By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Columnist

What is this, a First Hawaiian Bank State Football Championship without Kahuku or Saint Louis School?

Can it really be a showdown for state supremacy when neither the Red Raiders nor Crusaders are on the Aloha Stadium marquee?

The answer, as the title sponsor's slogan goes, remarkably is "yes."

After 18 years in which either the Crusaders or Red Raiders won the state title or its unofficial predecessor, the O'ahu Prep Bowl, Friday night's Division I title game breaks new, exciting ground with the Kamehameha-Leilehua matchup.

Not since 1974, the second year of the Prep Bowl, have these two venerable schools met in a football final. Their appearance this time, ending as it does years of predictable domination, is good for both the sport and, in the long run, the Hawai'i High School Athletic Association tournament that is its foremost stage.

In their time — and we're talking since 1983 for Saint Louis and 1989 for Kahuku — these two giants have done more than just win championships and supply a scrapbook of memorable moments and amazing feats. They have steadily raised the bar on high school football, setting the standard for those who would finally chase them down this year.

They have, through the national polls and the players they have sent off to colleges and the pros, put a proud face on this state's high school football for the rest of the nation as the recent display in USA Today underlined. For that and the thrillers like last year's 27-26 Division I title game won by Kahuku, they deserve the accumulated accolades.

Yet, there comes a point where, for football and the young state championship format to grow, there needed to be fresh faces. New story lines needed to present themselves. So predictable had the balance of power made things that, more often than not, the championship pairing, once known as "The Saint Louis Invitational," could just about be penciled in during August.

That's where Kamehameha, which last got to a state or Prep Bowl final in 1979, and Leilehua, which won the Prep Bowl in 1984, come in now.

As much as their ascendency is celebrated on their own campuses and by their alumni this week, the success of the Warriors and Mules is something that can been taken to heart statewide, too. After all, if Kamehameha and Leilehua can break through, imagine the motivation it has to give a dozen others that 2005 or '06 could be their year.

Already we've seen a good share of unpredictability along the road to Friday night's finals. That's something these fledgling state championships, begun in 1999, had yet to embrace. Between Division I and II, there are four new teams playing in the finals, a remarkable turn toward parity.

With Lahainaluna and Hawai'i Prep Academy nearly crashing the respective Division I and II finals this year, the day might not be too distant that a Neighbor Island team hoists a championship trophy in Halawa.

Indeed, if, following the Kahuku example, they're throwing parades in Wahiawa town, who's to say where next year's might be found?

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.