High school sports administrators are in the process of deciding how to make important changes to the state football tournament.
A proposal will be finalized soon, and when it is, it will be brought to the Hilton Waikoloa Village on the Big Island for the Hawaii Interscholastic Athletic Directors annual meeting in June.
Last year, when the Hawaii High School Athletic Association rushed in changes for a three-division state tournament, it was brought in as a one-year pilot program and, in part, to ensure that the three distinct levels would create competition that is more fair for all types of schools — public/private, big/small enrollments, hungry for the best competition/barely enough players to field a team.
Many sources believe that there will be two big changes in Year 2:
>> A stipulation that all leagues must declare their schools for one of the state-tournament divisions (whether they make the field or not) before the football season starts.
>> Six-team tournaments all across the board in the three divisions. A year ago, the highest and lowest levels were six-team tournaments, but in the middle, eight teams were packed in.
It’s still possible that this is all a prelude to a bigger change that will not so much depend on the HHSAA as it will on the two Oahu leagues.
Before the three-division state tournament passed, a separate proposal got legs but didn’t make it. That is the so-called Oahu Interscholastic Association/Interscholastic League of Honolulu football alliance. That plan had sweeping support from the ILH, but the OIA camp was broken into three parts — for it, against it and on the fence.
And while we appear to be approaching Year 2 of the three-tier tournament, the alliance idea is not completely dead and could crop up within the next few years.
One reason to go that way would be to create more competitive games each week. That, ostensibly, would create more fan interest and bigger gate receipts. Also, another possibility, but not certain, is an influx of money to each school from the business community. That was a carrot that was dangled to the schools last year and not taken. So, for future proposals, there’s no guarantee of a payoff that could be used to improve a school’s facilities and equipment.
Another benefit could be that with less mismatches, there would be less potential for injuries. A team with 100 players on the roster playing against a team with 25 is not fair to anyone.
There are those against combining the two leagues and they are mostly administrators and coaches from the OIA. They are less vocal, per se, but what they see is an unfair playing field simply because private schools in the ILH can pay the tuition of players and, can attract players from a larger area (the whole state) and, for the most part, have better privately funded facilities and, so the mainstream thinking goes, can offer a better education.
That is the reality of Hawaii, though.
The OIA, if it wanted to, could go off on its own and play a public school-only championship. Some states do that. That would leave the ILH — with three D-I schools and four in D-II — high and dry.
Most of the OIA administrators do not want to go that far and feel comfortable, in general, with competition against the ILH. If they weren’t on board with it, they wouldn’t have agreed to the inaugural state tournament in 1999 in the first place.
But there are some OIA administrators who feel that by forming an alliance, they’ll be giving up their autonomy and giving the private schools more of a chance to come out on top. Simple math, depending on how you do your equations, can bear that out. For years, 1 ILH team and 3 OIA teams qualified for the top tier tourney. In the pilot program last year, it was 2 ILH and 4 OIA, but in an OIA-ILH alliance, it would likely be a regular season of 3 ILH schools battling for 2 spots and a handful or more of OIA schools trying for 4 spots.
With all of this in mind, the following example is one way to roll for Oahu football if an alliance is ever formed.
Note: This is far from official or even likely and only a fictional look of what could be. For years, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser and Hawaii Prep World have received comments from Hawaii residents who favor such an alliance. The example alignment is based on the relative power factor of the schools in the last few years.
Open Division
>> Campbell
>> Farrington
>> Kahuku
>> Kamehameha
>> Kapolei
>> Mililani
>> Punahou
>> Saint Louis
>> Waianae
Open Division format: Two nonleague/preseason games against D-I teams from any of the state’s leagues or from any school from out of state. Eight-game regular season. The regular season champion or co-champions determined by final standings. The top 4 OIA schools and the top 2 ILH schools advance to the states.
Division I
>> Aiea
>> Castle
>> Damien
>> Kailua
>> Kaiser
>> ‘Iolani
>> Leilehua
>> Moanalua
>> St. Francis
>> Waipahu
Division I format: Two nonleague/preseason games against teams from any of the state’s leagues or from any school from out of state. If two nonleague games are in-state, the preference could be for one against D-I and one against D-II to breed future competition. Eight game regular season. Regular season champion or co-champions determined by final standings. The top 3 OIA schools and the top ILH school advance to the states along with the Maui Interscholastic League and the Big Island Interscholastic Federation champions.
