When Interscholastic League of Honolulu athletic directors voted unanimously in the affirmative Monday, it put the finishing touches on a historic football agreement with the Oahu Interscholastic Association.
For 2018 and 2019 under a two-year pilot program, the OIA and ILH will play a full slate of interleague, nonleague, regular-season games, according to sources from both leagues.
The agreement caps more than a month of negotiations and hard work by the brass of the two leagues. It was done to ensure more competitive and safe games and avoid the blowouts and mismatches that have cropped up in recent seasons, according to sources.
It was also done to help fill out the schedule for the six OIA Open Division teams and the three ILH Open teams. The agreement also includes full interleague competition in Division I and II.
The last step for the agreement to become a reality is for principals from ILH schools to vote in favor of it. Sources say that vote will be a formality, since the ILH ADs unanimously voted for it.
The idea for the deal came from the OIA’s league office and was passed on to the ILH.
The OIA and ILH will continue to be separate as far as league standings and championships are concerned. Interleague games will not count in a team’s league record, but will count in a team’s overall record.
The state tournament formats will remain the same. For instance, the Open Division will continue to have one ILH and three OIA representatives.
For years, fans and some coaches and ADs were clamoring for some sort of interleague setup — especially for the top programs. And they finally got what they wanted.
In the Open Division, for example, fans will be treated to games involving Saint Louis, Kahuku, Punahou, Mililani, Waianae, Kamehameha, Farrington, Kapolei and Campbell every week.
For more on the agreement and what it will look like exactly in 2018, click here for our complete coverage in Tuesday’s Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Columnist Ferd Lewis also weighed in on the new look for prep football here.
Everybody Happy????!!!!
All good???!!!
Hahaha, Now the ILH Crusaders will have to prove to the rest of them why they remain Nationally ranked, while these powerhouse teams take turns getting life lessons while attempting to steal a ‘W’. It doesn’t really matter who has the best record overall, but who holds the Koa Tiki trophies at the end of the season!
Idea came from the OIA? Ray Fujino, hope you don’t regret the decision down the road.
Oia can’t fluff up there stats now.
Good for the student athletes that the oia and ilh board members put their pride aside and merge. Interesting to see how the agreement of splitting the money between the oia and ilh schools will be. But this sure will be an intriguing season for sure
Yay, we get to eat ooh for breakfast, lunch and dinner…ad dessert.
Does that mean the OIA has open enrollment and no district exceptions, If so,let the games begin…If not ,politics as usual…
Now the fans can see competitive high school football games, but I’d rather see the top 4 ranked teams during the season get into the open tournament instead of a predetermined 3 OIA and 1 ILH format. This way the best 4 teams will play for the championship. Whether it’s all 4 OIA or 3 ILH and 1 OIA let the season wins and losses determine who gets in.
@Footballyoubet..its like a open enrollment now since there is no sitting out 1 year period for oia transferring students. Since January, Campbell has 3 new students from Kahuku and Kapolei has 5new students from Campbell . There will be more to come.
I like it but they should let a school pick what division it wants to be in every year. Why is Kapolei in? They had 1 good season the past decade . Let every school make a decision by april or at least after spring training and let it be
Open tournament shouldn’t be predetermined (3 OIA and 1ILH).
Let the 4 best teams at the end of the regular season determine who gets in.
Shouldn’t we have the best 4 teams competing for the trophy regardless if it’s 4 OIA, 3 ILH and 1 OIA or what ever the mix may be.
Let the W’s and L’s determine who’s in or not.
Does this mean that kids transferring from an OIA to an ILH school or vice versa will now have to sit out one season under the HHSAA transfer rules? There’s a lot of former Crusaders on that Mililani squad, just saying.
@Jay, True that. More transfers have/will occur. I foresee some players from D1 teams transferring into Open Division school so that they can compete on a higher level especially now that the top 3 ILH teams are in that division. Mililani has had a history of getting kids from youth programs in Pearl City, Aiea, Waipahu, and Leilehua transferring into their program. Kapolei has tapped into the Ewa, Nanakuli, and Waianae areas. Kahuku gets transfers from out-of-state, mainly Utah, but if a kid from windward area schools wanted to play in the Open division, they could move to Kahuku. With Johnson at Campbell, kids from Laie/Kahuku see an opportunity to play, when they probably would be reserves at Kahuku, so they make the move. Yes, a whole can of worms has been opened. But it would be an interesting season especially with the level of completion every week. Teams got to be prepared and ready to bang every game. One thing that could be disadvantage to some OIA teams would be the early season games. Historically, some OIA teams in the beginning of the school year don’t have a full roster because some players don’t qualify because of grades from the previous year’s 4th quarter. Does the ILH have those rules of eligibility as well? Most OIA schools start in July or early August, the ILH, begins a little later.Thus will the ILH teams still be in pre-season mode and have more practice time, for example, 2-a-days, as compared to the OIA?So, for example, is Farrington was to take on Kamehameha in the early part of the schedule, they could be at a disadvantage if some of their players are not academically eligible. I believe the OIA rule is that non-qualifying students can practice and participate in scrimmages/pre-season games but not regular season games. So will the schedules be made where the OIA and ILH teams play early on in the season or spread out?
