Kapaa QB Kahanu Davis (7) looks for running room against Kaimuki in the second half. Michael Lasquero | SL

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Kapaa QB Kahanu Davis (7) looks for running room against Kaimuki in the second half. Michael Lasquero | SL

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LIHUE, Kauai — If the Kapaa football team was going to reach its fourth state championship game in five years, it would need to survive a dogfight.

Kapaa coach Philip Rapozo expected nothing less from the visiting Kaimuki Bulldogs.

Senior quarterback Kahanu Davis accounted for four scores to help Kapaa hold off a late charge by the Bulldogs for the second straight year to come away with a 35-28 victory in the semifinals of the First Hawaiian Bank Division II Football State Championships Saturday afternoon at Vidinha Stadium.

The Warriors moves on to face three-time defending state champion Lahainaluna — who handled Roosevelt, 35-0, in the other semifinal — next Friday at Aloha Stadium in a 1 p.m. contest.

"It's amazing," Davis said of the win. "Senior year back playing the same team. Kaimuki doing their thing as usual. Battling, battling, battling. It's a surreal feeling to do this again. Gotta' love it."

The second-seeded Warriors (8-1) took a 28-7 lead with 7:42 remaining in the third quarter before third-seeded Kaimuki mounted a comeback bid. After both teams combined for 36 points in the third quarter, the Bulldogs (10-3) made it a 35-28 game when Jayden Maiava found Jonah Faasoa on a 23-yard pass play with 8:05 remaining in regulation.

"Just what we expected, a dragged out football game from the OIA," said Rapozo, whose team bested the Bulldogs in the semifinals a year ago, 20-12.

Kaimuki got the ball back after a fumble on fourth down with 5:44 remaining and drove all the way to the Kapaa 23 before the drive stalled. A pass breakup by safety Raphee Khae-Chawat and a fourth-down interception by Jeffery Brown swung momentum back in the Warriors' favor.

"They bend, but they didn't break," Rapozo said of the defense. "This is a great offense that we played against. I'm excited. I love these guys."