CRUNCHING THE NUMBERS: Teams for most part in the right divisions

There are many factors that go into determining how a school is classified for high school football in Hawaii.

School size, number of players, typical size of the players, tradition and recent success are just a few.

Placing teams in their proper divisions is never a perfect science, and Hawaii administrators do their best.

Two weeks into the season, the numbers show that for the most part schools are where they belong.

Here are some findings based on the final scores of the 27 games played:

>> Of the four Open Division games so far, three were decided by 8 points or less and the average final score was 28-15.

>> In Division I, only one of four games had a margin of less than 14 points (Moanalua’s 21-20 victory over ‘Iolani) and the average final tally was 30-17.

>> The widest disparity came in Division II, where only one of eight games was decided by 7 points or less (the next closest margin was 21 points) and the final average score was 30-8.

— Those Division II numbers — including five from OIA vs. ILH games — point to the possibility that there are actually two levels of football being played in the lower tier. But is Hawaii ready for a Division III?

>> When Division I teams played an Open Division team or D-II teams went against D-I squads, they fared very well.

— D-I teams scored an average of 20 points to the upper tier’s 29 in four total games.

— D-II teams actually averaged 23 points to D-I’s 22 in five of those interdivision games.

— The last two sets of numbers show that there is not much of a difference in strength of teams when a top-rung squad in a lower division plays a bottom-rung team in an upper division.

>> Neighbor Islands teams went 3-1 against Oahu’s D-II schools and 0-2 against Oahu’s D-I squads.

— That signifies, on the whole, that the strength of the Neighbor Islands teams falls somewhere between mid-D-I and upper D-II.

Below are the actual final scores (average scores in parentheses) of the first two weeks in the various categories mentioned above.

Open vs. Open (28-15)
>> No. 4 Mililani 30, at No. 3 Campbell 26
>> Kapolei 28, at No. 7 Waianae 20
>> No. 2 Punahou 31, at Farrington 0
>> At No. 5 Kahuku 21, No. 6 Kamehameha 13

D-I vs. D-I (30-17)
>> At Aiea 34, Radford 19
>> Waipahu 49, at Castle 28
>> At Moanalua 21, No. 8 ‘Iolani 20
>> At No. 9 Leilehua 14, Kailua 0

D-II vs. D-II (30-8)
>> At Kaiser 33, Pearl City 7
>> At Roosevelt 42, McKinley 6
>> Kaimuki 34, Pac-Five 12, at Skippa Diaz Stadium
>> At Waialua 31, Nanakuli 7
>> Kalani 29, Kalaheo 8, at Kaiser Stadium
>> Kalani 35, Kohala 0, at Kaiser Stadium
>> Kauai 7, Kalaheo 0, at Alex Kane Stadium
>> King Kekaulike 30, McKinley 0, at Skippa Diaz Stadium

Open vs. D-I (29-20)
>> At Waianae 35, No. 7 Waipahu 20
>> Leilehua 35, at Farrington 0
>> Kapolei 40, at Castle 24
>> No. 2 Punahou 40, at Kailua 0

D-I vs. D-II (111-115)
>> At Kaiser 21, Aiea 7
>> Kamehameha-Hawaii 56, Waiakea 6
>> Kealakehe 13, at Pearl City 7
>> No. 10 ‘Iolani 47, at Kamehameha-Hawaii 10
>> Damien 38, at No. 8 Lahainaluna 31, OT

Oahu D-II vs. Neighbor Islands (11-13)
>> Kauai 7, Kalaheo 0, at Alex Kane Stadium
>> King Kekaulike 30, McKinley 0, at Skippa Diaz Stadium
>> Kalani 35, Kohala 0, at Kaiser Stadium
>> Kealakehe 13, at Pearl City 7

Oahu D-I vs. Neighbor Islands (43-21)
>> Damien 38, at No. 8 Lahainaluna 31, OT
>> No. 10 ‘Iolani 47, at Kamehameha-Hawaii 10

Division II vs. 8-man (38-0)
>> At Nanakuli 37, Molokai 0
>> Kamehameha-Maui 39, Molokai 0