Kip Akana, Saint Francis coach: "Excited. We're excited for the opportunity to have a one-game playoff for the ILH title, the lone Division II berth and we're excited because the road of the road we've had to travel to finally get a deciding, elimination game for Damien and Saint Francis — for Damien especially because we dropped a game to Iolani earlier in the season and we had to take a little bit of a tougher path to get to this situation which included getting a victory over Damien last week — so we're excited for the opportunity."

Eddie Klaneski, Damien coach: "Hungry. Just because coming off the last two times we played Saint Francis, we lost both games and the last one was real close and I just think that our guys are really, really hungry to get back on the winning track. It was just a play here, a play there and we feel that, especially in the last game we let it go, and so they're definitely ready to get back on the field and play again."

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

Akana: "I would say we're close. On-the-field performance, in between the whistles, our execution is pretty good, (but) the thing that's really been holding us back — and we if we don't get cleaned up before Friday — will be the penalties. If we continue to incur penalties like we did this past game, it will be a real uphill battle. I'll hold opinion on some of the calls, but we don't control the decision makers in that. We only control what we do and we need to make sure that we don't let the officials determine the game for us."

Klaneski: "You know, to be honest, we're getting there but we're still a ways off from playing to our full potential. We look at game film day in and day out and there's always work to be done. There's times we play really well, but we haven't gotten close to where we need to be and can be. Once we do what we do, the way we want them to do it, it's going to be tough going against us. So we have one opportunity in front of us and we have to make sure we do our best in this game."

ScoringLive: Where has your team made its largest strides this year?

Akana: "Defensively we continue to evolve and that is the backbone of our team, but if I have to give an answer on where we've made the biggest strides, it would obviously be the ability to throw the ball and not make us so one-dimensional. It's pretty much been the thing that we've done differently. Our defense has always been stellar, we've always run the ball well, but you know, that passing game is slowly evolving and it makes us a tougher opponent to prepare for us."

Klaneski: "I think with just some leadership. I think we've gotten better in that sense from the beginning of the season until now. Our kids are kind of starting to take the reins in certain areas, whether it's on the field or off the field. Obviously they're continuing to grow from boys to young men and a few players are stepping up as leaders this year and hopefully it'll show up in a crucial time this weekend."

ScoringLive: Who has been an unsung hero on your team this season?

Akana: "I'll go with Oloseti Haunga. Oloseti has been a reserve player the last few years. He's a big, strong, fast kid. He's seen limited playing time in the previous years. We found a spot that he's embraced and that is as a special teams captain. He takes that seriously and he's on every single special teams unit because he's the special teams captain and I want to acknowledge him. Football is three games wrapped up in one — offense, defense and special teams — and Oloseti has been an unsung player for us this season."

Klaneski: "We have a lot of kids that have done a lot of things, (but) I want to say, our running back, Keoua Kauhi. He does have pretty good stats, but i just feel like whenever he has a pretty good game — if he runs for over 100 yards — we usually win the game. He's had a good year. He switched from linebacker to running back. if we can kind of help him get on track, I think that's going to be a key difference for us, so I would say him. He's kind of our guy. He's kind of just a workhorse, been battling injuries, but he's played every game. He's tough, so we're hoping we can jump on his back and let him carry us, take some pressure off (quarterback) Marcus (Faufata-Pedrina) and open up some passing lanes and that could be the difference for us."

ScoringLive: This will be the 12th game played this year for each team. What are some of the difficulties you face at this juncture of the season?

Akana: "Well, it's just the rigors of the schedule. We played three preseason games and then we had one bye and then we went into the ILH schedule. We played six first-round games and now we've played two second-round games without a bye. It's just challenging for the coaching staff to break the monotony of practice and be creative. I don't know if it's a problem, but it does force the coaches to be a little more creative and it's important for the kids to be able to take it upon themselves to do what they need to do: weight training, continue rehab — not just at practice but when they go home. Those are just some of the things that are challenges when playing without a bye."

Klaneski: "I think obviously having such a long season, I think some of the injuries start to linger. We sustained some major injuries, but it happened early in the year where we lost some kids for the season. Now we're getting some bumps or bruises, but playing a 12, 13-game season — or maybe 14 if we can continue on — that's not something I want to shy away from. We want to play more games. If we don't get to the state tournament, playing 12 games is awesome for a season. A couple years ago we played eight games and i felt that wasn't enough for our kids. so I really pushed for as many preseason games as we can. I like our schedule. I would say dealing with injuries, trying to stay focused and trying to plan out your year is really hard because you want to make sure you're peaking at the right time, but it's good. I like it."

ScoringLive: What do you expect from Friday's game?

Akana: "What do I expect or what do I hope for? (Laughter). If you ask me what I wish for, I'm hoping for a game that's decided in Saint Francis' favor by halftime, but what I expect is nothing less than what you've seen in these previous three games. The first game we were ahead at the half and we were pretty comfortable, but Damien was resilient. They came back and won the second game, and although it was a shutout, 19-0, there were moments where Damien was driving and it was looking like the first game, and then we all know what happened last weekend with that thriller, and Eddie knows, and we know, that it's the team that makes the least amount of mistakes and plays until the whistle is blown that is probably going to come out the victory."

Klaneski: "I expect the same thing. I expect those guys to come and hit us right in the mouth and we're going to do the same. It's going to be a battle in the trenches and I think if we can do a better job up front and stop those guys up front a little earlier, shorten the game a little bit and just kind of expect it to be a battle. It'll probably come down to the last play or the last drive. It's going to be another big battle. Both of us are going to be prepared. We know each other really well and it's just a matter of who has that extra effort at the end, or makes that last play at the end like they did, and just make sure we play four quarters. If we have to go overtime, we have to just do what we have to do and play strong all the way through."

Kickoff between the Saints and Monarchs is scheduled for 6 p.m. Friday at Aloha Stadium.