Three-tier, four-team format in place for state football


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A three-tier format will remain in use for the state football tournament.

In a press release Friday afternoon the Hawaii High School Athletic Association announced that the HHSAA football committee finalized plans for a revised look to the 2017 state tournament.

The format will have three tiers (Division I-Open, Division I and Division II) and feature four teams in each field. The representatives in each tournament will be determined by the league representation formula, which is based on the number of teams declared in a division.

The Division I-Open tournament will be comprised of the top three teams from the Oahu Interscholastic Association and the Interscholastic League of Honolulu champion.

The Division I tournament includes the league champions from the Big Island Interscholastic Federation, the Maui Interscholastic League, the Kauai Interscholastic Federation and another team from the ILH.

Lastly, the Division II tournament will feature one team each from the OIA, ILH, BIIF and MIL.

"I am pleased that the leagues through the football committee came together to create this format, which maintains three divisions and competitive balance in our football state tournaments," HHSAA executive director Chris Chun said in the press release. "I would like to thank the league executive directors and football coordinators forsaking this happen. I believe that this new format improves on what what already a successful pilot last year."

The 2016 state tournament was approved by the HHSAA executive board on a one-year pilot basis and consisted of a six-team Open Division, an eight-team D1 bracket and a six-team D2 bracket.

Semifinals for the D2 and D1 tournaments will be held on Friday, Nov. 3 and Saturday, Nov. 4, respectively, at sites to be determined. The D1-Open semifinals will take place on Friday, Nov. 10 at Aloha Stadium. The championship games will be played as a triple header on Saturday, Nov. 18 at Aloha Stadium.