Division II
>> Kaimuki
>> Kalaheo
>> Kalani
>> McKinley
>> Pac-Five
>> Pearl City
>> Nanakuli
>> Radford
>> Roosevelt
>> Waialua
Division II format: Two nonleague/preseason games against D-I or D-II teams from any of the state’s leagues or from any school from out of state. Eight game regular season. Regular season champion or co-champions determined by final standings. The top 2 OIA schools and the top ILH school advance to the states along with the Maui Interscholastic League, the Big Island Interscholastic Federation and the Kauai Interscholastic Federation champions.
Note: A committee could be set up to gather information on the manpower and a qualitative analysis of each varsity and JV team every year, so that teams needing to move down or up a division aren’t stuck where they don’t belong. The committee could also oversee transfer and eligibility issues and various public/private rules.
This is about $$money$$. It always has been and always will. This garabage about not wanting to merge because the ILH will have the advantage is a bunch of $$HIT! Everyone who has any type of common sense knows that merging the ILH power schools and OIA power schools will only benefit the kids. The level of play and competition would be ridiculously out of this world and our kids would get so much better from it. We must be the only State where not only the 1st place team(St.Louis) is awarded a State title but the 7th place team(Mililani) is awarded one also. How you figure that one? The Srates 7th place team is a State Champion.. Now that’s fahken crazy….
Why not tryout the OIA/ILH Alliance at the Junior Varsity Level and then bring it up to the Varsity Level?
88 you right, all day, everyday. I’m telling you football coaches do not have any say in all this mess, which is why we stuck where we are. They need to let the football coaches make a vote and see what happens. AD’s and Principals are making the decsions in all these matters and ain’t S#@t happening.
Food – ILH only has 3 JV programs so not sure how merging them and trying to see how it works would gain any research. Plus JVs don’t play in a state tournament format so it just aint gonna work.
Get all the Head Football coaches in a room tomorrow and put it to vote. Merge or no merge. PERIOD!!! Then make it happen Chris Chun!
I knew 88/anyways would come on here and spew his hatred of the ILH. Which is surprising because he’s got something in common with Iolani’s Coach Look–playing the victim!
The only thing I see that would bother me about this hypothetical is the suggested state advancement and the once in a decade or so MIL/BIIF wild card curve ball.
If you combine the Oahu leagues, taking some OIA vs some ILH for the state tournament is still asking for trouble. There still runs the risk of top 3 from one ‘league’ and having some in the top 3, 4, or 6 left out after the regular season. A combined Oahu Football League MUST take the top 6/4/3 regardless of their base league affiliation. Reason being in open, you have the risk of having 3 of the top 4 all private schools and then the 7 place team gets in in lieu of the 3rd private school even if that team was 3rd or 4th in OFL league play. Same potential in D1 for this situation. In D2 there’s the potential that Pac 5 (the only OFL private school) could go win less and by Nick’s proposal would still get them into the state tournament. A combined OFL must be looked at as a single sport league, not a league of leagues. 6 best Open advance. 4 best D1 advance. 3 best D2 advance. No base league alliances taken into consideration for the combined sport league. The point of the combined leagues is to get better competition and have the best of the best in each division compete for a state championship in their division. Not being left out or included by default politics as it often is the case now.
The MIL/BIIF curve ball is a bit easier to address simply because it is the far more rare scenario. Say there is a generation of kids coming up together, played kids league, stick together and you have a community with a team that they believe can slug it out with the best teams and declare open prior to the season. We don’t think about this much because recently we haven’t seen it much. But history has shown that there are some generations across our state where one year a team will go toe to toe with Oahu’s best. With the state tournament format, this gives them the chance to do so in the way they choose. If a team (or two) declares open, will it stay at 6 teams in open or for that rare year will they be added to the mix the 7th and/or 8th teams that year? If it does happen I suggest the latter. 6 Oahu teams regardless. then the 7th and/or 8th team added. Take the top 4 teams, not by seeding, but the best 4 in open regardless of location. If 7 teams, the #1 rank gets a bye. Ranks 2 through 4, the head coaches or official team representative will pull blind from a hat/bucket/etc. one of the names of teams ranked 5 through 7 and the match-ups made that way with rank #4’s game winner advancing against the #1 team who had the bye. the winner of the other two games face off in their semi final. If 8 teams in a single year, 1 through 4 pull blind for their match-ups. ALL Open games will be on Oahu at predetermined ‘neutral’ game sites with one exemption – if a MIL/BIIF team is ranked #1 at the time of the match-up draw (and only #1) would the opening game for the #1 rank be at their home island for ONLY their first game of the tourney (whether quarter or semi final).
