It’s going to be a shrewd political move by the Oahu Interscholastic Association.
OIA executive director Ray Fujino told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser and Hawaii Prep World on Friday that the OIA’s football teams will all opt for either Division I or II in the state tournament and keep themselves out of the Open Division.
It’s a blockbuster move that will severely cripple — and maybe even end — the Open Division, which was the centerpiece of a new three-tiered tournament that began as a pilot program last year.
Fujino’s comments, ironically, came after a Hawaii Interscholastic Athletic Directors Association-approved proposal to continue the three-tier tourmament was ratified by the Hawaii High School Athletic Association executive board Friday morning.
Kahuku, which lost to Saint Louis in the Open Division final last year, will now play in Division I, as will other OIA powerhouses such as Waianae and Mililani.
That leaves the Open Division with ILH teams like Saint Louis, Punahou and Kamehameha and any neighbor-island teams who want to join in. With that knowledge, those ILH teams may also choose to play down in Division I to meet the better competition, effictively ending the Open Division.
On Thursday, all 27 OIA voters voted against continuation of the three-tier tournamnet, but the final count was a 63-27 defeat for the state’s largest league.
Technically, the OIA can wait until Sept. 1 to declare which state-tournament divisions it will participate in, but Fujino was clear that the Open is not an option.
Go back to Prep Bowl,,,,D2 is only for outer island teams anyway.
Wow. I thought last year was the most competitive playoff in years.
Absolutely ridiculous! Can’t wait to hear what the excuse is for not allowing the top OIA programs to play for the Open Division.
I don’t really get the whole point of this. Smart move by the OIA to force the issue in the direction it wants to go, but I thought the OIA had the most to gain from the 3 tier format. With such a large number of schools, the OIA would’ve been the one league that could’ve feasibly created their own 3 tiered system within their league to conform to the HHSAA format.
Sked
State tournament isn’t an ala carte, you’re either all in or all out. They should be banned from tourney all together if they cant abide by format. OIA is sour because they were out voted and now they’re pouting and not putting any teams in Open Divison. Theyre doing despite the fact that it’s taking an opportunity for more of THEIR OWN STUDENT ATHLETES to play.
I’m thinking of protesting outside of KHON studios tomorrow afternoon after my jazz/tap dance class lets out. Maybe Rob Demello will give us an interview. LMK if anyone else is interested.
The newspaper reported that, “On Thursday, all 27 OIA representatives voted against the continuation of the three-tier tournament but the final count was a 63-27 defeat for the state’s largest league.”
I get it if only private school representatives voted in favor. But all of the public schools from Maui, Kauai, and the Big Island also voted in favor of the three-tier tournament. By having the KIF, BIIF, and MIL reps vote in favor of this system makes the OIA’s stance look even weaker.
The OIA complains about a level playing field. But compared to these 3 leagues, the OIA have far more talent, money, and resources than most KIF, MIL, and BIIF schools.
Why doesn’t the neighbor island teams declare a team in the open division? Didn’t they vote for the 3 tier? Also who profits from the open division, is it only the leagues that play in the open?
show um who boss oia dont be a dormatt, diss not ayso everyone need trophy only need 2 div
das why hard ilh force there 2 highly recruiting teams in to open div last year, one team was enuff but got greedy n wanted 2 n plus put iolani guarantee birt in d1 tourney, no can. oia put foot down
I think it goes back to how seeding was handled in last years open division.
Outter islands most likely voted for open division to give their teams a better chance at a state title.
What the hell? OIA I think didn’t like that ILH got 2 teams in last year. Use to be only 1 before the 3 tier format.
Just make St.Louis and Punahou play for the OPEN division for the tenth time this season.lol.
Maybe the price of last year’s anon.letter going up to $3 million instead of 1. Good move OIA. Anyway, ILH champ vs. OIA champ. Pau. No drama straight up.
Look the OIA has stated from last year that the HHSAA needs to give the OIA time to declare in which they are in the 2nd year D1/D2.
