When the difficulties of getting five leagues on the same page sometimes seem insurmountable; when the backroom politics gets too thick or the logistics cumbersome, some have wondered if Hawai'i really needs a state football championship.

If, for convenience, it sometimes wouldn't just be better to let the public and private schools take their conflicted histories and versions of the rules and go their own way.

Then, there are years like this one that remind you how much it is all worth it. Times when a matchup like Friday night's at Aloha Stadium between Kahuku and Punahou for the First Hawaiian Bank/Hawai'i High School Athletic Association State Division I Football Championship emerges to suggest the process not only works but can produce a compelling storyline.

What 12 weeks have brought us is more than just the two best teams but also a collision of disparate and intriguing entities.

Indeed, such are perceptions that the most common ground the Buffanblu and Red Raiders have could be the 100-yard patch of FieldTurf they meet on.

It is two schools with a combined football history of more than 165 years that have never met in the postseason. A powerhouse of the present vs. one from the past.

It is the haves (four state championships in six years) versus the have-nots (one league title since 1977).

When it comes to offenses, it is more than just run versus pass, it is full force versus finesse.

It is generations of Anae and Ane.

It is a small, tight North Shore community playing an expansive island-wide enrollment.

It is the school USA Today has featured against the one of Fortune magazine's November cover girl.

It is hard knocks vs. hard to get in.

It is the haka versus "strawberry shortcake, huckleberry pie ..."

It is Jump Rock versus Rocky Hill.

One has a handful of graduates in the NFL now, the other has someone that coaches there.

It is bleeding Red Raider red and Buffanblu blood.

One has a coach who could have been elected mayor when he delivered the first state title and the other once a coach who was mayor.

Sam Choy vs. Steve Case.

Junior Ah You vs. Barrack Obama.

Carlton E. Weimer Field after the rain vs. the lily pond.

Hukilau Cafe versus the senior dining room.

It is Kahuku vs. Punahou, a matchup that shows what a state championship can be about.

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