Saint Louis takes on Mililani Friday night at Aloha Stadium in a rematch of last year's Open Division state championship game. CJ Caraang | SL

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The thought of playing against two nationally-ranked teams in a span of six days might be less than ideal for most football coaches, but not Mililani's Rod York.

After being hit with a 42-10 defeat at the hands of national powerhouse St. John Bosco (Bellflower, California) last Saturday, York's Trojans will face another juggernaut in three-time Open Division state champion Saint Louis Friday night.

"It's actually perfect timing," York said. "We knew the schedule back in the summer and we asked for this schedule, so our boys are excited to play at (Aloha) Stadium, to play against Saint Louis and it probably will be the only game that's on at that time and everybody will be watching it. This is another opportunity for us."

The Trojans (6-1 overall, 4-0 OIA) and Crusaders (6-0, 5-0 ILH) are the No. 2 and 1 teams, respectively, in the ScoringLive/Hawaiian Electric Power Rankings.

Saint Louis is ranked sixth nationally by USA Today and seventh by MaxPreps. It has won 32 consecutive games, dating back to the 2016 season. Two of those wins came at the expense of Mililani — both times in the state tournament — including last year's Open Division state final, a 38-17 victory for the Crusaders.

"We know Saint Louis. Saint Louis, of all the teams on our schedule, is actually the simplest schematically," York said. "They don't do anything special except line up and play base and make you try to make errors. We gotta find ways to move the ball and move the chains and score points and not give them turnovers."

Like their opponent Friday night, the Crusaders are coming off a big game themselves. They overcame four fumbles — three lost in the red zone — five sacks allowed and a 10-point halftime deficit to come away with a 25-19 win over Punahou last Friday.

"We're fortunate the way things ended up last week and we just gotta get better, make sure we take care of the ball," Saint Louis coach Cal Lee said. "That game told us that turnovers are gonna hurt anyone and fortunately, like I said, we got out of it with a win, but I think we're more aware of securing the ball and taking care of it. We can't be giving it up like last week. Sometimes things work out for the better where things like this happen and it makes you more conscious of it, so maybe that'll help us down the road."

Unlike Saint Louis, Mililani failed to come away with a win last week, but York is also banking on the experience of playing the Braves — who are ranked third by USA Today and second by MaxPreps — paying dividends down the road.

"It showed us our weaknesses, especially on the defensive side because we don't normally get to see much weaknesses normally, but they exposed some holes in our game plan so we just gotta fix things up," York said.

The game against the Crusaders won't count toward the OIA standings for the Trojans, but that has zero effect on how York and his players are approaching it.

"We look at this as our state championship game right now. That's been our philosophy every week: right now we're 0-0 and we want to go 1-0 every week," York said. "We're playing this to win it."

Saint Louis is averaging 34.7 points and 397.3 yards of total offense per game, including 293.2 passing. Defensively, it has held opponents to just 13 points and 177.3 yards per contest, including a minuscule 26.5 rushing.

"They're loaded. On defense they've got all 11 guys that are probably worthy of D1 scholarships — a couple of guys with multiple offers — and on offense they've got two speedy wideouts, but its the slots that are the most dangerous," York said. "And then (Jayden) de Laura is in his second season starting (at quarterback) now and he's very confident in not just his passing but his running ability, so it's a big task for us but we're up for the challenge."

Mililani is averaging 32.1 points and 297.7 yards per game on offense and has limited opponents to 13.7 points and 207.7 yards each time out, including just 35.4 rushing yards.

"They're a good football team, there's no question and they played a real good football team and I think from that game they're probably gonna work on things that they need to work on, but I still think that they're a good, formidable opponent and we have to bring our A-game," Lee said.

De Laura leads the Open Division with 1,570 passing yards, as well as 16 total touchdowns against two interceptions. Wide receiver and Michigan-commit Roman Wilson (21 receptions, 416 yards, 5 TDs) is fifth in receiving yards.

Mililani's Brendyn Agbayani ranks fourth with 1,117 passing yards. The junior has thrown for 11 TDs and has been picked off 11 times. Running back Malosi Sam (440 rushing yards, 7 total TDs) is fifth amongst Open rushers in yards.

Among the standouts on the Saint Louis defense are the quartet of defensive lineman Stanley McKenzie (Cal), linebackers Jordan Botelho (Notre Dame) and Nicholas Herbig (Wisconsin) and safety Kamoi Latu (Utah). Botelho, Herbig and Latu earned first team All-Hawaii honors last year and McKenzie was a second team pick.

Mililani's defense will be led by second team All-Hawaii defensive back Asher Pilanca, defensive end Shane Kady (Oregon State) and linebackers Muelu Iosefa (Cal) and Wynden Hoohuli.

Kickoff between the Crusaders and Trojans is scheduled for approximately 7:30 p.m. Friday at Aloha Stadium and will follow a Division I game between No. 12 Damien (5-2) and Kailua (3-4) at 5 p.m.