The First Hawaiian Bank/HHSAA State Football Championships don’t officially get underway until Nov. 15.
Nonetheless, Friday’s ILH Open Division second-round final between Saint Louis and Punahou might as well be considered part of the season-ending tournament.
The state’s top two ranked teams are unanimous with No. 1 Saint Louis attempting to win a fifth consecutive ILH championship against No. 2 Punahou on Friday in a rematch of the Crusaders’ 25-19 victory over the Buffanblu on Sept. 20.
During the current 35-game winning streak of the three-time defending Open Division state champions, Saint Louis has had only win decided by fewer than the six points that separated the Crusaders and Buffanblu last month. Saint Louis held off Kahuku 31-28 to win the state title in 2017.
All four spots at the top of this week’s Honolulu Star-Advertiser Football Top 10 are, in fact, unanimous. Kahuku’s 7-3 win over Mililani in the OIA Open Division title game pushed the Red Raiders up a spot to No. 3 this week — marking their highest ranking of the season.
The Trojans, who have lost four games in a season for the first time since 2012, drop to No. 4 for the first time since Week 2.
Campbell, which secured a trip to the state tournament beating Farrington on Friday, took back sole possession of No. 5 in the rankings, a full 10 votes ahead of Hilo, which tied the Sabers in the rankings for the No. 5 spot a week ago.
Moanalua, which survived in double overtime to beat Leilehua 21-20 for the OIA Division I title, jumps past the Mules for No. 7. Leilehua is No. 8, ahead of ‘Iolani, which secured its bid to the state tournament by beating Damien on Friday.
The Raiders are No. 9 and MIL champion Lahainaluna is No. 10 with Damien (four) and Kapaa (one) also receiving votes.
Honolulu Star-Advertiser Top 10
| FOOTBALL | ||
|---|---|---|
| Updated: 10/23 | ||
| RANK | SCHOOL | VOTES |
| 1. | Kahuku (10) | 100 |
| 2. | Miililani | 86 |
| 3. | Campbell | 81 |
| 4. | Punahou | 73 |
| 5. | Saint Louis | 53 |
| 6. | Kapolei | 50 |
| 7. | Konawaena | 40 |
| 8. | Farrington | 23 |
| 9. | Lahainaluna | 18 |
| 10. | Kamehameha | 8 |
Everybody complains about top two seeds not getting into state tournament. But if Punahou was to beat St. Louis twice and St. Louis was allowed in the state tournament. Then that would be how many times they get a chance to beat each other? If they made the final, that would be four times they play each other. What other state championship around the nation would have this format? None.
Just imagine if they go back to the old format. And ILH stuck playing themselves three rounds and tiebreaker games. Then if they let two teams from ILH into state tournament. They could face each other five times. What then? Might as well make it best out of seven. That’s why a three team league needs to expand.
The ILH needs to get creative. Go back to two divisions. Play each other once with the cross division games again, but then schedule three out of conference games with whomever in or out of state. That gives you 8. Easier said then done tho.
Figuring out who goes to the state semis is based on voting. Some years may be one and other years two ILH teams. Maybe even three, but that would probably require a head to head win against the top OIA school somewhere during the season and really close losses to your ILH foes.
I know, a lot of holes in my idea, but something gotta be adjusted.
The OPEN seasons have been fun, but the tourney is just a replay and lacks anticipation. Heck, even Kahuku barely showed up to watch the OIA finals.
I was surprised to see fewer Kahuku fans against Mililani too but can you blame the fans. Watching it in the privacy of your own home/garage with family and friends is FREE. $8 entrance fee/$8 parking/$7.00 hotdogs is ridiculous. You gotta blame the stadium/vendors for pushing the fans away and I guess Spectrum too for televising it but I do love this option.
At least you thinking creatively. More than most who say two ILH should be in. When it’s just repetitive to play same teams over and over. The open isn’t even a state tournament. It’s just put on repeat. Hilo and outer island teams got to be included somehow. Remember the time Baldwin had Kahuku beat, only to lose on a prayer.
At least you thinking creatively. More than most who say two ILH should be in. When it’s just repetitive to play same teams over and over. The open isn’t even a state tournament. It’s just put on repeat. Hilo and outer island teams got to be included somehow. Remember the time Baldwin had Kahuku beat, only to lose on a prayer.
Hilo was up on Kahuku a few years ago. Played Kahuku really tough in the first round. Then Kahuku played Punahou and lost by a field goal. Punahou went on to play Mililani in state championship. So for people to say outer island teams can’t compete is ludicrous.
I think the couple years have been different. Kahuku would’ve steamrolled Hilo last 3 years. Hilo with that running back they had could’ve competed with Campbell but that’s about it. Neighbor islands haven’t really came up with a true open div team. This may change year to year. If Hilo could compete, they would for sure deserve a bid over Campbell.