Told ya.
I still don’t understand how Iolani gets to be in the lowest division. I feel like the reason they even made 3 divisions is because Iolani was dominating Div 2. They were stuck in the middle. Too good for Div 2, but they would catch cracks in div 1. Now that there are 3 divisions, shouldn’t they fit into that middle division perfectly? Iolani not shame that Damien (a program that they have historically dominated) is in a better division then them?
It doesn’t matter where the kids transfer to. It’s all about the coaching. We’ve seen this pass season on how some teams was stacked with talent but never made playoffs. Now the ILH gets to play top teams from OIA and get banged up from week to week. Excited for the next up coming season. Good luck to all the future athletes.
HI HS FAN,
Yes each ILH school has an eligibility rule as does the ILH league.
Renewed rivalries and new ones will be created between the OIA-ILH schools. St. Louis-Kahuku, of course. Additionally, Kamehameha-Waianae, Punahou-Kapolei. Kamehameha-Farrington, Mililani-St. Louis, and more. Scheduling wise, will they agree on some of the OIA rural schools such as Waianae, Campbell, and Kahuku hosting ILH teams on their school fields? It has been done during preseason games. But now, those games where these three schools host will definitely be sell outs/standing room only and give them home field advantage. Farrington has a new facility, but not enough stands and parking would be a challenge. Mililani and Kapolei might be able to accommodate the crowds, but it’ll still be a sell out. I think each ILH team should play at least one game at a OIA school’s home field. Of course anyone playing Punahou or St. Louis obviously needs to be at Aloha Stadium. Kamehameha could handle games at their home field.
One league wins and losses determine seeding. All OIA or ILH doesn’t matter.
Iolani D2!? What a joke! Why they always trying to hide from the big boys. Embarrassing!
So far the Top 5 Highschool Recruiting Classes are:
1.Kahuku-15
2.Milkilani-5
3.Kapolei-5
4.Campbell-3
5.Punahou-3
*St. Louis currently has 0 Recruits.
now we gon see who the best recruiters are. ILH vs OIA!!! everyone talking about Saint Lulu and Punahou, but lets not forget Mililani’s big three on offense couple year ago werent even from Mililani!! And half of Kapolei’s defense is from Kalihi! LOL!
isn’t it bball season??? lol.
Hamoanese: the answer to your question is no. All school district rules on academics requires that changing schools be done after 8th grade to a high school only. Provided proper records like grades are shown. There is no transfer rules between high schools once he or she has attended a high school and after freshmen year. Changing school districts is not allowed after the freshmen year at high school. This is for academic reasons. HSTA rules prevail. All students cannot cross over into another school district, just for the purpose of playing sports.
Just some observations. Radford and Pearl City should have swapped divisions. Radford had two losing seasons at the D1 level, while Pearl City has been consistent in the D2 level. Just like Waipahu, Pearl City should have been in the new D1. Leilehua and Kailua would have loved to be in the Open Division. However, Leilehua could be hurt by kids transferring to Mililani. Kailua’s program under coach Wong has definitely been resurrected and respected. Maybe after the next two seasons the OIA will shuffle teams up/down like they’ve been doing.
@HI HS FAN, what are you talking about? Maybe they should get good grades then. Just a thought. If you’re a moron that can’t get good grades, your focus shouldn’t be on football. If you can spell, do math, and have half a brain, you probably aren’t missing a lot of football. If you are struggling with school, you have no business playing sports. I know for damn sure ILH kids are held to a higher academic standard, you can’t say that about the OIA. Just look at how much more intelligent an ILH athlete sounds in TV interviews, compared to an OIA one. That’s truth! The world doesn’t need anymore skill-less clowns mooching off society. Read a book, all you academically challenged teenagers, because the world is gonna leave you behind.
There is no such thing as transfering to another high school district or school. You mean graduation. I received my diploma in high school at age 17, not 18th birthday yet of year. When I walked with my other 145 other senior classmates, when I was in high school. We got our diplomas that night. Graduation night. I was age 17 years old.
Nice! Regular season will be fun to watch.
Yes finally!!! Good test for all the student athletes!
The player and coaching adjustments are why we watch the games! Sprinkle in some mainland teams and we’ve got awesome weeks of football to look forward to!
We need to increase the networking for ALL schools in Hawaii and stamp the schollys for our kids! UH and Beyond!
Accordingly, HSTA rules applied when I graduated high school. Even though I played volleyball all 4 years. So I got a diploma at age 17, then I got my sports jacket. But by then I had enrolled in college for the next several years. Also…
Real Deal @ Justin Relar, You go!
@Lavar Ball where you got your information from?
@Lavar Ball, rumors that some Kahuku boys contemplating transferring out because of HC changes. Maybe some returning from the mainland that played for The community or JV teams.