D! and D2 quarter final games will be played at higher seed school site (or alternate on island site). D1 semis played at predetermined Oahu site (unless #1 seed is MIL/BIIF. In this case #1 seed team to host at league determined site on island). D2 semis played at higher seed school site (or alternate on island site).
All state finals always on Oahu unless unforeseen circumstances FORCE an unprecedented change. Friday, D1 Championship Game, maybe have an older age youth game as the first game to draw a slightly larger crowd than the single game. Then Saturday have the D2 and Open championships as the double header. You will retain more of the crowd because D2 rarely will be on the same stage or get the chance to watch an open contest in the regular season. Their fans are twice as likely to show up and stick around paired with the main event. Same logic goes with the day before, and the D1 will hold a draw from interest all around. Greater draw normally = greater revenue and separating D1 and Open will create a greater chance of repeat visitors day to day where as separating D2 from open won’t necessarily pull as much return on the next day. And with the greater probability of a neighbor island team in the D2 championship, a greater pull from their following on Oahu is far more likely on Saturday rather than Sunday, again increasing overall revenue for the state championship weekend.
Yes I know it’s just a thought process thrown out there and that nothing will satisfy everyone. So instead of trying, why not make it more true to the spirit of the merged leagues and deal with it as is.
Damien, Iolani, St. F, P-5, do not have JV teams. They are going to hurt development of younger players, if they don’t field JV teams.
@88: Evidently other states are way ahead of Hawaii in having teams competing in different divisions. Where’ve you been? As an example, California has 13 divisions and yes every division has a champion. Merging the OIA with the ILH will always be a disadvantage to the OIA. Com-on man, common sense will tell you that for years the ILH has had an upper hand on recruiting the the “blue chip” athletes throughout the state because they have the resources. Let’s face it, how many Polynesian athlete’s parents are able to afford the tuition at Punahou, St Louis and Iolani? Grant you, more power to the athlete and parents for having their sons/daughters attend the private school because of providing financial aid not only from the school but from rich alumni and boosters. As a matter of fact, the OIA doesn’t really need the ILH. They have enough schools to have their own league. It’s the ILH that’s hurting for playing time and competition and that’s the reason they’re all in favor of having an alliance with the OIA.
Sorry! “not able to afford the tuirtion.”
All you oppose it is dumb!! Think about the players! U think it’s money but who cares! How much do they really make from what they are getting now…pennies! The boys need to be protected! Play against their own size!! So stop being dumb and let them make it happened!
no combine no fair for oia
@88 – All states have different division champions. We may be one of the last states to separate by divisions, which is what needs to be done. High School, College all have division champions.
@Nick Abramo: You’ve come with the designated schools that will compete in each division. I assume that they will compete against each other during the regular season. Why should there be a set number of ILH and OIA teams competing for the division championship? The win/loss record should put them in the final four for the post season playoff and not by specifying x number from the ILH and x number from the OIA. As for the division II post season playoff, 1 from BIIF, 1 from MIL and 1 from KIF and top 3 from the Oahu division II. Don’t try to make it so complicated by stating how many teams will represent the ILH and OIA. Win/loss record should be the detemining factor for post season playoff.
@Made in America
I don’t know what dastardly deed Wendall Look did to you but I hope that ranting about him on this forum for debate and discussion helps.
@Rumorville
The biggest reason for those schools not having JV teams is enrollment and turnout. 50 players is about the smallest roster you want for a good team. 22 starters, 22 backups, and a handful of specialists and 3rd string development guys. It gets pretty hard even at schools with larger enrollments like Punahou and Iolani because kids still have to come out for the sport. If the varsity teams always have the priority for players, ILH JV teams really only have 9th graders to draw on because small varsity turnout might mean they take all the 10th and 11th graders. Not having a JV is largely just a numbers game.