If 1 or 2 neighbor island teams could come up, 1 ILH, 1 OIA, maybe 1 BIF 1 MIL would be a good tournament
6 team playoff!! 1 – ILH, 3- OIA, & the last 2 slots are voted in by a committee, open to ILH, OIA, and outer island teams as well. (if selected of course)
Let the outer island teams jump in the ring if they feel they got a shot.
Is this the same Robocop. What’s up bro. Nice to hear you have something more productive to say. But everybody here has a lot more constructive comments. Dang. Nice to see. Not as fun. But good to see.
Yeah, I like what you saying @itiswhatitis. But committee has to be transparent. Everyone should know who’s a member and who they vote for. Keep everyone honest. People usually will do the right thing when everyone is watching. No bias bs. No only voting by league affiliation.
Teams from the BIIF rely heavily on the luck they have on trenches at the state tournament. Hilo this year has a lot of offensive weapons, but their linemen aren’t as big as the ones they had against Kahuku in 2014. The offensive line in 2017 when they won the D1 created huge gaps (Tilini Livai signed with USC afterwards). I’m not so sure about this year. This has been a recurring theme especially at Hilo as they’ve been always undersized even against BIIF opponents, namely Kealakehe.
I do remember that Kahuku Baldwin game tho. I watched that puppy live. I had bets on Baldwin to win it that year. They had some heavy skill player talent. That Kahuku double pass play was executed to perfection and the safety let the receiver get behind him. Whew, we saw some great games in the past, Most of them included Kahuku.
Yeah not as fun. Robocop had to hand out some violations.
The 6 team vote idea is a good one. BUT……
Most years that would mean 2 ILH teams. Usually St. Louis and Punahou are both in the top 6. Not saying it’s a bad thing, just seems like something that’s not a popular idea.
#6 spot I would think goes to Farrington. Which would seem odd given their record, but who else is there. Doubt a neighbor island team would want to step up.
Maybe a team like Damien could opt to step up given an invitation? Waipahu? The others got berths in their own division. Could be interesting
Hey Robocop…there you are buddy.
Can I start saying we the team to beat now that we OIA champs…missed you last weekend.
Now the fun made its way here. Just when everyone was serious about fixing this broken state tournament.
Heard some crazy off the field sh!# went down this weekend that could affect one of these teams big time. Stay tuned.
Wait till your 4 schools in the Open OIA pulls out and goes Division 1, there will only be 2 left in the OPEN OIA.
Sparky if four pull out, then all of OIA pulls out of open. Smart guy.
Yeah you won go ahead and call yourselves the team to beat. You guys will be seeded as #1 anyway
Expanding the playoff field is similar to expanding the college playoffs. There will always be 1 or 2 deserving teams left out. But there is also be some teams that absolutely do not deserve to be there that will be included. You may have an underdog win here and there but very unlikely to have a underdog run to the title.
Say for instance Waipahu. I think they could compete with Campbell this year. Maybe not win, but compete. Could they be allowed to come up and fill a spot in an expanded Open division playoff? But should they be able to? They didn’t make their own division’s playoffs.
@17 Good thing it’s not a win or go home game for Saint Louis then. SMH!
#17
Yup, it’s true.
But no matter what happened or how bad it is, players will still play because that’s priority at the school.
Just wondering what the repercussions will be regarding the next level.
#4 something to say said it all. those prices are robbery!
We need to have the 4 best teams in the state play each other in playoffs regardless of league affiliation. Also OIA needs to count games with ILH like ILH does with them, HELLLOOOO that’s so stupid. Like let’s pretend that game never happened lol, c’mon!!! 2 OIA, 1 ILH and 1 wildcard. Make ILH championship game winner take all, that’ll eliminate H’boys concern of STL playing PUN too many times. No need make ILH #2 beat #1 twice, that’s why they call it a championship game. Hence the wildcard, would go to the most deserving team. The idea should be fairness, not pander to a certain group of people or league. Wait that sounds familiar lol.
Attaboy Robocop…can someone just come out and say what happened already…we too busy here trying to stop these wind turbines, give us something to talk about while we protesting.
I like the idea of 6 teams too but that gets more complicated. Question is do you want a more exciting/competitive regular season or the suspense of the postseason with teams seeing each other for the first time. This current format has definitely generated more excitement/money during season, think the boys enjoy it more too, but takes away a little intrigue come post season. Guess they’re right, can’t have your cake and eat it too. Wait, who ever came up with that saying, makes no sense at all, could somebody explain?
I think after you gotta go with the top 4 teams in the state. No matter if it’s 4 OIA teams, 2 ILH 2 OIA, whatever. Let the records speak for themselves. Rarely is there a tie as far as records go. If there is, those 2 can play off.
Excitement for who? Top teams? Because the bottom half probably not as excited nor having fun. Waianae, Kapolei, Farrington and Kamehameha all struggling. Hard to sell your program to a kid or parents that you’re a good team when you’re record says one win. Kids don’t understand, “we in the best league.” They understand winning and losing.
And money generated? Where? Show me some stats. Probably same as before. That’s just the sales pitch.
I coulda swear this was a public thread but seems like HPW filters what can n can’t be posted in here!
