One step at a time.

By keeping their focus on the moment over six hikes around Oahu Country Club over the past five days, Evan Kawai and Andy Okita earned themselves another 36-hole trek today in the championship match of the 109th Manoa Cup.

Okita went the distance in both his quarterfinal and semifinal wins on Friday to reach the final of the state amateur match play championship. Kawai had a slightly shorter day, ending both of his matches on the 17th hole, although he did it while carrying his own bag over the hilly Nuuanu layout.

“I just stayed present, and I think that helps when I’m carrying my bag,” said Kawai, an incoming Punahou senior. “It keeps you present because all you’re thinking is, ‘I’m carrying my bag and it’s heavy.’ ”

Kawai, 17, and Okita, 22, return for today’s 7 a.m. tee time hoping to end the afternoon by hoisting the trophy and taking the plunge into the OCC pool reserved for the winner of the state’s longest running golf tournament.

Okita, a 2013 Hanalani graduate, is one semester away from a business finance degree at the University of Hawaii. He fits golf between school and a part-time job and surprised himself with his run this week, starting with Monday’s qualifying round.

“I wasn’t playing that good going into this tournament, I shot 1 under (on Monday), so that was pretty surprising right there, and then I guess it just kept going from there, taking it one shot at a time,” said Okita, who reached the round of 16 twice in the past six years.

In his first appearance in the quarterfinals, Okita rallied from 3 holes down to edge Roosevelt sophomore Kolbe Irei 1 up on Friday morning.

Okita skipped lunch to work on the driving range before taking on top-seeded Zackary Kaneshiro, who had blitzed through the bracket in his Manoa Cup debut.

“I thought maybe 2 under for 18 holes would possibly get it done,” Okita said. “I wasn’t too worried about what he was doing. It was more if I put up a score and if he beats me, he beats me.”

They were tied through 10 holes and Okita took the lead by ramming home a 30-foot putt from the front of the green on the par-3 11th hole.

“I hit that putt way too hard and it just hit the hole and went in,” he said.

Okita was 2 up going into No. 17 and a birdie putt to win the match slid by the right edge. Kaneshiro drilled his drive on No. 18, but his putter faltered on the green and Okita’s bogey was enough to seal a 1-up win.

Kawai qualified for his first Manoa Cup in 2012 at age 12 and reached the quarterfinals last year. He extended this week’s run with a 2-and-1 win over David Saka and held off Gonzaga junior Tyler Munetake 3 and 1 in the semifinals.

“When I played my quarterfinal match today it was horrible,” said Kawai, who never trailed on Friday. “But I had a good 40-minute break, and then I put some stuff together, made a few adjustments and went bogey-free in the second round.”

Kawai has trained under 1973 Manoa Cup champion Lance Suzuki since he was 8. He routinely carries his own bag and said he’s lost 7 pounds while winning five matches this week.

While he’s kept his swing sharp this week, Kawai cited “positivity” as the key to reaching today’s final.

“Everything is mental when it comes to match play,” he said, “because everybody can make birdies and everybody has the physical abilities, but mentally you have to be always positive.”