Adonis Pelletier (left) and Ryno Banasihan (right) will look to help their respective teams to victory Saturday afternoon in a key KIF matchup. ScoringLive photo illustration

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While this weekend's football game between Kauai and Kapaa isn't officially a championship game, that's essentially what is at stake when the teams face off Saturday afternoon.

The Red Raiders (6-1 overall, 4-1 league) hold a one-half game lead over the Warriors (4-2, 3-1) going into the penultimate weekend of the Kauai Interscholastic Federation football season.

It will be the final game of the regular season for Kauai, which is coming off a 21-2 win over Waimea Saturday. A win Saturday would clinch the league title and its lone Division II state tournament berth for the Red Raiders.

Kapaa was on bye over the weekend and last played on Oct. 6, a 59-6 rout of Waimea. A win Saturday would push the Warriors one-half game ahead of Kauai with their regular-season finale scheduled against Waimea — a team they have outscored by a combined margin of 97 to 6 in two wins this season — next weekend.

This weekend's game will be the third meeting between the teams this season.

Kauai won the first game, 13-3, back on Sept. 7, part of a five-game winning streak to open the season, but Kapaa put an end to that string of victories three weeks later, by a score of 20-0.

We caught up with the coaches of both teams a few days before their rubber match in Lihue.

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

Jason Apilado, Kauai coach: "Motivated. Reason why is from the preseason and coming in all the way to a few weeks ago and experiencing our first loss — which was a tough one to swallow — going head-to-head with our second game with Kapaa and having pretty much everything, whatever you could think of go wrong in a football game did go wrong, so sometimes losses aren't always bad. I think after experiencing that loss even now more so the team is more motivated than ever to definitely improve and get better after that."

Philip Rapozo, Kapaa coach: "Focused. Just the way practice is. Since our first Kauai High game that we lost, it's a different team. They're busting their okoles. I'm amazed how they responded to that loss."

ScoringLive: Who or what has been the heart of your team?

Apilado: "I would say, for me that would be probably, a two-part answer. One, I think our team really rallies around our senior quarterback, Tyler Oshima. The reason for that is, I would say he's a man of all action and few words, but he really demonstrates his fire and his will to succeed and always help his team by making plays and always moving the ball. He's quiet, but he's very effective in the way that he leads his efforts for his team. The second part to that would be one of our linebackers, Austin Olivera, who's another senior. Looking at the roster the last few years, looking at the team coming up from his freshman year till now, this boy has really climbed the ranks. He's gone from not being a starter to stepping into a role of being one of our linebackers. He really stepped out of his shell, he's a vocal leader on our defense and I think the coaches and myself didn't expect that from him, but he's really stepped up into that role as a leader on our defense."

Rapozo: "That's a hard one because there's so many guys. I mean, even the guys who are not even playing, just at practice giving the first team good looks in scout. I just gotta say it's a team effort."

ScoringLive: Which game this season has proven to be most beneficial for your team?

Apilado: "Coming in from the preseason at 2-0 and then winning the first three games, I think the most beneficial game for us didn't come in the form of a win. It came in the form of experiencing a tough loss. That exposed a lot of things we needed to improve upon, not just from a player's standpoint, but coach's standpoint as well. It motivated all of us to demand of ourselves to improve and look at every aspect of our game and to get better."

Rapozo: "The Kauai High game when we lost, by far. I mean, I guess the way we lost it, too. It was a drag out game, not much offense. We turned over the ball at the goal line and they returned it to the (other) 4-yard line and put them in a great situation and then they capitalized on it, so you gotta give them credit. Everybody saying we gave away the game, we gave up the ball, but geez, they did what they needed to do and they got the ball. But I think that one play right there was the turnaround for us, more than the game itself."

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

Apilado: "We're not that far off. There's always room for improvement, of course, and that comes daily in every aspect, but I think we're not very far and some of that has to do with coming into this last regular season game with the (KIF) championship on the line. One of the aspects that hurt us in the midseason was trying to keep everyone healthy. We had some key players nursing injuries, but looking at it coming off last week's win over Waimea and coming off a bye week (the week prior), I think everybody is healthy and ready to go, so we're not very far from where we want to be."

Rapozo: "I think we got more to go. We're not peaking right now, but we're moving in the right direction. We're almost there. I think we're probably at 70 percent right now and like I said, just the way practices have been going we're moving forward. We're not stagnant, we're not moving back, we're getting better every day, so that's the great thing about it."

ScoringLive: What are your thoughts on this week's opponent? What will be a key matchup within the game?

Apilado: "Kauai is a unique situation where we play each other three times, so I don't think there's anything that anybody can hide at this point. It's a chess match where you're lining up your pieces in the right spots to make key plays. As far as our opponent, one of their running backs has been a huge part of their success, their offensive line is pretty dominant. I think they edge us out a little bit with their size on their offensive line, but I think we matchup with speed and some size, but for us we really have to tighten down and defend well against their run."

Rapozo: "Kauai High, they got some athletes. They're a good team. Of course, we want to be ahead, but we both have the same opportunity this week to get one step closer to winning a KIF championship. They're a well-rounded team, they've got a good offense, good defense. We know we have a big task ahead of us and we're excited, but that's what football is about, big games like this. That's why we play the game, for moments like this."

ScoringLive: How do you feel the first two meetings against this team has prepared your group for Saturday's game?

Apilado: "I think quite well. Like I said, this is our third meeting so we know each other well. I'd be really surprised if they come out with something different because they've been so successful with what they're doing. I'd be really surprised if they go and add a wrinkle here and there, or change things up, but looking at the first two games and splitting those — winning one and losing one — to me, it's just going to come down to who makes the least amount of mistakes and who capitalizes on big plays and opportunities. It could swing either way. We're very evenly matched in a lot of areas so it's going to be a very, very good game."

Rapozo: "Like I said, I know we're getting better. So as far as the first game, we didn't play for about a month before that game. We had the first-game bye and then the hurricane, so everything got moved back so Ii think it was just about four weeks since we took the field against Konawaena, so that was a hard thing for us to do and I think we went into that game with the wrong intentions of doing things we thought we could do, but we couldn't execute it. It's just exciting right now to see the team getting better. This is my 11th season at Kapaa High School — fifth as the head coach — and I think this may be the first that I noticed how much better we're getting as we're going along."

ScoringLive: Complete the sentence. We win Saturday's game if _________.

Apilado: "If we defend the run well against Kapaa and we capitalize on any opportunities that are given to us and cash in and close the deal, I think we'll be fine on offense."

Rapozo: "We execute all three phases, offense, defense, we win the turnover battle, of course. We do that and I think we have a great chance of winning this game."

Kickoff between the Red Raiders and Warriors is slated for 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Vidinha Stadium.