Meeeeeeen Da Dope
How about no more Open Division.
Combine OIA and ILH
D-1 East and West
D-2 East and West
No OIA or ILH champ.
East Champ & runner up vs. West Champ & runner up
East Champ, West Champ and winner of runner up game goes to state tourney.
#1 and #2 seed have a bye. Ideas on how to determine this??
State Tournament
D-1 Hawaii(1), Maui (1), Kauai (1), Oahu (3)
D-2 Hawaii(1), Maui (1), Kauai (1), Oahu (3)
8 man (i have no clue about 8 man but thought it would be cool to add)
*Explore Island Bowl game idea for teams that miss the cut.
Scrap after the Puns Kam volleyball game.
A student from Kam was assaulted.
Allegedly, he was assaulted by players from a prominent high school football team that have even received Div. 1 college offers.
An assault case has been made and is pending.
If I was his mom, I wouldnt rest until I got justice.
If this was Punahou boys involved, there’s a good chance this was trying to be swept under the rug.
Thanks to those who are speaking out about this. If a kid from any school is assaulted and injured, the ones responsible for it need to be held accountable. Hopefully this will start somebody from the press to investigate.
Punahou players not involved.
Yes, Punahou players weren’t involved. The ones involved wear blue and red. Bad choice that could be very costly to the team and their schollys…
Wow, St. Louis boys were at the Punahou vs Kamehameha volleyball? That’s just asking for trouble. Again, somebody should be investigating this. If this happened at Blaisdell, I bet there’s security video of it.
Wow lau lau…that’s not good. Mahalos for the updates.
Allegedly, 2 of the 6 involved are Outside Linebackers.
Lol on Punahou guys mobbing somebody. That is some funny stuff.
“Hey Cole, lets get Zander and Caleb and go mob that Hawaiian guy”………….
Funny how student from kam takes first swings at 2 guys and yet claims to be assaulted. ,Pun guys saw the whole thing.
I meant to say What is the point of having an open division instead of Why is the point of having an open division…..RR4L
^^^ Ooooh, the plot thickens. As I said before, there must be video evidence of this incident somewhere.
Open division should take top 6 teams regardless if they are OIA or ILH. They all play eachother once which would give a true ranking. #1 and #2 seeds get the bye. #6 plays #3 and #5 plays #4 in the 1st round of playoffs.
There could be years where you have 3 ILH teams in the state tournament and also years where you have no ILH teams in the tournament.
#37 Not sure about that, looks like half of Punahou’s roster are polys and soles who can throw and mob with the best of them.
Just have St.Louis, Kahuku, Mililani and Punahou in their own division. Play each other 3 times each. 9 games, Then go playoffs again rank um #1 to #4 then play each other again one more time for championship. Those would be some hard-core tough games getting banged up every week.
No worry if it’s St Louis kids, nothing gonna happen. Just like last year when their Qb and LB got in trouble, worse case than this one. Never came out, everyone knew about it but yet here they are involved in another incident. Football is too big at St Louis and they get super long arms so no can touch em. Good luck getting someone to press charges.
#42-
They threw away their gangstah card once they attended Puns, lol. They only assassinate birds.
#38-
From what we’ve heard, a BUNCH of them SOUGHT out this Kam kid from something that started in the game.
Im just curious as to why would you even be involved if you have a scholarship offer?? Even IF the guy threw the first punch. But honestly, it became a moot point once it turned into 1 versus a bunch and when you hear that they searched for him after the game.
Im genuinely curious as to how they damage control this. The mother of the victim is on social media asking for any witnesses to come forward and hasnt named anyone or school that the perpetrators came from. Its just a matter of time until they can gather enough evidence to go public and plaster these young adults names all over the news and media and call the colleges they have committed to and spill the beans. In this situation, it might be a disadvantage being 18. Can be tried as adults and names can be shared, I think.
Auwe. Lose, lose for everybody.
@ILH, Thanks for the info. These are some interesting additions to the story but as always there are two sides. Are you saying the St. Louis boys went to Blaisdell to look for this kid because of something that happened in their football game, or they went after him because of something that happened during the volleyball game? As I said before, its weird that St. Louis boys would be at this game in the first place.
A lot of other questions I am thinking about like didn’t the Kamehameha boy have any friends or teammates with him? If this was at the volleyball game, there must have been lots of Kamehameha people around and nobody stepped in to help? That’s an auwe.
According to blue and gold, some of the Punahou boys watched this thing go down. None of them helped and none of them want to step forward as witnesses. Double auwe.
This story is now public from people posting on this site and on social media but the press isn’t coming out with anything. Triple auwe.
Is this Hawaii Prep World or Hawaii News Now? Grown ups gossiping about high schoolers is a bad look.
Eh what happened to Lou comment at #46 spot? Wow,aunty. So HPW going let social rumors go and cop my post. Oh lord.
Videos? Dude, everyone at the Punahou/Kamehameha game got smart phones. Must be at least 100 HD video’$. Go get um.
Lou-
Are you saying it didnt happen??