[ DIVISION II FOOTBALL ]
Division II football
will be backThe HHSAA board votes
unanimously to keep classification
and scale back the D-I tourney
It seems every time the Hawaii High School Athletic Association gets together, football games in the state become a little bit more competitive.
The HHSAA held an executive board meeting at Kamehameha Schools yesterday, voting unanimously to give the Division II football tournament another year and to cut the Division I tournament from eight teams to six.
The latter change was due to the cost of the quarterfinal games -- most of which have been blowouts -- and to bring the D-I portion in line with the D-II tournament, which is a six-team affair that was contested for the first time last season, with Aiea winning the crown.
Quarterfinal games
2003
Kahuku 41, Kauai 3
Farrington 27, Hilo 0
Baldwin 20, Kailua 13
Saint Louis 47, Mililani 12
2002
Saint Louis 41, Farrington 23
Waimaea 24, Kailua 21
Castle 35, Hawaii Prep 0
McKinley 28, Baldwin 14
2001
Kahuku 57, Lahainaluna 14
Saint Louis 54, Aiea 7
Kailua 53, Waiakea 8
Waimea 41, Castle 20
"It is almost a logical thing," Oahu Interscholastic Association executive secretary Dwight Toyama said. "It mirrors the other tournaments. We (the OIA) lose a berth, but it was for the good of the league."
The football committee will meet in March to begin discussion on what format the D-I tournament will take, but it is expected that the OIA will lose one of its four berths and maybe two. The new format means that the top two teams will receive a bye into the D-I semifinals. Toyama said a new OIA schedule would have to be drawn up to prevent a repeat of last year's D-II tournament, when Waimea had three weeks off before playing a tournament game.
That Division II would get another year was never in doubt, given its success and the money it generated. According to HHSAA Executive Director Keith Amemiya, the tournament made more than $40,000, with more accounting to be done. Amemiya championed classification in the state and offered to give up to $20,000 to help it offset any losses. Amemiya said he plans on giving the money to the organization even with the profit. He said the money will be used to pay for the state D-II softball and girls basketball tournaments.
"It (D-II) definitely generated more interest in football, especially at schools where it wasn't there before," Amemiya said. "That's why I pushed so strongly for D-II football. The success of D-II football opened a lot of eyes and surpassed expectations."
Once the numbers came in, the decision was easy.
"Like I said over and over, we were never opposed to classification," Toyama said. "It proved to be financially feasible and we strongly support it and hope it can sustain itself."
While the move to Division II gave six more teams a realistic chance of winning a state title, two Division I teams had chances taken away yesterday. That is if they had any chance in the first place.
The average margin of victory of state quarterfinal games in the past three years is 27.8 points, with only three of the 12 games decided by two touchdowns or fewer.
"The reasons were the one-sided games and the cost of quarterfinal games," Amemiya responded when asked if the presence of a Division II tournament had a hand in whittling the D-I tournament down to six. "Those were the only reasons."
Other issues talked about were the redefining of a chop block and pass interference in football. A rules change was passed that allows a head coach to call a timeout, which will be in effect next season if approved by the board.
The board's next meeting is April 29 at Kamehameha Schools.
