Comments on: ‘Iolani working to prove it belongs in D-I

By: J Milo

J Milo — Fri, 02 Sep 2016 19:09:50 +0000

last win for the raiders this season as well as their rankings.

By: SimpleSimon

SimpleSimon — Mon, 29 Aug 2016 21:06:05 +0000

@anonymous1 – I was wondering the same thing. Such a stupid format in all aspects. Then you have OIA Red and Blue 3rd and 4th places with the opportunity to have a DIV-1 state title. Nothing on this adding an Open Division makes any sense.

By: Mahatma Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi — Sun, 28 Aug 2016 22:53:42 +0000

MrWendall, who cares who wins Div 2 or Div 3? I went to the Kahuku – St Louis championship football game last year. The Kahuku fans showed up as soon as the gates opened at 4 PM. They weren’t there to watch Radford play. They were there early to get good seats for the Kahuku game.
Iolani can just recruit more players than before to be able to compete in the Open Division. I think they recruited just enough players in years past, just enough to guarantee a Div 2 state title every year, but not so many players that they would have to then play Div 1, not wanting to get into a bidding war with St Louis for elite players.
Trust me, they had Samoan recruits on their 1980 Prep Bowl team that blasted the Waianae Seariders. One of them was Albert Tufono, whose kids now play for Punahou. How did that happen? Didn’t Iolani offer Maninoa and Jack-Eli too?

By: anonymous1

anonymous1 — Sun, 28 Aug 2016 18:58:21 +0000

I think this 3 tier playoff system is long overdue so credit to all those involved. I do find it strange that Iolani seems to get an automatic entry into Division I tournament, while 3 teams fight for a Div II spot and 3 teams fight for 2 Open Division spots. I’m surprised that I don’t see more people questioning this. Is there any other school in the state that has an auto pass into the state football tournament this year? I do understand that Iolani would not be a fit in Div I and Div II, but perhaps this is a quirk they need to fix. Granting a team an auto pass into the tournament despite record (on the surface, at least) leaves much to be desired in my opinion. Perhaps the HHSAA director who is an Iolani alum, was torn about this, not?

By: MrWendall

MrWendall — Sun, 28 Aug 2016 17:16:25 +0000

The ILH forces their will upon the entire state because they have many alumni in high places. I guess football is a big thing in the ILH that they have to do drastic things to improve their chances of winning titles.