[ HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL ]
KIF the odd league
out of D-I
Kauai Interscholastic Federation football coaches have differing viewpoints on Thursday's decision by the Hawaii High School Athletic Association to classify the Garden Isle teams in Division II at the 2004 state tournament in November.
"I'm a D-I guy," said Kapaa coach Wes Kaui. "I'd rather have my kids playing for the big show. A lot of people have been asking me why we're going to D-II, but I tell them there's nothing I can do about it."
The HHSAA's executive board, which is made up of representatives of all five Hawaii leagues, voted 4-1 in favor of the change in a meeting at Kamehameha. In the five years since the inception of the state tourney, Kauai has had a D-I representative each time.
KIF teams have had more success (3-5) in the D-I state tournament than either of the other neighbor-island leagues --the Maui Interscholastic League (2-5) and the Big Island Interscholastic Federation (0-5), but both the MIL and BIIF will continue to have D-I representation.
Thursday's vote also stripped the Oahu Interscholastic Association of one of its D-I state berths, from four to three. Unlike past years, the winner's prize for the OIA's third-place game will be the league's third and final spot in the states.
The changes were made to conform to the HHSAA's decision in January to switch the D-I format from eight to six teams.
Waimea coach Liko Pereira thinks D-II is a good fit for the KIF, even though the Menehunes are 3-4 in D-I state tournament games.
"That's where we belong," he said. "I'm not saying we can't compete at the D-I level, because we've shown that we can. We only draw from about 750 students and we were going up against teams like Kahuku, which draws from about 1,200 and other schools which draw from even more students."
Kauai High coach Kelii Morgado would prefer to remain classified as a D-I school.
"That's how I would vote if it were up to me," he said. "The KIF, historically, has done better than the BIIF, so if you go off of performance, it's unfair. They're forcing us into D-II and I'm OK with that. But we'd rather play the best, like we did last year for a half (Kauai trailed 7-3 at halftime of a 41-3 quarterfinal loss to Kahuku). But being in D-II gives us a real good chance to win a state championship."
The KIF teams, however, can opt to move up to D-I if the league wins two consecutive D-II tournaments.
The OIA acquiesced to losing its fourth D-I berth.
"We don't think of it as losing a berth as much as what's best overall for all the leagues," Castle athletic director Richard Haru of the OIA said. "All of those involved in the process to determine the format did a lot of careful thinking and came up with what's in the best interest for everybody. We want it to be competitive, and only the best should be represented."
The MIL was the only league to vote against the changes, but only because it's against the top seeds getting a first-round bye.
"It's really not fair for the teams who don't get a bye to play a game and then go up against a team that is waiting and resting and scouting," MIL executive secretary Stephen Kim said.
Kim, however, is pleased that the HHSAA also voted to have the top two seeds chosen based on a team's strength.
"It's still subjective, but it's better than automatically giving the byes to the ILH and OIA champions," Kim said. "That was one of the proposals. Last year, it was pretty obvious that Saint Louis and Kahuku (the ILH and OIA champs) were head and shoulders above any of our teams. But I'm confident that if one of our teams is worthy in the future, I think we'll get the bye."
The six-team D-II tournament format remains the same as last year, with two OIA teams and one team each from the four other leagues represented. The top two seeds will rotate each year among the leagues.
The HHSAA didn't take any action on adding another ILH team or an at-large team to the D-I mix -- ideas that have been proposed in the past. Based on strength, the ILH's second- and third-place teams have consistently proven (in non-league, regular-season and league postseason games) that they can match up with the best teams in the state.
"Our second-place Division I teams would be very competitive in the state tournament, and it's a shame that they're not able to represent their school or league," Iolani coach Wendell Look said. "For our school, D-II is perfect. But for our other top football schools (second-place Kamehameha and third-place Punahou last year), the D-I tournament isn't accommodating them.
"There has been talk of an at-large berth and it wouldn't have to be from the ILH. It could be from the neighbor islands, too. It would give flexibility and would ensure that the best teams qualify. This is something that needs to be explored a little more."