Castle's Kumukoa Oana and the Knights will face Kaimuki on Friday with a playoff berth on the line. Sylvia Lee | SL

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Castle's Kumukoa Oana and the Knights will face Kaimuki on Friday with a playoff berth on the line. Sylvia Lee | SL

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A division title and the last berth into the 12-team O'ahu Interscholastic Association Red tournament are at stake this week.

The Red tournament opens the weekend of Oct. 11 with the top two teams from East and the West drawing first-round byes. The top three teams will earn Division I state tournament berths.

Defending champion Kahuku will play Farrington 7 p.m. Thursday at Hawaiian Airlines Field at Aloha Stadium for the Red East title. Both are 5-0 and have secured first-round byes for the tournament.

Meanwhile, Kaimuki (0-5) will play Castle (1-4) Friday night at Kaiser for the final Red tourney berth.

Other Red teams, aside from West champion Mililani hosting 'Aiea on Friday, are jockeying for seeding.

In Thursday's doubleheader opener at the stadium, Kailua (2-3) will play McKinley (2-3) at 4:30 p.m. McKinley could finish as high as the third seed in the East with a win and fall to as low as the sixth with a loss, pending the outcome of Castle-Kaimuki. Kailua will be fourth with a win or fifth with a loss (it has the tiebreaker against Castle).

In the West, the Mililani (5-0)-'Aiea (0-5) outcome will have no bearing on Mililani's seeding; 'Aiea was eliminated the other week.

The crucial first-round bye that goes to the division's second seed is up in the air.

Second-place Wai'anae (4-2) has a bye. Campbell, tied for third with Kapolei at 3-2, hosts the Hurricanes Friday. A Sabers win gives them the coveted second seed, but a loss could drop them as low as fifth. Last year, the Hurricanes stunned the Sabers, who would've been the second seed, but instead dropped to fifth. It was a costly loss to the Sabers, who went from a receiving a bye and hosting a quarterfinal to traveling in the first round.

If Kapolei wins, it will be the third seed because it loses the tiebreaker from the loss to Wai'anae Friday night. But the lowest the Hurricanes would finish with a loss if fourth.

Waipahu (1-4), which hosts Leilehua (2-3) Friday, could finish as the fifth seed with a win, dropping the Mules to the sixth seed. Leilehua could be fourth or fifth with a win, pending the outcome of Kapolei-Campbell.

Since the geographical divisional format started in 1970, Kahuku has won eight East titles; Farrington has won four. Between 1992 and 2001, East and West teams were classified as Red, White or Blue (dropped in 1998).

In the White, Kaiser, Radford, Pearl City and Kalani have clinched the four berths for their tournament. Seeding order is pending outcomes of the next two weeks.

Kaiser (6-0) can clinch the White top seed with a win at Pearl City (5-1) Friday night. The Chargers, who play Radford (5-1) next week, need to win both games to take the top seed.

The Rams, whose only loss is to Kaiser, have a longer shot to take the top seed. They need to win both their remaining games and need Kaiser to lose twice.