@Northshore
I’m definitely with you in terms of wins/losses determining playoffs, but I think Nick was trying to work around the potential of all 3 ILH teams making a 6 team Open Division playoff. If that happened, then every OIA AD/coach/fan would be up in arms about their unfair advantages over OIA schools. We already saw that happen when they changed it to 2 ILH teams in the Open playoffs this year. I just think that a lot of OIA people will all support W/L records as a qualifier for states until the rule helps the ILH get extra spots in the playoffs. Hard problem to solve
@ Made in America – make a coherent argument instead of bashing posters comments. Your fear of people who are bigger than you and your lack of athletic talent are evidenced by your incessant whining. Get some self confidence and esteem. Thanks.
Education First, it ain’t me that’s been whining. It’s been 88/anyways who always plays the victim by blaming the ILH for everything that’s kaka in his life, just like Wendell Look does by prefering to play in the D2 state championship just so he can clobber weaker teams (to feed his ego).
To defend their views and opinions is to be much worse than a Trump supporter!
Made in America…did you weep when Hillary lost? You make the ILH and Punahou supporters look like crybabies. Stop it already. BTW, I never played HS sports either, no shame in that.
Principals, AD’s and parents need to let the Head Coaches decide what level to play. If you scared to get hurt, simple solution: “PLAY GOLF”!!!
What would be the purpose of having a state tournament based on the formats above???? It’s nice to have a “super” league, but makes way more sense if we had enough quality teams to create at least 2 super leagues, then a state tourney would have way more meaning. Scrap the 3 Division format and just break up all the teams between D 1 and D2(2 divisions each – East and West, or North and South or whatever); No ILH and No OIA. Every team has to declare by the end of the previous school year for either D1 or D2. For the neighbor Island teams, change it up a bit and have the top 2 to 4 teams from each island declare at the their regular season for either the D1 or D2 state tourneys.
@rrforlifebaby
I actually really like that idea. An ILH/OIA alliance basically makes the state playoffs irrelevant for Open division with ILH or OIA quota. I like that it could expand the JV leagues too, but the problem is that ILH teams have intermediate as well. Maybe forgoing the ILH run intermediate teams, and instead have them sponsor the Big Boyz leagues or something that a lot of OIA teams are semi-affiliated with. Having the leagues sponsor them could mean that more schools could have a feeder program that would tie kids to the area and maybe reduce recruiting. Just a thought
Just play!!
When school gets tough and you’re getting bad grades what you going tell your teacher “split the class into DI & DII” so you have a chance at better grades? SMH.
The problem that you all don’t understand and what needs to be made clear is that the HHSAA doesn’t want teams to get into the state tournament freely. Like Mililani, Iolani, Campbell and Moanalua did last year. Iolani went 0-7, but because they were the only ILH team that was DI they got the free pass. Mililani should be an open team but because they lost in the 1st round of the OIA playoffs they were not able to be in the top 4, who qualify for the Open div. And Moanalua (3-7) and Campbell forfeited their game and still got into the DI tournament because they were in the top 8 of the OIA. That sh*% is ridiculous. All teams or league need to clarify what they are competing for prior to the season begins otherwise this will happen every year. A team that belongs in the open will drop down and possibly win DI every year. There needs to be a playoff to get into the state tournament for each league. I would think that at least 6-7 teams in the OIA could vie for Open each year. That would create a playoff for them, the ILH has Kam, Pun, STL for Open and do have a playoff. DI and DII in the ILH should be determined by the league not Wendall Look, saying he going DII. Where he knows he does not belong. But the ILH needs to decide which 2 teams will fight for DI and which 2 will fight for DII. That way no one walks in to the state tournament, they have to earn it. OIA will have enough teams in the DI and DII to have playoffs to ensure that no one gets a free ride or forfeits because they got it already. This is all contigent as long as the state tournament stays the same and the leagues don’t merge. If there was a merger, now we talk about those other scenarios in play.
