John Lujan | SL

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For one of the top-ranked teams in Division II, the prep football season will come to a close this weekend.

Saint Francis and Damien, the second- and third-ranked teams, respectively, in the ScoringLive/Hawaiian Electric Power Rankings, will square off Friday for the Interscholastic League of Honolulu title and the right to play on in the postseason. The winner will claim the ILH's lone spot in next month's six-team D2 state tournament, while the loser will be turning in their pads come Monday.

The Monarchs, under sixth-year coach Eddie Klaneski, are seeking to hold on to their spot atop the mountain with a second straight league crown. Klaneski has liked what he's seen in practices this week.

"Our boys have had really good practices this eek and they know what the situation is," Klaneski said. "I wouldn't say it's a sense of urgency, because we know what is at stake and we know it comes down to this one game in front of us, but they've been working hard since the summer and it's all been building up to this game. I feel we're ready."

The importance of Friday's championship game isn't lost on Saint Francis coach Kip Akana either.

"We recognize that this is the biggest week, football-wise, in Saint Francis football history," said Akana, who noted the school's intermediate team was playing for its fourth consecutive league title Thursday night.

"There's definitely a buzz around practice, around the coaches, the students and everybody is excited," Akana said. "You can feel some nervousness, some anxiety. It's just an exciting time right now."

The teams have split two previous meetings this season. Damien won the first game, 21-16, on Sept. 2, and Saint Francis claimed the more recent meeting, 15-12, on Sept. 23.

Saint Francis has won four consecutive games since that five-point loss to the Monarchs, including last week's 30-0 shutout of PAC-5 in a second round semifinal.

Meanwhile, Damien has not played a game since Sept. 30 — a span of three weeks — when it edged the Wolfpack, 50-49, in a triple-overtime thriller.

Akana is hopeful that will play to the Saints' favor.

"As the optimist that I am, I'd like to believe that playing versus having that bye benefits us because we got to work on some things, as opposed to sitting an extra week," the second-year Saint Francis coach said. "Of course, the risk of playing is we could have come out on the losing end (last week) and our season would be over, and then potentially losing players to injury, but none of those things happened and we believe we're better off having played than not played."

Klaneski said the time off allowed his team a chance to regroup and refocus.

"I would think (Saint Francis) probably has a mental advantage going into this game from their standpoint having won four games in a row, but from our standpoint, what they're thinking about doesn't really matter to us," Klaneski said. "We've been focusing on our mistakes that we've been making. The two games we played against them, we haven't really played good football, so we took this time to clean up those mistakes, the penalties, errors, missed coverages, mental errors and all that stuff that ended up making us lose that second game versus them."

Saint Francis has used the time to establish a punishing ground game that features a multitude of tough ball carries in Tyson Shimabukuro — the ILH's leading rusher — along with Foki Kailea and Mattew Dacuycuy.

"They're really big and physical, so the main thing for us and what we've been preaching to our boys is to go hit them before they hit us — that kind of a mentality — because once those guys get rolling, they can impose their size on us and that's when they get the advantage on us," Damien coach Eddie Klaneski said. "We have to limit their attempts on offense, get them off the field on three or four plays and not let them sustain long drives."

The Saints average more than 200 rushing yards per game. They pounded out 751 yards in their last two games.

Klaneski said the Monarchs, who allow under 70 rushing yards per game, must be opportunistic at times, but always steady.

"We've just got to wrap up, gang tackle, and get to the football," Klaneski said. "If we can create a couple more turnovers in this game, we'll have more of a chance. In the first game we had eight takeaways or so, but in the second game we only had one or two, and that was a big difference for us in that standpoint. That's a credit to them. They secured the ball better and made plays when they needed to, but for us, first and foremost, we have to get up and stop that run."

No team has been more balanced offensively this season than Damien. The unit is averaging the same amount (176.7 yards) both rushing and passing and is scoring at a rate of 31.6 points per game.

The Monarchs have a multitude of weapons on offense — including running back Justice White, tight end Shaun Apiki and wide receiver Shawn Borges — but the trigger-man at the center of the operation is quarterback Marcus Faufata-Pedrina.

Faufata-Pedrina, a 5-foot-8, 185-pound junior, has thrown for 1,211 yards and 18 touchdowns against six interceptions, and is also the team's leading rusher with 555 yards and six TDs.

"He's still their main threat," Akana said of Faufata-Pedrina. "He's a playmaker. There are times where, defensively we're on point and we're playing good assignment football, and Marcus was just able to make plays with his legs or with his arms, so we'll know where Marcus is on every play."

After throwing a touchdown pass and rushing for another score to lead the Monarchs past the Saints in the first go-around, Faufata-Pedrina turned it over twice on a pair of interceptions and was held out of the end zone in the second game.

"Give Saint Francis a lot of credit for that win," Klaneski said. "They were tough on defense, they fought hard, but we feel like we made a lot of mistakes and they were able to take advantage of those mistakes. If we can minimize those mistakes, we feel like we'll be OK."

Kickoff between the Saints (5-2) and Monarchs (5-2) is set for 5 p.m. at HTFCU Field at Aloha Stadium.