Long shots begin quest for elusive OIA title


The "dream round" of the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I football tournament opens Friday with three games and Saturday with one.

It's the "dream round" because since the advent of the 12-team format in 2011, no third through sixth seed has advanced to the semifinals.

In fact, it has been pretty much the top seeds advancing to the title game. Only once a second seed (Kahuku in 2011) has made the title game. The rest were battles of the top seeds.

In opening-round games, the sixth seed has won once (Aiea 13, Kailua 12 in 2011). The fifth seed has won twice (see list below). 

The only time a semifinal featured teams from the same division was last year, when Blue 1 Mililani played Blue 3 Campbell, the only non-bye team to reach the semifinals.

Who will break the trend?

Friday

Castle (Red 5) at Kapolei (Blue 4)

Series tied at 1; only meetings were in postseason. Kapolei won last year's first round, 34-0. 

Moanalua (Blue 5) at Leilehua (Red 4)

Leilehua leads series 24-0. Last three meetings (2011 to 2013) were in the OIA tournament.

Waipahu (Red 6) at Kailua (Blue 3)

Waipahu leads series 16-10-4. Teams haven't met since 2000. They were scheduled to play in preseason last year, but the game was canceled because of weather system Isele.

Saturday

Campbell (Blue 6) at Kaiser (Red 3)

Campbell leads series 6-4.

Looking at the seeds in first-round play

Three seeds 

1-1 in 2011.

2-0 in 2012

2-0 in 2013

2-0 in 2014

Four seeds

2-0 in 2011

1-1 in 2012

1-1 in 2013

2-0 in 2014

Five seeds

0-2 in 2011

1-1 in 2012 (Campbell 35, McKinley 0)

1-1 in 2013 (Leilehua 54, Moanalua 17)

0-2 in 2014

Six seeds

1-1 in 2011 (Aiea 13, Kailua 12)

0-2 in 2012

0-2 in 2013

0-2 in 2014

Championships

2011 East 2 Kahuku 23, East 1 Farrington 0

2012 East 1 Kahuku 50, West 1 Mililani 13

2013 West 1 Mililani 37, East 1 Farrington 6

2014 Blue 1 Mililani 20, Red 1 Kahuku 7

Semifinals

2011 East 1 Farrington 27, West 2 Campbell 24

2011 East 2 Kahuku 9, West 1 Leilehua 7

2012 East 1 Kahuku 14, West 2 Leilehua 7

2012 West 1 Mililani 42, East 2 Farrington 21

2013 East 1 Farrington 7, West 2 Campbell 0

2013 West 1 Mililani 37, East 2 Kahuku 22

2014 Red 1 Kahuku 21, Blue 2 Farrington 14

2014 Blue 1 Mililani 47, Blue 3 Campbell 15



Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at [email protected].