Brien Ing | SL

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Changes were a-plenty in Big Island Interscholastic Federation football this season, but Kamehameha-Hawaii would be just fine with a repeat of history.

The Warriors (9-3 overall) will try for their second straight league title this weekend, when they play host to Hawaii Prep (6-2) in the BIIF Division II championship game Friday night.

It will be the third meeting between the teams this season and the second in a week's time. Kamehameha-Hawaii swept the regular-season series against HPA.

The first game took place in Waimea on the afternoon of Sept. 14. The Warriors jumped out to a 14-0 lead after the first quarter en route to a 34-12 victory behind 211 passing yards and three touchdowns from junior quarterback Koby Tabuyo-Kahele.

The most recent game took place at KS-Hawaii's Paiea Stadium last Friday in monsoon-like conditions. The home team racked up 396 yards of total offense and reeled off a string of 25 consecutive points after an early 3-0 deficit to close out the regular season with a 35-11 win over Ka Makani.

The BIIF added three teams to its 11-man football schedule this season when Kau, Kohala and Pahoa left behind the 8-man game and joined the league's D2 ranks. However, Konawaena and Honokaa opted to go from D2 to D1 in the offseason, increasing the league's top tier to six teams and leaving five teams in D2. Consequently, each team played every other team in its division twice this season and there were no crossover games between D1 and D2 teams included in the BIIF schedule.

While the Warriors are coming off of a state tournament appearance last year — they lost to Kaimuki in the first round, 28-27 — Ka Makani last qualified for the state tournament in 2009, when it defeated Moanalua, 17-14, in the first round before falling to Kauai by a score of 24-17 in the semifinals.

Prior to 2009, HPA reached the state tournament three straight years from 2002 to 2004. In 2002 — the final year of the pre-classification era — Ka Makani lost to Castle, 35-0, in a quarterfinal game. They lost to Lahainaluna in the first round of the 2003 D2 state tournament, but beat Waipahu in the same round the following year before falling short against Iolani in the semifinals, 17-7.

HPA is seeking its fifth league title in the state-championship era, while KS-Hawaii has won five BIIF championships, all of them at the D2 level.

We caught up with the first-year coaches — Ka Makani's Kaluka Maiava and the Warriors' Shaun Perry — a few days before their teams face off Friday.

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

Kaluka Maiava, Hawaii Prep coach: "Gucci! We are exactly where we want to be, competing for a BIIF championship with our entire team back healthy and hungry to win."

Shaun Perry, Kamehameha-Hawaii coach: "Excited. Our players are happy to still be playing at this point of the year."

How close is your team to playing at its full potential?

Maiava: "We'll find out Friday."

Perry: "We get closer to our full potential every week, individually and as a team."

Where has your team made its greatest strides and who has been the driving force behind that?

Maiava: "We've had three come-from-behind victories this season — versus Kohala and twice versus Kau — and it's our entire team as the driving force behind that, which starts with mentality: we do not condone quitting."

Perry: "One of our greatest strides has been in combining our efforts. The team sees that they are stronger together and playing have stepped up as leaders to maintain our momentum and focus."

What are your thoughts on this week's opponent and what kind of problems do they pose?

Maiava: "They're in the BIIF championship game for a reason and they're not showing up for second place, but neither are we."

Perry: "HPA is a tough opponent. We'll be facing them for a third time and we are not taking them lightly by any means. They'll show up ready and we're looking forward to it."

Did the first two meetings against this week's opponent play out as similarly as the final scores seem to indicate?

Maiava: "No. We have zero excuses for losing the first two meetings, (but) those games are over. We have our third and final round this Friday and that's all that matters."

Perry: "The final score of our first two games were very similar. For us, the games were very different. The rain was a huge factor in the second game, it made it difficult to execute our offense. Several players stepped up and contributed on offense to make up for some injuries."

What would a win Friday mean for this program and community?

Maiava: "It will validate all our hard work and sacrifice we've put in, especially for our four-year seniors who've gone through so much losing and disappointment. For them to graduate a champion will be the truest definitely of priceless. As far as our community, I'm hoping it will inspire families, underclassmen, incoming freshmen to join our winning program. Numbers have always been an issue at HPA, but hopefully bringing home a championship will prove to everyone that the new Ka Makani football program means business."

Perry: "A win would be validation for all of the hard work we've put into the season and give us something to look forward to; Division II state contenders is definitely where we want to be."

Kickoff between HPA and KS-Hawaii is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Paiea Stadium in Keaau.

The BIIF's Division I champion will be determined the following night, when Konawaena faces No. 5 Hilo, which is seeking its seventh straight league crown. The Wildcats (8-3) and Vikings (11-0) play at 7 p.m. Saturday at Dr. Francis Wong Stadium in Hilo.