A non-league varsity football game between Oahu Interscholastic Association schools McKinley and Roosevelt will not be played as originally scheduled for Saturday, Rough Riders’ athletic director John Chung confirmed by phone Monday.

Chung said Roosevelt, which is coming off a 1-7 season in 2012, was forced to forfeit due to a low turnout of players and numerous injuries.

The game, which was to be played at the Rough Riders’ Ticky Vasconcellos Stadium, was the season-opener for both teams. Instead, Roosevelt hopes to make its 2013 debut against Kalaheo, while McKinley opens with a road game at Kapolei. Both games are scheduled for Aug. 16.

Academic probation could hurt some OIA teams

With the public schools starting about a week later than usual this year, the trickle-down will effect prep football games this week and next.

OIA league rules state that student-athletes must be two weeks into any quarter in order to perform grade checks and with most public schools just underway this week, coaches and administrators will have to determine eligibility for the first two weeks of this season based upon fourth-quarter report cards from last school year.

Some coaches have said they expect to be hit harder than others in terms of ineligible players, but that should provide opportunities to develop depth for most of those teams. However, for many smaller teams, losing a few players – especially linemen – could mean more forfeits early this season.

Revised BIIF schedule forthcoming

Athletic directors from the Big Island Interscholastic Federation will meet Wednesday to finalize the league football schedule following the recent announcements by Kohala and Kau that neither would be able to field varsity teams this year.

An earlier schedule sent out by league football coordinator and Kau athletic director Kalei Namohala had each of the 10 teams playing once against every other team, but with just eight teams remaining – four D1 and four D2 – the league was forced to redo the schedule just a week before most teams open the season.

Two proposals were put forth before the AD’s to decide from. The first proposal would be similar in format to the original schedule, in that all teams play each other once in the regular season, but that would be followed by a two-week playoff in each division to determine the respective champions. The top-seeded team would play the fourth seed while the second and third seeds meet in the semifinal round. The winners would advance to the title game the following week.

The other proposal would have each team play its in-division opponents twice and out-of-division opponents once for a 10-week regular season with no playoff.

Also, an announcement regarding the proposal to allow students from Kohala to play football for Honokaa this season is expected from BIIF president Shawn Suzuki Wednesday. Principals from both schools wrote letters of support to Suzuki, who is the principal at Konawaena, after the Cowboys’ announced they were dropping football nearly two weeks ago.