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There will be much more than just bragging rights on the line when Leilehua hosts rival Mililani at Hugh Yoshida Stadium Friday night.

Both the Mules (3-3) and the Trojans (4-2) are jockeying for playoff positioning in the upcoming 12-team Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I Tournament.

Leilehua, the No. 10 team in the ScoringLive/Hawaiian Electric Power Rankings, can finished third in the Red with a win Friday, which would allow them to host the Blue Division's sixth seed in a first-round game next week. A loss would drop them to the Red fifth seed and send them on the road to play at the Blue fourth seed.

The Mules are coming off their first back-to-back wins of the season (37-15 over Kailua and 41-14 over Castle), the Trojans have dropped two of their last three games, including a 34-28 loss at Kailua last Friday in which they blew a 21-point lead.

Mililani can still claim a coveted first-round bye with a win over its rival Friday night, which would give them the Red No. 2 seed and an automatic berth in at least the D1 state tournament.

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

ScoringLive: Describe your team's current situation in one word.
Rod York, Mililani coach: "Blessed. Blessed because we still have an opportunity to play for the first-round bye and lock up the number two seed. Blessed because we've been decimated by injuries and a couple key academic casualties, and blessed because we're still young and inexperienced, so to be in this situation, ‘blessed ‘would be the perfect word for us. We've still got a lot of football left in us."
Nolan Tokuda, Leilehua coach: "Improving. We just have gotten better and better, as far as learning the scheme, learning how to play for the guy next to you and we've had different guys stepping in on both sides of the ball."

ScoringLive: Who's an unsung hero on your team?
York: "There's a lot of them. Definitely Noah Williams, our center, who's played through injuries, hasn't missed a practice, has a great attitude. In my opinion, he's been doing really well. He started on some of our good teams in the past. Also probably (defensive backs/receivers) Kainalu Wong and Dustin Gapusan, who go both ways. Another guy is (defensive lineman) Mykah Tuiolemotu, but he's injured now, but he's gone both ways when we needed him to. Also, guys like (offensive lineman) Scottie Agasiva, (linebackers/running backs) Jalen Olomua, Darius Muasau and Kaine Park have been workhorses for us."
Tokuda: "(Defensive coordinator Mark) Kurisu (laughs). Our defense has just gotten better and better. With our personnel that we've had, a lot of guys are out, but he's just gotten them to lock in and play assignment football and play well together. Him and his staff on that side of football are getting his guys to do what he needed to. He has really coached up that side of the ball."

ScoringLive: How close is your team to playing to its potential?
York: "We're getting there, but we're far away. We're missing so many guys, whether it be injuries, grade issues, but we're missing a lot of guys, so we've already got some of the guys going both ways. It's a matter of our team maturing and jelling."
Tokuda: "We're still a little bit away. Like any other team, we're still dealing with things you can't control, like injuries, but also minor details. When you want your kids to do things a certain way, it's always a struggle. How to practice better, doing things right all the time, turning in a grade check the right way: treating it like a resume with no creases. The school requires the grade checks by Friday, but we still require them by Thursday. At times it is tedious, but it's what we stress and it's just a constant because our expectations are high on character. Our players cannot lean on or sit on their helmets. It's about respect. We expect them to treat it like the American flag."

ScoringLive: Which game, win or loss, has proved most beneficial to your team this season?
York: "Probably from the season standpoint the Farrington win proved most beneficial, because we still have a chance to play for the number two seed, but for us playing Kapolei exposed some of our weaknesses and we were able to address some of them and improve from there. Our problem with our team is guys are missing so we haven't pieced the puzzle together yet."
Tokuda: "Beneficial, I think all our losses with playing teams like Punahou with guys out, Kahuku next week was the same thing, we lost to a very good Kapolei team, losing to Farrington … I told our coaches that we can lose games, but we cannot lose lessons along the way. The hope is that they expose some things we need to fix and improve upon. Then going into Kailua, Nanakuli and homecoming versus Castle, there were a lot of potential distractions but our guys locked in and did what needed to be done."

ScoringLive: What's your take on this week's opponent?
York: "I think Leilehua is dangerous because they have a great athlete in (Kaleoaloha) Piceno, who plays running back and quarterback. He's a mobile quarterback and they're not afraid to go at you. It seems like they're fearless. Like they don't care if you're in four-deep (coverage), they'll still go deep and connect some of them. It seems like they're jelling. They're scoring about 30 or 40 points per game in their last few games and the defense is always disciplined."
Tokuda: "They're going to be definitely hungry. If I look at this playoff picture right, Mililani can finish either number two and be in Kahuku's bracket — but in the winner's bracket, which would be very nice for them — and they would get the bye, but if they lose they would be Red number five in Kapolei's bracket, and that would be a tough situation for them. We could end up Red three or five, so it's a good situation for both teams if they take care of business this week."

ScoringLive: How does your team win the game Friday night?
York: "We keep committing so many turnovers and penalties. In the two games that we lost, it was penalties that destroyed us and the turnovers killed us, so we just start with that: be more disciplined and get back to smart, tough football and we'll be all right. The games that we did win, we're not penalized as much and we take care of the ball, so if we do that we'll be all right. Aside from the seeing, from a confidence standpoint — because we just came off a heartbreaker to Kailua and this being a big rivalry game — we definitely want to win it just for our confidence and at the same time we can lock up the number two seed and a first-round bye, so that's always important and honestly why we feel super blessed to even be in this position considering that we have two losses."
Tokuda: "Take care of the football. That's all it is, just take care of football. No distractions, don't look at stands, focus on field and continue to trust each other. Turnovers, penalties and field position, that's the three big things you have to do if you hope to win."

Kickoff between the Trojans and Mules will follow 25 minutes following the conclusion of the 5:30 p.m. JV game.