One high school football season is done and the other is just beginning.

Soccer time is here, and with it comes the many preseason tournaments in which teams get a taste of real competition in preparation for the regular season that will be … kicking … into high gear soon.

Teams are trying to find the right chemistries, rhythms and combinations in their attempt at creating the right mix to win the big one — the boys and girls state championships in February.

Much will change between now and then, so it’s still anybody’s guess at who will come up with the right formula to get the job done. There are plenty of teams capable of pulling it off.

For starters, on the boys side, there’s defending state champion ‘Iolani, even though the Raiders were given a stark look at reality over the weekend in a 1-0 loss to King Kekaulike in the semifinals of Hawaii Prep’s Ka Makani Classic on the Big Island.

In the morning before the loss, ‘Iolani coach Chris Lee — when asked about his outlook for the season — said, "We have a lot of new faces. About half the team is new faces. That is something we haven’t been through in the last several years, where we only had to replace one or two players."

Senior midfielders Spencer Ho and Max Ching and Cole Tuisamatatele are among the key Raiders returnees.

It’s no surprise that Lee sees ILH contenders Punahou and Kamehameha as being in the same competitive boat as the Raiders. That’s a year-in, year-out scenario. However, Lee said he expects defending Division II champion Mid-Pacific, with many veterans back from a year ago, to be "a real tough team to beat."

Lee called his rough estimation of OIA contenders "the usual suspects" and rattled off Kapolei, Mililani, Pearl City, Kalani and Kaiser as being in the chase.

Punahou, a state finalist a year ago, scored in double overtime to get past King Kekaulike 3-2 in the final of Ka Makani Classic. The Buffanblu are primed for another strong run under coach David Trifonovitch.

Having beaten ‘Iolani and barely lost to Punahou, Na Alii look to be a strong neighbor-island competitor with state-title aspirations.

Jorge Barbosa, the Kamehameha coach, breathed a little sigh of relief on Saturday night when the Warriors beat Baldwin 1-0 in the Moanalua Thanksgiving Classic final, a match decided on penalty kicks.

It should also be noted that Kamehameha has already beaten Mililani twice in the preseason, and that Mililani rolled past Kaiser 4-1 in the Moanalua tournament’s third-place match.

"Hopefully, we’ll be in the mix," Barbosa said. "We’re always chasing it and maybe we can make a run at it. I tell our boys we are third in the ILH until we prove otherwise."

Barbosa sees Mililani as the team to beat in the OIA, based on what he’s seen so far and says that Kalani — a state quarterfinal loser a year ago — is in "midseason form."

Admitting that he’s biased, Barbosa said that Warriors junior Ikaia Chu is the best goalkeeper in the state.

Fullback Noah Rosenberg and midfielder TJ Costa-Spencer are among Kamehameha’s veteran leaders.

Kaiser, which won the OIA title for the first time last year, is without 11-goal scorer Christian Longnecker, who moved back to the mainland. Coach Marco Antonio Gloria is building his team around fullbacks Matthew Sai and Chandler Furukawa and midfielder Micah Mokulehua.

Kamehameha girls wear the crown

On the girls side, defending state champion Kamehameha is off to a great preseason start and the Warriors boast 11 returning seniors.

But Kamehameha coach Missy Moore isn’t putting any weight on preseason wins.

"Yeah, it’s great to win, and we’re in a good place right now," she said. "We’re still going over specific details and struggling with a few injuries that we hope to have cleared up by next week."

Sarah Lau, a University of Hawaii commit and fellow fullback Casey Thompson are among the Warriors’ team leaders, along with goalkeeper Sisi Meli.

Moore thinks a state championship repeat will be a tough endeavor.

"I’ve seen a lot of good teams so far," she said. "So I expect this season to be interesting. Real interesting."

Mililani coach Ray Akiona thinks there’s a lot of balance, and also sees "an interesting season" ahead.

"ILH powerhouses Kamehameha and Punahou are strong as usual," Akiona said. "And there’s Aiea (a state finalist a year ago) and Kapolei and Pearl City in the OIA West, and Kaiser is up there among the leaders in the East."

Midfielder Kayla Braunthal and forward Tia Furuta and Kalana Kaeo are among the Trojans’ sparkplugs.

"We’re figuring out our strengths and weaknesses," Akiona said. "But we still have a long way to go."

‘Iolani, the top seed in last year’s states, has an influx of new players, but Kamehameha’s Moore definitely thinks the Raiders are a team to keep an eye on, even though her Warriors beat them 4-0 in a preseason match.