‘Iolani will play ILH Division I football next season unless it appeals for an exemption, Raiders athletic director Carl Schroers said Friday.

Since classification for the state tournament began in 2003, the Raiders have been a Division II team.

An ILH rule instituted two years ago stipulates that any Division II team in any sport that wins two ILH or state championships in a row must move up a level for at least one year.

"We don’t know at this time if we are going to appeal," Schroers said.

According to ‘Iolani football coach Wendell Look, the decision on whether to appeal will be made by the school administration, which includes the athletic department.

"We have had an exemplary record against Division I schools compared to other ILH Division II schools," Schroers said. "We are obligated to go to Division I. At ‘Iolani, we believe in following the rules."

Look pointed out that asking for an exemption to the rule, if the Raiders decide to do so, is not breaking the rule.

"My first reaction," Look said, "was a rule is a rule and we need to play by the rules."

Look, however, has always believed since classification began that the Raiders players (for size and safety reasons) are D-II caliber.

‘Iolani, according to Schroers, has approximately 1,200 students in grades 7-12, and about 900 in high school. Schroers said that number is well below Punahou and Kamehameha, two ILH D-I schools.

According to Schroers, the ILH bases its classification on enrollment, with 750 students in grades 7-12 as the midpoint. However, by ILH rule, every D-I school can send one team per gender into the lower level and that’s what ‘Iolani has done with its football team.

The Raiders have been highly successful in Division II football. They are perennial league champions and have won eight D-II state titles since 2005.

"Size-wise, body-wise, we don’t stack up with Kamehameha, Punahou and Saint Louis," Schroers said. "We had possibly our largest (physically) team in a decade and we still didn’t measure up size-wise to the D-I schools in the league."

A new rule passed by the ILH starting next year is to keep the D-I and D-II schools separate for football only.

Many of the seven ILH coaches have said they fear the inability to fill out a schedule. The division that gets four teams (Division I, if ‘Iolani doesn’t appeal) will likely play twice against each other to make six league games. The division with three teams would possibly only get four league games.

"I want to know for sure what’s going to happen because it’s a nightmare for scheduling," Saint Louis coach Cal Lee said. "We don’t know how many league games we’re going to have.

" ‘Iolani doesn’t really have the numbers and their kids are not very big, so if they go on the side of safety and stay in Division II, I would understand that. If they want to go up to Division I, I would be all for that, too. They’ve done a good job of coaching them up over there, but they really only have one or two (college) Division I players every year. At the ILH meeting in January, the final decision on this was tabled. I want to know what they’re going to do."

The league is scheduled to meet Monday, when ‘Iolani moving to Division I could become official. The school, however, could file an appeal that day as well.