@ILH
1st off its “ILH makes THEIR own rules anyway…” but besides that I think that the merger is the only way for this 3 tier system to work. We will always have a wide spectrum of competition on Oahu, and we will always be trying to fit square pegs in round holes if we are spending the regular season in 2 tiers then reshuffling to 3 for post season. This also prevents a means of basing the state playoff qualifications if its only based on record because they would be trying to determine how competitive you would be against a certain level of competition based on how you did against a completely different level of competition during the regular season. How are they supposed to compare losses to STL and PUN to potential match ups against teams like Kaiser or Moanalua? If you played against that level during the regular season there would be better comparisons, but that is only feasible if you merge the ILH and OIA to get enough numbers to make the 3 tiers work. However, at that point you basically make the Open Division playoff redundant, and the only difference in D1 and D2 would be the addition of 3 or 4 neighbor island teams to an Oahu dominated playoff that would be similar to a continuation of the league playoffs. Not sure how they would handle that
The OIA is just fine on their own, they should create three divisions to match the HHSAA tourney format and have teams committed before the season starts. End of story!
The ILH can go play with themselves, they got high maka maka and think they coach better, play better and do things better then the public schools so let them be in their own world. St. Louis has the right idea, go play mainland teams that are equal to you in recruting status. BYE FELICIA!
Remember that the only reason we are having this discussion is because The state of Hawaii aka OIA higher ups and the ILH are tired of seeing Kahuku dominate in Football. If they truly cared about competitive balance they would do a 3 tier division in all sports.
#enemyofthestate
I’m just going to skip over Made in America again…
@anywaaays!!
I got what you are saying, but that brings up an interesting question. If the OIA just ignores the ILH moving forward and push them to compete nationally with unrestricted recruiting, wouldn’t that inevitably hurt OIA football? If the OIA does its own thing, then the ILH would probably get rid of all the transfer rules that were put in place to make competition more fair with the OIA. That scenario would basically pull out all the stops that have hindered ILH recruiting, and every summer would turn into high school free agency. If the ILH could offer any athlete in the state a free private school education without any transfer penalties, then why would the best athletes stay in the OIA? They might do well one year in the OIA, but schools like PUN and STL would get them the next year after seeing their success and offer them a scholarship. I think STL, PUN, KSK, and Iolani all have enough alumni support to have that happen. I don’t think the OIA could realistically just leave the HHSAA. The ILH might not have numbers, but they do have the money
CoachB – The OIA and ILH are clearly two different type of systems. They are not equal and they do not play by the same rules (academically and athletically) no matter how hard the HHSAA and ILH try bridge that gap, in fact that cant thats why the $3mill dollar offer, it cant be bridged it can only be bought.
The HHSAA only care about ticket sales (profits), the ILH only care about the prestige of their alumni and student enrollment.
The OIA? well we get to be the punching bag for the ILH and the prostitute for the HHSAA.
CoachB – You make a great point and I support it all the way…the ILH has the money to compete nationally and travel to the mainland to play other recruiting power houses like Bishop Gorman, IMG, Mater Dei etc..That is the best thing that could ever happen to Hawaii Football. Why? because the elite kids on our island could flock to the ILH and form superpower teams that could possibly win a national title. Imagine that, the #1 team in America is STL crusaders of PUNs. I would support that, all of Oahus bluechip talent on one team. That is what BishopGorman is doing except Nevada dont got state wide talent like Hawaii so BG recruits nation wide.
When Kahuku played BG last year it was obvious the difference in skillset, I love Kahuku but as a representation of Hawaii in that game, it was not the best that Hawaii had to offer. STL would have given BG a better run. Now imagine STL with a few other studs from Waianae, Kapolei, Kahuku etc… I think STL would have beat BG and put the rest of the nation on notice.
@Anywaays-BG is on a whole different level than ANY school in Hawaii and would of done the same thing to the Crusaders that they did to my Red Raiders. Kahuku vs St. Louis was decided by a goal line fumble in the 4th. Kahuku vs BG was decided at the beginning of the 2nd half when BG made adjustments and Big Red didn’t.
@North- No $HET California has 13 divisions. Could it be because California is a lot bigger than Hawaii and thats why they have so many Divisions? I mean Los Angeles alone probably has 40+ High Schools in its county. How many does the STATE of HAWAII have? Duuuhhhhhhh…. The only thing that Hawaii has on ANY State in the football playing United States is that we have 2 State Champions in D1. Our 1st place D1 team is a State Champion and our 7th place D1 team is a State Champion. And whats this crap about playing against your own size? Are you serious?
