Kamehameha protest
rejected by ILH

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By Jason Kaneshiro
jkaneshiro@starbulletin.com

Interscholastic League of Honolulu officials rejected a protest filed by Kamehameha administrators yesterday which called for St. Louis to forfeit an ILH football game, and possibly the league championship.

The protest was submitted to the league yesterday morning and alleged that St. Louis used an ineligible player in the Crusaders' 35-3 win over Iolani on Oct. 26.

Had the protest been upheld, it could have forced St. Louis to forfeit the game and altered the state football tournament. St. Louis is the ILH's only representative in the Chevron State Football Championship, which begins Friday.

The protest said the player was ineligible due to the league's policy regarding transfers, and was submitted to the four ILH athletic directors who share league executive secretary duties.

"Because they filed a formal letter we had to address it as a league," said Pac-Five athletic director John Hom, one of the four ILH officials who considered the issue.

Pac-Five coach Don Botelho, another member of the ILH board, said St. Louis representatives produced documentation that the player had left the school Oct. 11 and enrolled at Kapaa on Oct. 14, so it would have been impossible for him to play in the game in question.

Kamehameha principal Tony Ramos deferred comment to Hom.

St. Louis and Kamehameha finished the regular season tied at 6-1. St. Louis then defeated Kamehameha 27-12 in a playoff game last Saturday to capture its 17th consecutive league championship and earn the ILH's lone berth in the state tournament.

St. Louis plays Farrington in a quarterfinal game at 8 p.m. Friday at Aloha Stadium.

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