After this year maybe they can find out what teams are in open D1/D2 but the problem will always be every year some teams get better or worst that’s probably the reason why they chose not to declare where as the Other teams know where they stand in other conferences (ILH MIL BIIF KIF)
That’s good! Why have 3 state tournaments…the way it was before last year was fine. Wel perhaps they can bump it up to 8 teams; 2 ILH, 4 OIA, 1 BIIF, 1 Maui..
prep bowl oia1 vs ilh1 good enouff
UNBELIEVABLE OIA OFFICIALS!!!!!! MOST SELFISH MOVE YOU COULDVE DONE. FIRST YOU SCREW YOUR KIDS WITH HORRIBLE REGULAR SEASON SCHEDULE AND NOW YOU LIKE FAG OUT OF THE OPEN TO MAKE A POINT. VERY SELFISH MOVE BY ADULTS. KIDS WANT TO PLAY THE BEST AND WHAT TO BEAT THE BEST, NOW YOU ELIMINATING MORE TEAMS BECAUSE ESSENTIALLY YOU SAYING TO THE ILH AND HHSAA THAT YOU ONLY WANT 2 TIERS. DUMB DUMB DUMB. I CANT BELIEVE THESE PEOPLE IN CHARGE OF THE OIA FEEL SO STRONGLY AGAINST THE ILH THAT THEY WOULD RISK LOSING MORE STATE BERTHS. THINK ABOUT THE KIDS WHO GONNA END UP LOSING OUT ON THIS. I NO CAN BELIEVE WHAT IS HAPPENING AND HOW SMALL MINDED PEOPLE CAN BE. ALL I CAN SAY IS WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!WAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!WAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!
Why don’t the HHSAA just eliminate the state championships already and just go back to the Oahu Prep Bowl and add a Neighbor Island Championship. No need to worry about how many teams get in, because you already know only one ILH and one OIA team are going to play for the title.
Everyone keeps forgetting that the only ones they hurting are the PLAYERS. All the players lose more opportunity and exposure. These dumb people should stop thinking about themselves and remember it’s about the kids.
I still believe that the three-tiered tournament is just a means for the ILH to sneak an extra team into states, while simultaneously giving ‘Iolani their own special division to compete in. With that being said, I actually enjoyed the extra football games last season and watching some interesting matchups. This is a bad decision by the OIA. Just put your own selfish pride aside and let the boys play.
Good move OIA. You’re the big dogs (in terms of number of teams). Go tell the ILH to stop trying to stack the box. How can all 4 D1 ILH teams make it to the state tournament? That’s ridiculous. We named a D1 state champion who was essentially 7th best in the state. I don’t know what place the D2 champ was.
F the OIA. The ILH and the rest of the state should leave the OIA for goood. Let them play in there little league. They will eventually realize that the State is more important than the OIA.
The fact that Iolani played in the D1 Title game shows how terrible the lower OIA teams are. The top ILH teams need to merge with the top OIA teams already. If the clowns in charge want what’s best for the student athletes then a merger needs to be done.
can oia elimanate district boundary n recruit likr ilh? if can den lets talk merg
The oia already recruit. They have there ways of getting them in the district. You guys act like it doesn’t happen. If you like I can drop names.
drop it like it hot lol haaaaaaaayaaaan , no matter cuz u see what milflilani did on limted recruiting restriction imagine u open da flood gate york n hernandez kapolei n kahuku top 3 killin da ilh, u tink cal lee a legend no, he the only coach in hawaii histry that had able to recruit freely for decades. look miano only recruit 5 players n win d2 title give him all 20 recruits like ilh teams n oia b killin da ilh
To Eliminate any Question rep from each Island for a 4 team Playoff D1 and D2, OIA and ILH go back to Prep Bowl to Find out Oahu Reps, Maui, Kauai and Big Island, Ut will be a Long Season to Find the Island Reps and In the End Only the Best from Each Islandd will Battle for States. No Complaints of uneven amount of Entries, Either win or Turn in the Pads
Easy puppy 20 recruits now you smoking. Maybe back in the days but not anymore at the lou.
May I ask a question?
1) Is the HHSAA Football Tournament to identify the best football team?
2) Why do some people feel a league should have more representatives than other leagues just because they have more school, regardless of the quality of the league or school?
If the goal is to figure out who the best teams are, then the ILH should clearly have 2 teams.
Back in day, UH used to belong to a conference (I cannot remember if it was the WAC or Mountain West). At that point in time their conference had 16 teams. They had more teams than the BIG 10, PAC 10, SEC, BIG 8, etc. Using the model of team representation in a championship tournament, do you think the NCAA should have given UH’s conference more teams just because they had a larger league with more teams?
Waianae is rooted nit recruited and made it to the top 4. Most of the kids in ILH is from the 96792
No district boundary?
Then you will see a larger divide between the top OIA schools and lower ones.
It wont affect the ILH. If it really was about going to a school that has a good football team than most kids wouldn’t leave their friends and community to attend a private school. Its the whole package, Education, Network, Opportunities……
Shout out to OIA#1 repping the WEST SIIIDE.
-BTW, I not too sure about the “most of the kids in ILH is from the 96792” thing but shoots.