Coach B should skip over anywaays!!! because all he does is play the victim and blame the ILH for everything that’s kaka in his life. My boss fired me? Blame the ILH! My pet died! Blame the ILH! I can’t find a significant other? Blame the ILH. Erectile dysfunction? Blame the ILH.
@anyways – why do you care about having a ‘super team’ to represent Hawaii? for what? made up rankings by HS sports websites whose only goal is to make money for themselves by creating these fake national rankings?
why you trying to live vicariously through the athletic achievements of HS students? let them play and compete in Hawaii and represent their respective communities. and if they get chance for play mainland schools then let them…it’s a great experience regardless of how good your team is.
BG is good for THOSE players and THAT school…but not doing anything for their communities, las vegas, or Nevada HS sports for that matter. there is no proof of a corresponding benefit to the greater population.
otherwise, I like the idea of just two leagues, each having two divisions. what would be the point of having just one Open division? what if you had an undefeated regular season champ at the end of the year? playoffs for what then?
back to the drawing board…
PLEASE STOP PICKING ON 88! HE IS MY FRIEND!
@88
I think you are getting too wrapped up in interpreting people’s posts to find ulterior motives. No one is saying that a “super team” is the only way to go in Hawaii. I think what anywaaays was trying to say was that if the OIA doesn’t want to deal with competing against the ILH due to the disadvantages related to recruiting, then they don’t have to. In that case, the ILH could pursue the unrestricted recruiting that mainland teams do and compete against similar teams with similar circumstances. It was just a hypothetical solution to the OIA not wanting to compete on an unfair playing field.
@TooMeke
As for letting the kids play for their own communities vs. for super teams, I would argue that playing for a local school that competes nationally would be representing their community. I mean, when Mariota was playing for Oregon he was representing the state of Hawaii on the national stage and everyone could support that. I don’t know how a high school player wanting to do a similar thing is any different, no one would be forcing them to do so.
As for no corresponding benefit, can you remember the level of college scouting in the islands before Manti Teo became a top recruit? Teo brought national attention to the islands and a level of exposure to other kids that might not have gotten a similar chance otherwise. Mariota probably benefited from that exposure, and his success had a big role in getting subsequent players like Tua into the national spotlight. You have to remember that Hawaii is far from the mainland and that lots of kids only get offers because they attend various camps and mainland events that are expensive. If a local team could compete nationally, then their exposure when playing against other top level talents could earn them more opportunities. You can look at BG’s roster this year and see that that is true. They had 3 starters on their team that transferred from local schools to get better opportunities. Haskell Garrett is a top DT recruit going to Ohio St. and he played JV for STL. Palaie Gaoteote is a #1 LB recruit for next year and played JV for Mililani, and Isaia is an OL transfer from Iolani that has offers lined up as well. Kids know that competing at the highest level is good for them
@ Coach_B, very intelligent posts. I expect my buddy 88 it come back on the attack soon! You better be ready! He is crazy! But he is still my friend.
“to” typo. I am so excited for my friend 88 to reply that I cannot even think straight!
Some friend you are, Last I heard when 88 invited you for lunch you didnt show. smh!
CoachB you get it.
There is enough talent on this island for the BIG4 Schools (STL,PUN,KAHUK,KAM) to remain competitive among themselves, They have enough tradition (Kahuku,Kam,STL) and Money (STL,PUN) to field top level football programs every year.
Kahuku – The RRNation pulls its talent from the Polynesian/Mormon community. As much as STL would like to recruit from the north shore, the idea of our kids attending a Catholic school is a barrier for most, the prestige and religion neutral environment at Punahou is more attractive for most of Laie’s mormon athletes and that is why we have seen a steady dose of Kahuku talent on Punahous roster, Kahuku also has a demographic of talented polynesian kids that “no speak good english” and Kahuku is their only option. Kahuku will continue to be strong and reload regardless of the 7 or 8 kids that do choose to go to the ILH for football. Kahuku roots run deep and no matter how hard the ILH recruit the north shore there will always be a big group of die hard families and kids that want to rep Kahuku. Only Farrington and Waianae (from the OIA) can match the tradition and pride that Kahuku has but once you add the cherry picking that the ILH does out of those two districts they become anemic in talent and can no longer match firing power with Kahuku and thats why Kahuku will always be the king of the OIA. That is why there will never be a fair and valid solution to the imbalance of powers in Hawaii HS Football, and now the OIA admins want to find a way to segregate Kahuku and the Open division was its first step.
