Proposal could add ILH berth to state football tournaments
BRUCE ASATO / OCT. 2015
Saint Louis quarterback Tua Tagovailoa ran against Punahou last Oct. 17. The Crusaders beat the Buffanblu 30-17 onthis night and 27-23 in a playoff the following week to earn the ILH’s only D-I state berth. Under a new proposal, a wild-card entry could allow another ILH team to participate in the state event.
A proposal to change the number of Division I and II state high school football tournament qualifiers from six to eight teams is on the agenda at this week’s Hawaii Interscholastic Athletic Directors Association conference at Waikoloa.
The D-I and D-II state football tournaments have been six-team affairs since 2004. If passed, the new proposal would grant four D-I berths to the Oahu Interscholastic Association, one each to the Interscholastic League of Honolulu, Big Island Interscholastic Federation and Maui Interscholastic League, and one at-large berth to be determined by the state football committee.
Under the current format, the OIA gets three D-I berths and the other three leagues get one each.
The proposal — which was initiated by the MIL — stipulates that if two ILH D-I teams make the tournament, which has never happened before, then they would be placed in the same side of the bracket. ILH D-I is considered the strongest league in the state, but it only has four teams, so this new proposal would deviate from the Hawaii High School Athletic Association’s tournament selection formula, where berths are based proportionately on the number of competing teams in a league.
Under the proposal for D-II, three teams would come from the OIA and one each from the ILH, BIIF, MIL and Kauai Interscholastic Federation to be joined by an at-large team. Currently, two come from the OIA and one each from the ILH, BIIF, MIL and KIF.
The HIADA conference is underway at Waikoloa, but discussions on proposals concerning various high school sports will not begin until today. Final voting is Thursday. All proposals passed at HIADA move on to the HHSAA executive board Friday morning for approval or rejection.
Other proposals for discussion are:
>> Changing the boys and girls state cross country meets’ distance from 3 to 5 miles to align with most of the rest of the U.S.
>> Awarding medals and points to the top eight placers instead of six at the state swimming championships.
>> Holding the state golf championships on Kauai every year, with the condition that the practice rounds and tournament rounds would cost $1 each.
>> Conducting the field events at the state track and field championships as a single day finals event instead of one day for qualifying and one day for finals.
>> Moving track preliminary events to Thursday instead of Friday before the Saturday state track and field meet finals.
>> Having one standard for qualifying for the state track and field championships. Currently there is an automatic qualifying standard and another standard for athletes to be considered for the states.
>> Making a standard size for soccer fields used in the boys and girls state championships.
>> Adding Maui into the girls soccer tournament hosting rotation.
>> Changing the baseball and softball mercy rule. Currently, the mercy rule goes into effect when a team is ahead by 1o runs after five innings. The proposal calls for the mercy rule to be also used when a team is ahead by 20 runs after three innings and 15 runs after four.
>> Changing the D-I and D-II softball state tournaments to a regional format, where some early games are played on the neighbor islands leading to the semifinals and finals on Oahu.
7 responses to “Proposal could add ILH berth to state football tournaments”
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MIL, OIA skaid state champ game gonna be ILH vs. ILH from now on.
“The proposal — which was initiated by the MIL — stipulates that if two ILH D-I teams make the tournament, which has never happened before, then they would be placed in the same side of the bracket.”
This eliminates the ILH vs. ILH State Championship from happening and gives the ILH fans another great playoff game to watch.
That would be the popular perception but, if you look at the results of the 17 years that a state championship game has been played, an OIA team has won 10 times and the ILH 7. That is probably contrary to what most people would have guessed. The OIA produces strong football teams that can compete with just about anyone and now the neighbor island teams are also getting much better.
Only Kahuku and Mililani can compete with the ILH. And Mililani only in the last few years. But good to put the ILH teams in the same bracket to protect against an all ILH state championship game.
With OIA winning 10 championships (Kahuku 8; Leilehua 1; and Mililani 1) to ILH 7 (St Louis 3, Kamehameha 2, and Punahou 2), the OIA merits have spoken. They should open the door for the ILH (no MIL stipulation needed) with two invitations to the State Tournament. This would definitely enhance the post season tournament. Best possible scenario is to get the best teams playing for the championship at the end of the season. ILH 1 vs OIA 2 and OIA 1 vs ILH 2. 40K people would pack the house to see those match ups.
How ’bout this? Take the 8 best teams in the State and just let them pay. Whether or not an OIA team makes the Championship game, or wins it, let the OIA SAY they’re State Champs. That will make them happy.
At-large teams are a very bad idea. Too much politics.