The threat of Hurricane Lane that caused football games to be canceled or postponed the weekend of Aug. 24-25 has also caused the ILH to adjust its Open Division football seeding procedure, according to sources.
The ILH is not going to count either Mililani’s 31-24 victory over Kamehameha on Aug. 18 or Punahou’s 43-21 victory over Mililani on Sept. 8 in the standings. Georges Gilbert, the ILH assistant executive director who is also the league’s football coordinator, has not returned phone calls requesting confirmation of the new procedure.
Due to Saint Louis’ canceled Aug. 25 game against Mililani, there was an imbalance in the number of games scheduled for the league’s three Open Division teams. Originally, all three ILH Open teams were scheduled to play eight games (two against ILH Open and six against OIA Open squads). So, by not counting Kamehameha and Punahou’s games against the OIA’s Trojans, the league gets an equal number of games (a total of seven instead of eight) played by the three teams.
As has been reported previously, the first-place Open team will get a bye in the first-round of the ILH playoffs. The other two teams will play for the right to meet the top seed in the title game Oct. 27. The system is similar to formats used in the past, except this time, whoever wins that second playoff game will be the champion and state Open Division representative. In the past, if the top seed lost that game, there would be another game to determine the champion.
Cal Lee, the coach of Saint Louis (5-0 ILH Open) has said more than a few times that he is not a fan of this year’s format.
“You can go undefeated and then lose one game and be out,” he said. “What is that?”
Punahou coach Kale Ane would also have reason to gripe, since his Buffanblu (now 3-2 in ILH Open) got past Mililani and are losing a win in the standings that the Crusaders do not have.
“It was good to battle Mililani,” Ane said. “And it would have been exciting to see Saint Louis battle Mililani. Either way, it’s a tough haul.”
Ane said he respects the ILH’s decision (that has yet to be made public) to not count Punahou’s win over the Trojans.
“There were a lot of variables and bringing the two leagues together this year for games happened pretty quickly,” he said. “I’m sure there will be adjustments made in the future.
Ane also realizes that the eventual No. 1 seed (the Crusaders can clinch with one more win) is getting the short end of the stick in a different way.
“The number one seed doesn’t have the luxury of having those two games … and the league did the best it could to make it as equal (seven games each instead of eight) as possible. I understand it.”
The league’s rationale for not allowing the No. 1 seed the luxury of another game if it loses the Oct. 27 contest is unclear. There is an open weekend (Nov. 2-3) before the Open state tournament starts Nov. 9-10.
No changes to the ILH Division I or II postseason procedure have been made, despite the cancellation of some games during the week of Tropical Storm Lane. Division I teams ‘Iolani and Damien and D-II teams St. Francis and Pac-Five all had games canceled that week, and sources said, the reason no changes are needed to the postseason procedure in place is that all will finish with an equal number (eight instead of nine) games.
St. Francis has already clinched the ILH D-II state berth, but the ILH Division I race will come down to the last two weeks between ‘Iolani and Damien. The team with the better win-loss record moves on to states. If they end with the same record, a playoff would be held Oct. 27.
The Raiders caught a break when their game against undefeated Moanalua, ranked eighth in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser Top 10, was canceled. Damien’s canceled game was against Aiea, which is 2-4-1 overall this season.
The Monarchs (4-2 ILH D-I) are a game behind the Raiders (5-1), including a 31-13 loss to Moanalua on Sept. 21 that counts toward Damien’s league record.
“I think we need to reschedule the games because we have an open week or we just count common opponents in Division I and Division II like we did in the Open Division,” Damien coach Eddie Klaneski said.
The ILH rationale, however, is not common opponents, sources said, but, rather, an equal amount of games played.
The OIA and ILH Division I and II regular seasons end the weekend of Oct. 12-13. OIA playoffs are scheduled for Oct. 19-20, with the championship games on Oct. 26. There is an open weekend — Nov. 2-3 before the D-I and D-II state tournaments start the weekend of Nov. 9-10.
