Pearl City RB Tex Kang is tackled by a trio of Kalaheo defenders in the Chargers' 2017 regular season meeting against the Mustangs. Steve Erler | Special to SL

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After being dealt a 27-13 home loss by Saint Francis on the final day of August, Pearl City rebounded with a one-sided win over McKinley last week.

The Chargers (3-2 overall, 3-0 league) recorded their first shutout of the year with Friday night's 41-0 blanking of the visiting Tigers. Their defense accounted for a couple of touchdowns with Melanio Oandasan's 70-yard pick-6 and Gabriel Parrish's 50-yard scoop-and-score.

Opponents are averaging fewer than 17 points per game against Pearl City, which looks to remain unbeaten in OIA Division II play when it travels over the Koolau mountains to face Kalaheo Friday night.

The Mustangs (2-3, 2-1) find themselves in a three-way tie for third place in the league standings, one game behind Pearl City and Kaimuki.

Kalaheo turned in a couple of shutout victories over McKinley (21-0) and Waialua (43-0), but were set back by a 13-6 loss to PAC-5 last Saturday. It was held to 125 yards in the loss and had its only points come from a 9-yard interception return for a score by Jaden Amasiu, but limited the Wolfpack to 170 yards of total offense.

If the Mustangs are to get a bounce-back victory of their own this weekend, they will have to buck recent history that favors the Chargers.

Pearl City has won the last seven showdowns between the teams, including a 31-0 decision in their previous meeting (Sept. 1, 2017).

Kalaheo's last win in the series came on Oct. 9, 2010, when they edged Pearl City by a score of 13-6.

We caught up with Chargers sixth-year coach Robin Kami and Mustangs seventh-year coach Darrell Poole a few days before they take to the field.

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

Robin Kami, Pearl City coach: "Focus. That's what we need to do every time on and off the field so that we can grow and get better as a team."

Darrell Poole, Kalaheo coach: "Wow. Being that we have a great coaching staff, the kids are buying into the program and pulling together as brothers despite our numbers. They are believing that hard work in practice will get us to our end goal and that is making the playoffs."

SL: How do you feel your first five games have prepared your team for the second half of the season?

Kami: "The first five weeks we had a lot of close games and I think that will help us out in the second half of the second. That will help us build confidence, that we can come back when we are down in the fourth (quarter) and not give up until the clock reads zeroes. Also, we had a lot of injuries and that gave a lot of our players a chance to step up. Next man up."

Poole: "I think the first five have helped us out to grow as a team. We started out slow, we're still young, but as each game has gone on we've gotten better with each other and I think in the next half of the season I think its really prepared our team for the better teams in our division and I think the kids are kinda optimistic and starting to buy in. The score last week was not indicative of what we can do as a team, and on the positive side, I think we're going to come in really motivated this week to try to pull out this win against Pearl City."

SL: Which game proved to be most beneficial for your team this year?

Kami: "The Kaiser and Waialua games were very beneficial for our team. It taught us to believe in each other and anything can happen if you keep grinding to the end."

Poole: "I think the most beneficial game has actually been the Waialua game, it kinda brought the kids together but the other beneficial game I gotta throw this in there, it's the game against PAC-5. Despite the score, we were in the game until the end when we made some mistakes and for us, we're our worst enemy when we make mistakes, but I think it brought the team closer to show them that with a team like PAC-5 or the rest of the teams in our division, we can compete with the best of them. We just gotta play mistake free football and we'll be fine. Like I said, we're still young but the kids are buying in and that's the good thing. We're progressing every week."

SL: What's an area where your team has taken great strides since the start of the season?

Kami: "We struggled on offense in the beginning, but our offense has taken good strides and with each week you can see improvement and confidence in them."

Poole: "I think the biggest strides are that we've come together. Our kids play almost the whole game, but the strides they've made a lot is keeping us in the ball games on the defensive side of the ball. It carries over the offense, but the biggest strides have come on defense, but overall as a team we've come a long way from the beginning and that's a plus for the coaching staff that I have to get us where we are right now."

SL: Have there been any individual players on opposing teams you've faced this year that have caught your eye with their play on the field?

Kami: "I know the team we're facing has caught my eye. That Kalaheo defense, all 11 (players) swarm to the ball real well."

Poole: "The quarterback from Waialua (Justyce Lacar), the running back from McKinley (Migguel Camacho), the defensive tackle from Kaiser (Kieran Gabriel) and the linebacker (Laitin Bradley) and offensive lineman (Leif Fautanu, Jr.) from PAC-5."

SL: What are your thoughts on your opponent this week?

Kami: "Every year Kalaheo is well coached and prepared. Just because they don't have the numbers don't underestimate them. Coach Darrell does a great job with their program and gets those players to compete every week."

Poole: "I mean, you know, Pearl City, I've been facing Robin the last couple years. Some people think he's struggling this year with stuff, but he's a formidable opponent and he's at 3-0. His coaching staff, credit to him and then they're on top of their game. We're gonna need to be mistake free football to win this game. If we pull this out it changes the whole complexion of the division, if we can go to 3-1, they're gonna be a tough team to play against but on our side we gotta play mistake free football. They're a formidable opponent. They lost against Saint Francis, well that's Saint Francis, but in our division they're still one of top dogs that we need to overcome."

SL: What do you feel will be a key matchup within the game?

Kami: The key matchup for this game is going to be our O-line and D-line and if we can control their O-line and D-line. Kalaheo has good linemen. They are fast and physical and move side to side very well."

Poole: "The key to the game will have to be our offense against their defense. We really need to get our offense off to a great start to stay ahead of Pearl City."

Kickoff between the Chargers and the Mustangs is scheduled for 6 p.m. Friday at Kailua's Alex Kane Stadium.