Kahuku football finds a way.

As expected, the Oahu Interscholastic Association released its fall schedule, eschewing regular-season crossover games with the Interscholastic League of Honolulu for a fourth year in a row.

For nationally ranked powerhouse Kahuku, finding elite competition in a schedule filled by lower-tier competition is always a challenge. With fewer and fewer teams interested in playing the likes of Mililani and Kahuku in the Open Division, the OIA decided to mandate Division I teams to play Open teams.

It leaves fans and coaches flabbergasted. When the ILH and OIA played crossover games across the board in Open, D-I and D-II, it was a blessing of broader competition, an exotic excitement for fans who had grown accustomed, even numb, to the usual OIA-versus-OIA matchups since the breakup of the original ILH in 1970.

For a few seasons before COVID-19, Kahuku and its brethren in OIA Open enjoyed a schedule that included Kamehameha, Punahou and Saint Louis.

“I loved the pre-COVID schedule because there was parity,” Kahuku coach Sterling Carvalho said. “There were more games that were evenly matched not just in the Open (Division), but in the D-I and D-II. With Nanakuli and Radford moving up to D-I, having to play Open teams? Wow. I’m not saying this conceitedly, but it’s not fair.”

This fall, Kahuku’s schedule includes California powers St. John Bosco and Mater Dei, but looming, lopsided matchups with D-I programs fill the gaps that could have been even more mainland foes, if not ILH squads.

“Why not have the eight best teams in one (Open) division and put the next group in D-I, then D-II?” Carvalho asked. “Why is it so political that we’re not allowing Hawaii kids, even if it’s a private school against public school, why can’t we go back to a pre-COVID schedule? That was exciting, playing Saint Louis, Kamehameha, Punahou, Mililani. We had a lot of preparation going on. That was fun and exciting.”

Transparency, Carvalho noted, is missing.

“Why can’t we have a meeting with the coaches, athletic directors and principals in the same room? If the principals are the ones making the decisions, we as coaches, running with the kids, we know their physical and mental health better than they know,” said Carvalho, a longtime math teacher. “Coming up with this schedule, they should hear us discussing this rather than assuming. … Talk it out, and if the majority rules that way after a frank, open and honest discussion, that’s great.”

Mililani coach Rod York got his feeder program going years back, using the same schemes, terminology and philosophy at the youth level that the varsity and JV Trojans have.

“The principals and ADs created, voted and approved that schedule. Us head coaches worry about preparing our kids for the season. Me, personally, it doesn’t matter. After COVID, I’m very thankful we have a season. Very thankful we are back in full action. I’m just worried about my kids and make sure we are preparing well to play whoever,” York said.

One of the teams that moves up from D-II to D-I this year is Radford, a team that Kahuku defeated 80-6 several seasons back. The aspect of safety is another factor for smaller programs that lack the physical size and roster depth of Open teams like Kahuku, Kapolei, Mililani, Campbell and more. But rather than return to interleague play, the OIA turned down the ILH’s request to resume crossover games, according to an ILH official.

Developing talent through year-round training, facing the nation’s top Pylon teams and establishing a prolific passing attack all have been key ingredients in Kahuku’s back-to-back state championship run. But setting up mismatches by design during the OIA regular season has been a negative.

“It’s hard and frustrating. You’re trying to build a culture and, oh, this is all they’re allowing us to do. We try to keep our spirits up by scheduling mainland teams,” Carvalho said.

The implicit expectation between head coaches when an Open team plays a lower-level team in a game or scrimmage is that the stronger team empties its bench before halftime.

“In a way, our 1s, 2s and 3s, they work their butts off all year, all offseason. For our 1s to play one quarter or half the game, it’s not fair,” Carvalho said. “They’re trying to get scholarships. Trying to get film. We’ve gotten burnt on this in the past. Other teams are playing their starters through the fourth quarter and we’re pulling ours in the second quarter. No offense to the teams in Hawaii, but we just want a competitive schedule.”

So Kahuku reaches out and plays strong mainland competition, and schedule makers can almost justify the recent change to force smaller schools to play Open teams.

“I don’t look at it as OIA and ILH. I want the best schedule for the players,” Carvalho said.

In all, there are 12 interleague preseason games scattered across the leagues. In pre-COVID times, there were more than 50 regular-season ILH-OIA crossover games in all.

The OIA Open Division had a chasm in recent seasons between the top and bottom. The lower teams in the Open standings had more in common with top D-I programs than elites like Campbell, Mililani and Kahuku.

“It will be great to play D-I and Open together for the regular season,” York said. “Waipahu, Farrington, Kailua, Aiea and Leilehua beat some Open teams. They can beat us. The coaching is so much better than it was 10 years ago. Players are more advanced than ever. So it will be competitive — and if it ain’t, then it’s an opportunity for the 2s to get action earlier in games.”

Mililani made sure to lock in Punahou and Saint Louis in preseason.

“We still get to travel and play mainland teams. (The new schedule) is a win all the way around because in the playoffs, we will separate. Open will play Open teams, and states will determine the state champion,” York said. “OIA football is at an all-time high.”

The unofficial dean of OIA coaches, Aiea’s Wendell Say, isn’t a fan of the new schedule.

“Division I is as competitive as could be. Some of the teams are good, but we don’t have the numbers to play in the Open,” he said of his Na Alii. “The last time we played Open was 2016. We played Kahuku, Campbell and Waianae. We’d do fine for the first half, and in the second half, we’d get worn down, beat up. For us, turnout this year hasn’t been as good as previous years. Getting kids to come out now versus pre-COVID, it’s a little different.”

The bigger issue, Say believes, is elite programs within the OIA cannibalizing talent from other OIA schools. Players from D-I and D-II programs have been gravitating to powerhouse teams more than ever.

“The problem now is a lot of kids are transferring within the OIA. Parents think they’re doing what’s best for their kids, but they’re not building resilience,” Say noted. “They’re going to get a Division I (college) scholarship wherever they are. Colleges will find you.”

Kahuku will have a controlled scrimmage with Kamehameha in preseason. Remaining open dates were filled with Bosco and Mater Dei.

“Nobody wants to see the David vs. Goliath games. It’s no fun playing those games. You’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t. If you pass the ball, people will say, ‘Why are they passing?’ When we beat Farrington, it was 50-0 at halftime. You feel bad. What are you going to do,” Carvalho said. “It’s no, we don’t need you (ILH). That’s kind of how it feels like.”

Kahuku finished the 2022 campaign ranked No. 8 nationally. Punahou finished in the Top 100.