STL – STL pulls its talent from the Polynesian/Christian community, Like Kahuku, STL has a long history of families and alumni pride that continue to feed their football program. They have no borders and the entire state of Hawaii is their recruiting grounds.
PUNS – The PUNS have the prestige and money that any family, regardless of religion or culture would like their kids to attend. If they really wanted to, PUNS could be the best Football program in the nation but I think that they are trying to be good neighbors with STL and the OIA by not over recruiting and staying competitive rather then dominant.
KAM – is another sports rich tradition and religion neutral private school that many families prefer their kids to attend.
———————————————
…The current state of Hawaii HS Football is that the talent is being funneled into the ILH via recruting, this imbalance will never be resolved so we just need to accept the fact that the entire state is a feeder for STL and PUN Football (but mostly STL). Why try to hide these facts behind the guise of an Open division? Why blame the OIA for not cooperating in an alliance when the ILH is the one creating the imbalance? My biggest and only gripe against the ILH is that they create this imbalance and then turn around and want to compete and beat down on the OIA. WHY? Set your sights higher and go pick your fights with other mainland schools with the same resources as you.
All the ILH people who says an OIA/ILH alliance is better for Hawaii kids are wrong, they only have their own self interests in mind and what they really are saying is that their ILH kids are bored in a 3 team conference and need more friends. Well when you steal from your friends, you are not considered a friend anymore.
For all the reasons I have stated above, If STL or PUN decided to put together a superteam and set their sights on mainland teams I would be all for that. WHY? because it truly is the best thing for the state of Hawaii. The exposure would be 10x greater for this SUPERTEAM and the side-effects would trickle down to other Hawaii kids that are talented but not on this superteam. Imagine this Hawaii super team playing IMG Academy in Florida and college scouts start asking the Hawaii coach about the kids on the team…
Scout: “Hey coach we want to make an offer to your QB”
Hawaii Coach: “Who our starter? yeah he has 12 offers but there is another kid with a high ceiling playing at a public school in Hawaii, Ill send you his tape”
Hawaii having their own super team would also prevent our Elite kids like Haskel/Gatoetoe/Kaumatule from leaving the islands to go play for a superteam on the mainland (BG).
LOL
@Made in America – don’t be bitter because you were cut from every sport you ever tried out for. Your lack of coordination isn’t a crime but at least I had asthma as my excuse.
@The Watcher – nice post. Did it take you all day to come up with that one, Einstein?
What a parade of losers this forum has become.
Education First–The Watcher speaks the truth. It ain’t my fault that your life is kaka.
Made in America April 18, 2017 at 8:56 am
Education First–The Watcher speaks the truth. It ain’t my fault that your life is kaka.
—————————
Once again an impostor is trying to be me. That’s cool.
@ Made in America, I didn’t make that comment.
anywaaaays!! April 17, 2017 at 1:17 pm
Some friend you are, Last I heard when 88 invited you for lunch you didnt show. smh!
———————
Yup I was there at Moku Kitchen. Anyone can say they showed up. Many you are naive and gullible. Let me guess, if 88 told you he rode the Space Shuttle you probably would believe right?
But then again, anywaays is 88 who is also good story who is aka too meke. Good one buddy!
Education First is the same guy who another poster tried to meet at a restaurant that Ed 1st claimed he was at but was no where to be found. Was sometime last year, the poster gave “live” update posts on his efforts to find the Internet hero, even describing restaurant and announcing that he was there and ready to meet. Ed 1st exposed as a phony once again. Pretty sad.
Wow. First time I ever had someone impersonate me on here or ever.
@ Education first, I didnt make that comment.
@whoever you are
if you are resorting to this strategy to discredit Education 1st, you are losing. It kind of says that you cannot handle having an open conversation/debate with him on…….. I am guessing the RedRaiderNation, since he has shared some strong views on the community, school and education.
But, if you just trying for be one Punk Ass, have at it.
@nick abramo
IP Address??
Can’t tell who is who but pretty evident that 1st Ed and Phil are the same guy. The way Phil ALWAYS shows up right after 1st ed post (always in that order) to back him and give him props. And now the same way “they” react to imposter(s?). Lame guy living in an internet fantasy world.