Oh my gosh here we again Cal Lee always crying about something.
The ILH seeding for Kamehameha and Punahou won’t even matter with the dismissal of the Mililani games. We all know who’ll be #1 and will get the ILH bye.
So Damien might finish one game behind ‘Iolani because they lost to Moanalua and ‘Iolani didn’t have to play Moanalua? That is messed up.
Damien should of beaten Iolani…
Rod York did say he would be happy to reschedule the game during a bye week…guess st.louis isnt ready to play at anytime..oh well here’s to the playoffs
I like that Punahou has a chance to knock St Louis out of the state football tournament by just beating them once. St Louis and their all-out excessive recruiting has destroyed the competitive balance of Hawaii state high school football.
Lol. So is Mililani undefeated? I knew this would throw the tilt off. So in essenses, Mililani never played the ILH this year. Why not St.L play mililani, when mililani has a bye week before the OIA championship? Then everyone will have an even 8 game season/record.
“You can go undefeated and lose one game and be out” .he said “What is that”.? Ahhh, that’s NOT undefeated? Just saying.
Got a date. Oct.19,Friday,@Mililani.vs.St Louis. Let’s do this! Coach York? Coach Lee? Let’s straighten this mess.
If there is one thing we can hang our hat on it’s Coach York’s “Name the time, name the place, we’ll be there,” approach. I mean, going up to play Bosco while having to play Puna, STL, and Kam, around that?? My man instills confidence in his team and they ride with him. Cal doesn’t want any part of that.
Kahuku not so long ago for a long while was the same way and that’s what made them special.
The game won’t even count in the standings for Mililani. That close to the playoffs, and you want to risk losing players to injury for the sake of “OIA” pride. You would think the coach would be a little smarter than that.
“The #1 seed doesn’t have the luxury of those two games…” In my humble opinion one game should be enough. If your team is deserving of being the #1 seed you’re suppose to be good enough to win the first time. Besides, didn’t the article also say that the #1 ILH seed gets a bye during the first round of the playoffs? That supposedly is an advantage in itself.
Then on the other side of the stick. If St. Louis is recruiting or have better facilities, how many points should they spot an opposing OIA team? Just messing.
There goes the cry babies talk shit again look what happened to kahuku when played st louis how many guys got hurt only one smart guy said why should mililani take the chance if getting there players hurt that a game means nothing to then I no wht coach rod York wants to play st Louis are any more games they can play because he like his players to break records for example playing against farrington winning 50 to 13 and starters is still playing gabriel is still in and throwing 40 yards bombs no class look at coach cal he plays his 2nd and 3rd string guys that’s class. The old ILH format if one team is undefeated the other team has beat the team twice that’s fair what’s not fair when you want to declare the best team in the state and the ILH teams is rank 1and 2 in the state and only one of those teams is going to the state tournament that’s bull shit it shouldn’t be the state tournament it’s should be the OIA tournament who us cry babies crooked
Questions for all the St Louis Haters…
1. Is this format FAIR to ALL student-athletes?
2. Does it make sense?
3. St Louis has a new AD and he may be willing to forfeit the ILH season to play mainland teams and return in time for the ILH playoffs. Will that be ok?
4. If it were your kids would you be ok with this format?
Felt the need to ask you haters these simple questions!
There are only two teams in the OIA, Mililani and Kahuku, that can consistently challenge the Open Division teams in the ILH. The rest of the OIA schools are kidding themselves if they truly believe that they can be competitive with STL and Punahou year after year. What it’s turning into, is a showcase of how far behind the OIA is when it comes to football. STL could’ve beat Campbell last week 100-0 as they pulled their defensive starters after the 1st quarter and most of their offensive starters by halftime. Stop it!
MahutuGandi- every time you say something, it’s usually the same thing about how Cal Lee ruined Highschool football and it’s balance due to recruiting. Move on… if you or somebody in your family got destroyed in Highschool from St.Louis, then we all are sorry that you sucked. Next, the best thing to happen to Mililani was the hurricane because they didn’t have to face the Crusaders. Btw Mililani was the 4th choice for Bosco. They asked Kahuku, Punahou and St. Louis before going to the Trojans! Anyways, another week of Highschool football ahead. Good luck to all the teams! 808vsEverybody!
