It was a year ago, but that old sinking feeling did more than just haunt the Kahuku Red Raiders.

They’ve since been on a mission like none other before. Last year, just 24 hours before they were set to play for the Oahu Interscholastic Association Red Conference championship, the league informed the school that it would be banned from further play due to the ineligibility of a first-year player.

To this date, the league has yet to prove that the player was ineligible by rule. Rewind the tape and he began 2006 as an eighth-grader, repeating the grade due to academics. Then he was pushed up to ninth grade briefly, then sent back down to eighth, completing the school year there. Was he or wasn’t he technically eligible to play high school sports during that repeat eighth-grade year?

Nobody can explain it, mostly because it was an extremely unique situation, and he didn’t play sports until 2010 — as a senior. The league questioned whether he was a fourth- or fifth-year senior. The battle led to the courtroom, and because of the gray-area definitions of OIA by-laws, there was enough doubt to justify the ban of Kahuku.

While the rest of the state has mostly forgotten that episode, the Red Raiders (9-1, 7-1) come into tonight’s game with unbeaten Farrington completely aware of the value of what can be earned, and what can be taken away.

For coach Reggie Torres, the past is the past. Now, Kahuku is only concerned with beating Farrington, a matchup of the two top teams in the state, according to voters in the Star-Advertiser Football Top 10.

"It’s good being the underdog. It’s a lot less pressure," Torres said of his No. 2 Red Raiders.

Meanwhile, the Governors have infused Kalihi with great pride.

"It’s good to be in this position," coach Randall Okimoto said. "I think right now they understand what’s at stake, how fortunate we are to be in this position. It’s not like we’re here every single year. We’ve been close. When you get to the point where we are now, it’s very rewarding."

Before the OIA Red final, Pearl City and Waipahu will square off for the White Conference title. Both games are at Aloha Stadium. Saturday, Leilehua will host Campbell in a battle of semifinal-round losers. The winner secures the OIA’s final berth in the Division I state tourney. The loser is done for the season.