Zeondre Benjamin and the Waipahu Marauders' host Jonah Miyazawa and the Iolani Raiders Friday night. CJ Caraang | SL

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Iolani's Lanakila Pei wraps up a Waipahu QB Cody Marques in the two teams' earlier season matchup during Week 2 of the 2018 season. Brien Ing | SL

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Iolani RB Kaua Nishigaya looks for some running room in the Raiders' regular season finale against Aiea on Oct. 12. R-Sam Joseph | Special to SL

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For both the Iolani and Waipahu football teams, this weekend's semifinal round of the First Hawaiian Bank Division I State Championships represent a second chance.

It was on the same night one year ago that the season came to an end for both teams. The Raiders fell to top seed and eventual D2 state champion Lahainaluna on Maui by a score of 35-27, while the Marauders came up short on the Big Island in a 53-50 loss at Konawaena.

Both teams are back in the state tournament — this time in the D1 field — and slated to face off Friday night.

Kickoff between the eighth-ranked Raiders (8-2) and 10th-ranked Marauders (8-4) is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at Waipahu's Masa Yonamine Athletic Complex.

The winner will advance to the championship game and play the winner of the Maui-Hilo semifinal on Nov. 24 at Aloha Stadium

💍 👑 🏆 chasing time. @FHBHawaii/@HHSAAsports 🏈 starts this weekend. Who's taking the title in each division? #ChaseForTheChampionship pic.twitter.com/xiJFF2heK6

— ScoringLive (@scoringlive) November 7, 2018

Few teams are playing as well as Waipahu has in the past month. After posting a 29-6 road upset of Leilehua in the OIA semifinals, the Marauders turned in a dominating performance in a 32-3 victory over Castle two weekends ago for their second league title in as many seasons.

Waipahu coach Bryson Carvalho said he used the bye last week to ensure that his players are out of celebratory mode.

"I think the bye came at a good time because it gives us a little extra time to prepare and just make sure the guys are focused, which is important. We gotta get out of that phase — and it is a huge accomplishment winning an OIA championship — but I mean, we're playing a team that consistently wins their division and that's not their goal," Carvalho said of eight-time D2 state champion Raiders. "Their goal is for a state title and we gotta make sure, coaches wise, we gotta make sure that our kids understand that we gotta be in that for the big prize."

After winning the OIA's D2 crown in 2017, Waipahu moved up to D1 this year and immediately opened eyes with a 34-13 win over Waianae to kick off the season. One week later, however, a 55-14 loss at Iolani served as a rude awakening.

The Marauders had just 26 players suited up for that game on a blistering hot Saturday afternoon at the Raiders' Kozuki Stadium.

"I revert back to it in regards to looking at some tendencies that they have — because it is game film — but so much has happened since that I don't want to put too much emphasis on that game," Carvalho said. "The boys knew we had 26 kids going into that game and lot of our starters were out, but we're definitely a better team and we're starting to peak at the right time. All those things are good for us, but we're still trying to keep them level-headed and they understand that this is a big game and (Iolani) is a good team."

Iolani's Lanakila Pei wraps up a Waipahu QB Cody Marques in the two teams' earlier season matchup during Week 2 of the 2018 season. Brien Ing | SL    Purchase image

The 41-point loss to the Raiders in the second week of the season has served as motivation ever since.

"I know that loss put a sour taste in their mouths and we know they wanted to play this team again. Right the moment that game ended all the kids said they wanted another shot at Iolani. Now we got it so we gotta make sure we make the best of it," Carvalho said.

Carvalho added that the 12 games his team have played so far have given the players a lot of opportunities to get better.

"We've matured tremendous throughout the season. We have a fairly young team — a lot of our key players are juniors — so we've had maturity issues throughout the year and it's good to see that they're buying in and playing to their potential and getting things done off the field and they're seeing that when they're all eligible to play, they're a great football team, so it's great to see that kind of coming together maybe in the last month," Carvalho said.

Offensively, the Marauders revolve around junior running back Alfred Failauga (850 rush yards, 8 TDs, 5.4 yards per carry this season). They are averaging 25.5 points and 319.1 yards per game.

Over his last four games, Failauga is averaging 151.5 yards per game. In the OIA title game against Castle, he averaged 10.3 yards per attempt and ran for 175 and two touchdowns.

"You talk about one guy that has just steadily gotten, not better — he's always been a heck of a runner — but he's just gotten stronger where most guys throughout the season the wear and tear on them, especially at running back, catches up, but he's gotten stronger and he wants the ball," Iolani coach Wendell Look said of the 5-foot-11, 183-pound Failauga. "That's the impressive part about him. We always knew he's a great runner and athlete, but to see how he's gotten stronger as the season goes on and when it comes to big games the kid steps up; that's the sign of a playmaker and a kid that is a big-time player."

Alfred Failauga burns defenders and breaks some ankles for a 58-yard TD to give Waipahu a 25-3 lead over Castle. #SLreplay #DominateTheScene #SCtop10 pic.twitter.com/X3beTdJe1o

— ScoringLive (@scoringlive) October 27, 2018

Failauga was held to 60 yards on 25 carries by Iolani earlier this season, but Look is cautious when looking back on that meeting.

"I think they have gotten so much better. I mean, they've improved tremendously and I think they've made the most improvement of all the teams I've watched, in our division especially," Look said. "I think what (Carvalho) talked about (to the press) when they played us is that they gotta get better off of this and they have. I think they're at full strength now and he has them peeking at the right time, so I'm just impressed with the job that their staff and their kids have done to get to this point."

The Raiders have also seemingly hit their stride late in the year. They opened the season by winning their first three games before being shut out at home by Clackamas (Ore.) in a non-league game, 7-0, followed by a road loss at Leilehua by a margin of 31-20. But they reeled off five straight victories since and claimed the ILH's D1 state berth by two games over Damien.

"I think we played Kalani first so we had a lot of questions that needed to be answered throughout the season and to play a big, physical team like Waipahu in that (second) game answered some of those questions, but again, we had a lot of improvement that we needed to get done and a lot of questions about the physical part of us," Look said. "I said that the more this team plays games, competitive games, the better they're going to get, so they've been a pretty special group and I've been very fortunate and happy to see how they've developed."

Iolani is averaging 35.3 points and 315.8 yards per game on offense. Its average margin of victory during its current win streak is 28 points per game.

But the Raiders have not played a game since their 30-3 win over Aiea to end the regular season on Oct. 12 — a span of four weeks.