Like it, hate it or feel lukewarm about it, the new state Division I soccer format is here.

It starts Friday with the Outrigger Hotels & Resorts/HHSAA Girls Soccer State Championships.

In the past, the boys and girls state soccer tournaments were played on four consecutive nights on one island, usually Oahu.

Now, this year’s boys and girls state soccer tourneys are each being played on two different islands over two weekends.

For girls this week, two first-round, quarterfinal and consolation games (six total) will be held on Oahu (Kamehameha) and two of each round (another six total) will be held on the Big Island (Konawaena).

The girls semifinals and final will be at the Waipio Peninsula Soccer Stadium on Oahu, Feb. 20-21, the same day the boys first round and quarterfinals will be played on Oahu (Kapolei) and Maui (Kamehameha-Maui).

The boys tourney continues Feb. 27-28 with the semifinals and final at the Waipio Peninsula Soccer Stadium.

Kalaheo coach John Nakagawa, whose boys team qualified for states, thinks the new format is a great idea.

"When you play four games in four days, you’re running on fumes," he said. "Now, if you advance past the first two games on the first weekend, you’ve got one week to rest and that’s ideal. It’s spaced out, and that’s also something I like about how the OIA runs its league championship tournament."

Nakagawa said playing games on multiple islands makes it a "true" state tournament, where neighbor islands are represented not only by teams but also by host sites.

"And the finals are still going to be showcased on the big, beautiful field in Waipio," he added.

Mililani boys coach Steve McGehee likes the split weeks, but doesn’t like the travel part. He said OIA teams aren’t going to know each year whether they’re staying or traveling until the league finishes its playoffs and that makes for difficult planning.

"We’ve done well enough with fundraising, so if it turned out that we were traveling (this year the OIA champion Trojans are not), it would have been OK," McGehee said. "But I can see how that would be a major concern for a school that may not have done fundraising."

The Big Island site (Konawaena) for the girls tournament was not known until the brackets were released Sunday, causing another problem for Oahu teams.

Kristin Masunaga, the ‘Iolani girls coach, found out over the weekend that the Raiders’ destination is Kailua-Kona, where they will play another Oahu team, Kahuku, on Friday, with the winner facing Konawaena on Saturday.

At one point not long ago, Masunaga was under the impression the Raiders were going to be playing in Hilo.

"Flights are already limited and expensive, especially when you book it last minute. It’s going to put a greater burden on the families. We don’t mind traveling; what we do mind is not knowing where we’re going (until the last minute). Boys soccer has predetermined sites. Why can’t the girls?"

The two girls first-round matchups at Konawaena involve four teams from Oahu, which is another oddity.

When the format debuted in last year’s girls basketball tournament, four Oahu teams played first-round games on Oahu on Friday, with the winners traveling off-island for second-round games the next day, meaning two teams flew instead of the four in this year’s soccer tournament.

Kalani boys coach Michael Ching thinks the new format doesn’t make financial sense, but he does like the two separate weekends idea for the rest it gives teams.

"Let’s say you go to a neighbor island and you lose the first game, then you’re playing the second day and paying extra money for hotels and cars for a consolation game, pretty much a meaningless game. That really doesn’t make sense."

Masunaga doesn’t see the need for consolation games.

"If you lose the first game, it’s a very meaningless game," she said. "It would be more enjoyable to go sight-seeing."

Ching believes it’s easier for everyone to do it the old way — a four-day tournament on one island (whether it’s Oahu or a neighbor island) with predetermined sites.

Masunaga concurs.

"Playing four days in a row, that’s what a tournament is," she said. "When kids to go to the mainland for the Surf Cup (in the summer in San Diego), that’s what they do, they play soccer four days in a row."

Several coaches said part of the reason for the HHSAA’s change to two weekends is that it’s safer for kids who are perhaps more vulnerable to injury by playing four days in a row.

McKinley names football coach

Sam Cantiberos is McKinley’s new football coach, Tigers athletic director Bob Morikuni told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Monday.

Cantiberos is a 1994 McKinley graduate and said he’s “very, very, very excited” to be the new coach.

Cantiberos, 38, takes over for Joe Cho, who left the post after five years with the Tigers. McKinley went 0-7 a year ago. Cho is now the Kamehameha girls basketball coach.

Morikuni said 15 people applied for the job.

“He is a positive, upbeat coach with a lot of experience,” Morikuni said.

“We feel he is the right person. He is somebody who we think will be taking McKinley football in the right direction, on the upswing.”

Cantiberos played slotback and running back for the Tigers in high school. He played junior college football and was a player/coach in semi-pro football in California,

Nevada and Oregon for many years.

“I want what every coach wants,” Cantiberos said Monday. “I want to build a program to be the best we can be, elite. To do that, you have to have an infectious, positive culture so that people want to hop on board. That’s the first stone.”

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GIRLS STATE SOCCER TOURNAMENT

Division I

First round, Friday
Game 1: KS-Maui vs. Mililani, 5 p.m. at Kamehameha
Game 2: ‘Iolani vs. Kahuku, 5 p.m. at Konawaena
Game 3: Waiakea vs. Pearl City, 7 p.m. at Kamehameha
Game 4: Moanalua vs. Kaiser, 7 p.m. at Konawaena

Quarterfinals, Saturday
Game 5: Punahou vs. game 1 winner, 6 p.m. at Kamehameha
Game 6: Konawaena vs. game 4 winner, 3 p.m. at Konawaena
Game 7: Campbell vs. game 3 winner, 4 p.m. at Kamehameha
Game 8: Baldwin vs. game 2 winner, 1 p.m. at Konawaena

Semifinals, Feb. 20
At Waipio Peninsula Soccer Stadium
Winners match 5 and 6, time TBA
Winners match 7 and 8, time TBA

Championship, Feb. 21

Semifinal winners at Waipio Peninsula Soccer stadium, 7 p.m.

THE TOP 10

Voted on by coaches and media from around the state. First-place votes in parentheses. Ten points for first-place votes, nine for second, eight for third, etc.

BOYS BASKETBALL

Also receiving votes: Farrington 15, Kohala 6, Pearl City 5, Kamehameha 4, Baldwin 4, Pahoa 2.

GIRLS BASKETBALL

Also receiving votes: Leilehua 12, Nanakuli 10, Honokaa 3, Baldwin 2, Hawaii Baptist 2, Kaiser 1.

ATHLETES OF THE WEEK

Boys
Makoa Alvarez
Campbell swimming
The senior broke OIA meet records on Saturday in the 100 butterfly (49.05) and the 100 backstroke (49.04) while also rallying on the anchor leg to help the Sabers win the 400-yard free relay (3:24.32).

Girls
Leilani Herrera
Kapolei swimming
The senior broke meet records in back-to-back events in Saturday’s OIA Championships, helping the Hurricanes to a third-place finish. She now holds the records in the 100 backstroke (57.96) and the 100 breaststroke (1:04.52).