The Kahuku Red Raiders are getting ready for the biggest game of their lives. The practice days are dwindling down and the big moment is one day away.

First-year head coach Vavae Tata is highly pleased with the effort so far this week, and he hasn’t had to do any prodding to get his second-ranked team up for its matchup Friday against top-ranked Saint Louis in the Division I final of the First Hawaiian Bank/HHSAA Football State Championships.

"It’s been awesome," Tata said about the week’s workouts after Wednesday night’s practice session at the Castle High field, which has the same kind of Fieldturf his team will be playing on Friday night at Aloha Stadium. "There’s been no need for motivational speeches."

Just then, valuable 6-foot-2, 240-pound blocking tight end Pua Falemalu ran by on his way to the bus and yelled, "1-0 this week coach," showing that the team’s focus is on playing this one game, just like it has been with the 12 games before it.

Manaia Atuaia, a menacing linebacker for the Red Raiders (12-0) for three seasons, added substance to that viewpoint: "It’s just another game to us. We’re going to do what we do and hope for the best."

For anyone who doesn’t know what Kahuku does, it’s fairly simple. The Red Raiders pound the football and they play defense. The offense and overall philosophy is as old-school as you can get, and when contrasted against a Saint Louis (9-1) balanced offense that relies on the passing and running of quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and the Crusaders’ shutdown defense, it makes fans’ anticipation and buzz for the 7:30 p.m. game even greater than it already is with the renewal of the long-standing rivalry.

The wildcat has been Kahuku’s main offensive thrust throughout the last half of the season, with Kesi Ah-Hoy and Harmon Brown sharing duties as the running quarterback.

Jed Heffernan, the Kahuku senior center, talked about how Kahuku has put emphasis this week on trying to perfect what it has already done with much success.

"We’re still trying to play that complete game that coach Tata is looking for and talked about (after the 13-0 state semifinal win over Waianae last Friday)," Heffernan said. "We’ve got a laser focus on what we’ve got to accomplish. We’re trying to execute at the highest level, and we’re not worried about what’s going on outside of our team."

A little earlier in the evening, with drizzle coming down, one of the player’s parents pointed to his wet shoes and said, "We left the mud at Kahuku (a grass field)."

Kahuku is going for its eighth state title and first since back-to-back championships in 2011 and ’12.