The final week of the regular season for both the OIA Red and Blue is this week with OIA D-II play wrapping up the following week. What’s on the line? Who’s in and who’s out of the playoffs? Here’s everything you need to know:
OIA Red
Teams in: Kahuku, Waianae, Leilehua, Kaiser, Castle, Waipahu
Team out: McKinley
First-round byes: Kahuku, Waianae
What’s at stake: The division title and the No. 1 seed out of the Red is on the line Saturday when Kahuku and Waianae clash at Aloha Stadium. Both teams have already clinched first-round byes but the winner will be on the opposite side of the bracket of OIA Blue champion Mililani. Kaiser hosts Leilehua on Friday with the No. 3 seed on the line. Both the Cougars and Mules have already clinched home field in the first round of the OIA playoffs, but the winner gets to play the sixth-place team out of the Blue instead of the fifth-place team. Castle is the fifth seed whether or not it plays McKinley this weekend and Waipahu is the sixth seed.
OIA Blue
Teams in: Mililani, Kailua, Farrington, Kapolei, Moanalua
Teams out: N/A
First-round byes: Mililani
What’s at stake: There’s a bit more left to be decided in the Blue. The Trojans have clinched the division to earn the top seed after beating Kailua 45-21 on Saturday. Kailua is currently in second place but has its bye this weekend. If Farrington beats Campbell at Aloha Stadium on Saturday, the Govs hold the tiebreaker against the Surfriders because of the head-to-head win and would get the No. 2 seed and first-round bye. Kailua needs Farrington to lose to the Sabers to get the bye. Kapolei has locked up home field in the first round but could jump to third place with a win over Aiea and a Farrington loss to Campbell. Moanalua is the fifth seed no matter what happens against Mililani. Campbell locks up the last playoff spot with either a win over Farrington or an Aiea loss to Kapolei. Na Alii has to hope for a win and a Campbell loss to make the playoffs.
OIA D-II
Teams in: Nanakuli, Radford
Teams out: Roosevelt, Anuenue
What’s at stake: Radford and Nanakuli meet Friday at Waianae to determine the regular season champion and the No. 1 seed. The loser gets the two seed but will still host a semifinal game. Kaimuki got a huge win against Waialua last Friday and is as close to locking up a playoff berth as a team can get. The only scenario that Kaimuki doesn’t make it is by losing to both Kalaheo and Roosevelt while Kalani and Waialua win out. The Falcons still have to play Pearl City and Nanakuli and Waialua has a game with Radford. Waialua will pick up its fourth win this weekend against Anuenue and holds tiebreakers over Kalani, Pearl City and Kalaheo. It’d take a fairly crazy scenario for Kaimuki and Waialua not to be the final two teams in. Kalaheo needs to win its final games against Kaimuki and Pearl City and hope Kaimuki also loses to Roosevelt to have any shot. Kalani needs to win its final two games against Pearl City and Nanakuli and hope Waialua loses to Radford to get in. How’s this for Pearl City? The Chargers need to beat Kalani and Kalaheo, need Waialua to lose to Radford, need Kaimuki to win at least one more game AND need Kalani to beat Nanakuli to force a three-way coin flip, otherwise it loses pretty much any other tiebreaker scenario. Got it?
Playoff! Love this time of the year!
Thanks for the update. It’s usually confusing at this time of the year for us fans.