The state high school football Division I and D-II championships will continue to use a six-team format. A proposal to create an eight-team format was withdrawn after preliminary discussion Wednesday at the Hawaii Interscholastic Athletic Directors Association conference at the Hilton Waikoloa Village on the Big Island.

A separate proposal that had made headway in May — a three-tiered football alliance of the Oahu Interscholastic Association and the Interscholastic League of Honolulu — was not brought to the table at HIADA. According to Deren Oshiro, the Hawaii Baptist athletic director, ILH athletic directors were briefed during a league caucus session on Tuesday that OIA-ILH talks on that subject would continue. ILH heads of school unanimously passed that alliance proposal last month, but the OIA chose not to act on it. Had the OIA adopted it, all 29 football playing schools’ athletic departments would have received $35,000 per year for three years.

The eight-team format proposal withdrawn Wednesday would have given the OIA a fourth berth in the state D-I tournament and opened up the possibility of the ILH getting more than one team in (via an at-large choice selected by a committee), something that has never happened since the inaugural event in 1999.

Any further talks regarding state football playoff formats would be discussed by the state football committee, which is composed of officials from all five leagues.

However, athletic directors chose not to deviate from the qualification formula used by the Hawaii High School Athletic Association in which the number of tourney berths given to a league is in direct proportion to the amount of teams competing in that league. The ILH, largely regarded as the toughest football league in the state, has only four D-I teams, so — to some athletic directors who did not want to be named — getting half of a league’s teams into the tournament would be unfair.

One far-reaching measure that would create a regional, play-in format for most D-I sports using 12-team state tournaments passed through committee Wednesday.

Under that proposal, according to HHSAA executive director Chris Chun, the second-place team from the Maui Interscholastic League, the Big Island Interscholastic Federation, the ILH and the OIA would host play-in games on Mondays, with the winners moving on to an eight-team tournament against the four leagues’ first-place teams starting on Wednesdays. This format would apply to softball, girls water polo, and boys and girls volleyball, basketball and soccer.

Many other topics were taken up by four HIADA committees Wednesday. Measures that passed through committee will be voted on by the full HIADA assembly today before going to the HHSAA executive board for approval or rejection Friday.

Proposals passed through committee Wednesday included:

• Changing the competitive distance for the boys and girls cross country state championships to five kilometers from three miles.
• Ensuring that the final two nights of the girls basketball state tournament instead of just the final night are played at premier sites such as the Stan Sheriff Center or Blaisdell Arena. This issue addresses gender equity; in recent years, the boys basketball tourney has used the premiere sites for the final two nights.
• Creating just one state track qualification standard instead of one automatic standard and one standard in which athletes will be considered, but not guaranteed, a spot.

Proposals voted down in committee Wednesday included:

• Awarding medals and points to the top eight placers instead of the top six placers at the state swimming meet. According to Punahou athletic director Kale Ane, the committee voted it down in order to keep it consistent with other Hawaii high school sports that reward only the top six.
• Hosting the state golf tournament on Kauai’s Wailua Golf Course every year; the proposal was an effort to ensure that Kauai would host a state tournament for at least one sport every year. As an added incentive, the KIF offered $1 fees for golfers for practice and competitive rounds.
• Having one day only for field events (trials and finals) at the state track and field championships instead of two. If it had passed, officials’ work would have been streamlined. In addition, it would have eliminated the controversial situation of athletes scoring points and receiving medals in events they do not attend on the day of the final (field athletes’ trials performances can end up as winning performances). Even though this measure was voted down, it will be brought up again at the main HIADA assembly via a minority report.
• Changing the track and field state championships trials day preceding the Saturday finals from Friday to Thursday. According to University High athletic director Hoku Haliniak, the committee rejected it due to the extra cost factor for athletes traveling from another island and needing an extra day of hotels and transportation.
• Adding Maui to the girls soccer state tournament rotation.
• An expanded mercy rule that would end softball and baseball games with a team leading by 20 runs after three innings and a team leading by 15 runs after four innings in addition to the existing rule of a team leading by 10 runs after five innings.