One possible transfer rumor swirling around Kahuku is that one of their quarterbacks will possibly go to a mainland program. Stay tuned
You can visit my other blogs I go on. Hawaii warrior world, warrior sports network(5,000), & MLB.com under gobows808. Fun sports stuff.
Waianae, Campbell, Kapolei, Farrington and Mililani will continue get smashed by the ILH schools because they cant defend the high power offense.
If York can recruit heavily on defense like he does on offense then Mililani will have a chance.
In the end it will always be STL and Kahuku 1 & 2.
Considering Campbell not being a contender to win anything I think those Kahuku players transferred to Campbell for the chicks.
Witnessed most of the kids that attended private school, only had D2 offers and OIA kids get D1 offers. Its awesome to win a championship for your coach and school, but at the end of the day, it’s all about the kids future. It really don’t matter where the kids attend school, it’s all up to the kid on how serious they are about their future. The only thing I see is the ILH schools getting the last laugh. Free is just as good as paying, wait, free is better.
@awrite!! It’s definitely not the girls…lol..at Campbell ,I think it’s more paying time to get their names out there more for colleges
Blowouts and mismatches?
St. Louis versus any OIA team (excluding Kahuku) is and was a blowout/mismatch the past 3 years.
Keep STL away from the OIA, they steal the OIA kids and now they want to turn around and use the OIA as a punching bag to fill in their lame 3 team ILH schedule!
– Hey OIA admins, You can at least ask for the $3 Million dollars that the ILH was offering a couple years ago to merge the leagues. smh!
Well if the OIA can’t be allowed any transfers then they should have kind if restrictions on the ILH. Let’s keep our kids at home then we see who get the better team…RR4LIFE
For those of us old enough to remember, it brings back memories of the old ILH and the intense rivalries between Farrington and Kamehameha, Punahou and Roosevelt (The Paint Brush), McKinley and St. Louis (The Poi Pounder) and McKinley and Punahou. How about games between kitty-corner rivals Kaimuki and Iolani, or Damien and Farrington? These are all marquee match-ups which could attract big gates, and the extra money is always important for all the schools. Let ’em play, I say.
Waianae = The ONLY True “ROOTED NOT RECRUITED” school in the Open Division lol
OTHER THEN THAT LET THE “RECRUITING GAMES BEGIN” 😂
Hey man can everyone just stay in they Lane?!?!?!?!? All I know is that your all wrong California and Hawaii are gonna create a league with St. Louis, Mater Dei, Bosco, Kahuku, and most importantly Chino Hills!!!!!!!!!
Lets be real here everyone on here is Highschool football Players from around the state🤣.
You guys all yell for Iolani being in D2 but they got comprehensively wrecked by a lot of legitimate D2 teams this year…granted if their roster gets big again no doubt they’re gonna jump back up to D1 on their own will though.
Why not let the kids go where ever the heck they want? In the end, it is their future and they should have the freedoms to travel to where they have the most opportunities.
Its about time. Now lets see if the dominant OIA team ( and we all know who we talking about) can week in and week out play st louis , punahou, and kamehameha and walk away with a W’s. It aint happening. Wish they had years ago , cause i believe that some of the state tournaments would of ended up ILH vs ILH if they allowed the 2 ILH to go in. They almost got it right but still, need two ILH in the state tournament. I hope by letting the 3 ILH play the OIA schools in regular season will show why they need 2 ILH in it. I put money down that at the end of the regular season the top 3 will be have at least 2 ILH schools and then there will be another issue about howcome only one ILH can represent. Bottom line TOP 3 ILH are the top dogs along with the kahuku and maybe Mililani.
JOJO are you afraid that some poor public school is a threat to your BIG3 prestigious ILH schools? You do realize that the ILH is private schools that recruit and have many advantages right? Vinnie Passas is constanly scouring the islands for the next great QB and recruiting them to STL.
If the 3 ILH schools cant finish 1-2-3 in that order then they are underachieving.
The only reason this merger has happened was because the ILH did not win every single state title the past 18 years. When Kahuku showed up the ILH by beating them in the state tourneys they made excuses that Kahuku has an easy OIA regular season. I didnt hear no talk about merging when STL won 14 straight back in the 90’s.
When the ILH wins titles, everything is good in the universe. When the OIA starts to win, things need to change because no way are the STL alumni going to be beaten at their own game.
Awrite
Let me put it this way saint Louis winning 16 years in a row , yes very rediculous lol, football in Hawaii was getting boring already , I mean it had to happen sometime right , again 16 years in a row. Also when kahuku beat saint Louis , saint Louis put kahuku on the map, so thank saint Louis for that . In the mainland it’s the same thing private schools recruit, that’s the nature of it so get over it. Another thing is kahuku is big young grown men and all they do is run over the smaller schools with no strategy , that’s y when they play ILH different story , smartness beats the the big and strong. Kahuku should be winning states every year with the size that they have but that pop warner offense only getting by weak schools . All they do is run all the little guys over. Shame state champion representive the other year only ran full house run left run right , mainland people was laughing .