Despite all of the trials and tribulations it has undergone this season, the Kahuku football team is right where it wants to be.

The Red Raiders rode their strengths — defense and special teams — to a pulsating 21-14 win over Farrington in the semifinal round of the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I tournament at Hawaiian Airlines Field at Aloha Stadium Thursday night.

"We're very pleased. It hasn't been easy — it's been the transformation of my life personally — but it's worth it," Kahuku coach Lee Leslie said. "These kids have worked so hard, we've had so many injuries and I think we've endured more penalties in one season than I've had personally in the last 15 years combined, so it's been frustration as always with that, but we're continuing to be a work in progress."

Leslie's squad overcame 16 penalties for 158 yards Thursday.

"These penalties are sickening — I don't get it — so we've got to work on that and clean it up," Leslie said.

Kahuku's offense has seen its struggles in Leslie's first season at the helm. Penalties, turnovers and inconsistency have plagued the Red Raiders, who snuck by Kapolei with a 9-0 win in the quarterfinal round.

The offense was far from pretty Thursday night (quarterback Tuli Wily-Matagi completed just 5 of his 17 pass attempts), but showed some glimpses of brilliance as well, including Wily-Matagi's 95-yard touchdown pass to Keala Santiago in the third quarter.

"There's so much more to this offense than Tuli's used to, so I'm trying to get him to go through the progression of one, two, three and not always go downtown and he's getting there — he's doing some good things — but we got some good matchups tonight with those big backs and we got the 1-on-1's that we wanted and it worked out for us," Leslie said.

The Red Raiders clamped down defensively on Farrington's standout running back Ranan Mamiya, who entered the game with 831 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns, but was held to 71 yards on 19 carries Thursday.

"We're happy," said wide receiver/defensive back/kick returner Alohi Gilman. "The better we get, the more confidence we gain as a team and we keep moving from there."

Kahuku's injury trouble this season has provided a blessing in disguise, according to Leslie.

"We've got a nucleus of about eight guys that are just lights out and then we've got (backups) behind them that are coming — but they were quite low early on and now they're starting to surface — and we're having to pull them over on both sides of the ball to get it done, but some of the other kids are stepping up now and we're happy about that," Leslie said.

Now, the Red Raiders are a win away from capturing their 24th league title and first since 2012.

Said utility man Keala Santiago: "Last year we fell short and we wanted to come back and make it back to states and try to win OIAs."