Comments 12-16 are right on point. ILH Fan, are you fn kidding. Iolani cracked Damien at a neutral field (Aloha Stadium) and how do you know that Moanalua would’ve beaten Iolani that would’ve been a good game. The only OIA team to beat Iolani was Leleihua who benefitted from the 10 phantom holding penalties that stalled 5 red zone drives. The OIA faithful are kidding themselves, if things were really up and up, Punahou, St. Louis and Kamehameha would be in the Open playoffs and there would be 6 teams 3 ILH and 3 OIA. Mililani barely beat Kam at their home field. No one talks about the fact that every fricken game is at an OIA field with homer refs. Killing me with the crazy talk and the rigged OIA format at every division. ILH should tell OIA laters and play outer island teams and mainland teams. The OIA is an inferior league w/o Kahuku and Mililani. True!
Damien and Iolani should reschedule their canceled games if it matters in the standings to determine who will represent the ILH in D1. Ioilani did beat Damien in the regular season and might have a one game lead at the end of the season, but they did not play the same teams. So that would not be fair for Damien. Damien cacncled game was against Aiea(2-4-1) 5th in the OIA. While Iolani’s canceled game was against Moanalua (6-0) 1st in the OIA. Even though we can’t predict the outcome of both games. There is a huge difference in both opponents. It would not be right to just let Iolani get the only berth to state when obviously Damien had to play a harder schedule. The only real solution to this is to reschedule the canceled games (the best idea) or to just count the common teams they played so we can have a great states playoff with no questions lingering through it.
Yea LetsssGoo that makes sense. Damien could’ve done better against Moanalua but they’ve gotten caught up in the musical QB merry-go-round. Nick Abraham is still off point, the Moanalua vs. Iolani game would’ve been competitive and I think Moanalua may have dodged a bullet. In any event, the only team that clearly dodged a bullet during Hurricane Lane was Mililani who would have got dirty hurts from St. Louis and may have even lost their “humble QB who’s not concerned with stats”. Abraham…sloppy analysis.
Let’s see. If St.Louis or Mililani (doubt) wins the Open, then the deadly double asterisk(**)needs to denote (Did not play complete season). The NCAA and NFL would not consider incomplete teams into their championship series. Just saying.
How about this the girls volleyball state tournament kamehameha is number 1 the iolani is rank number 2 in the state so now how come two ILH teams will be play in the state tournament now many times that the ILH football teams is way better then the OIA teams that make the playoffs especially this when the ILH played against the OIA why don’t they take the top four teams I know why the OIA will do anything to give the OIA teams every advantage they can look at the schedules the ILH teams have to play in there backyards lets take kahuku schedule they play waianae Campbell and farrington wow the OIA thought that kahuku was there team to beat st louis if they new that mililani would go in kahuku and wat them up mililani would have that soft schedule st louis schedule was set up by the crook it OIA kahuku mililani and punahou in a row I am so sick and tired of hearing people talk shit blame and make excuses the funny thing is that the football players is not complaining crying and blaming and making up very excuses in the book
When using a hammer, make sure you have a hard hat and not hitting your head. Also the ILH Open has no “homefield” that can accommodate crowds. That’s why they have used Aloha Stadium for decades. And your scheduling OIA conspiracy is pfft. The HPW article is about the ILH making changes that may affect the ILH title game. Not one word about Kahuku but you “let’s take Kahuku”s schedule”? Huh?
Cynhyn you must be out of you mind if you knew anything kamehameha stadium and you can play in neutral fields let’s take kahuku horrible field pot holes that field is crap have double header at the stadium I am so tired of wasting my time with people who is plain out right stupid or they just acting dumb if you going to respond used your head some of thing people say sounds like a 4th grader so cut the crap