During the summer, the BIIF announced that its Division II football schedule would not include a championship game, something that had been "if necessary" for the past few years. If that doesn't make sense to you, let me explain it a little bit more. In years past, Division II's league schedule would be broken up into first half and second half formats. The league would award first half champions and second half champions, and if the champions were different, then a league championship game would be played before the state tournament.

This year, the option of a league championship has been erased. If the first half champion and second half champion are different, then a TIEBREAKER would determine the overall league winner, with the first tiebreaker being the team's overall record. After the first-half championship was decided by a three-team tiebreaker, in which head-to-head results between HPA, Konawaena, and Kamehameha-Hawaii were a wash, point differential between the three teams determined the Warriors were the first half champions.

The system needs work, and it leads our list of storylines for this week:

Eliminate halving seasons, and treat league play like one campaign.

Two years ago, Kamehameha-Hawaii was in a bind when playing its final game of the regular season. They were taking on a very tough Konawaena team at home, and needed a win by a certain amount of points to force a Division II championship game. The Warriors held the lead late in the game, and had the ball with less than two minutes to go. A touchdown scored would've sent them to a championship game, but then-coach Brian Kelson decided to punt the football on 4th down close to the middle of the field.

Kamehameha-Hawaii won the game, but because they didn't win by a certain amount of points, they failed to play for a championship. It caused a lot of uproar among local football fans, and Kelson, for reasons unknown, never returned to coach a second season at the private school.

When I first raised the issue to the league several years ago, they told me that one of the reasons that they liked the format was that teams that struggled in the first half of the year wouldn't have a reason to be discouraged from playing because something is on the line in the back end of the year. Of course, you want to get students active in playing sports, but you don't want that to factor into who wins a league title.

With no championship game being played this year and an overall tiebreaker determined by overall record, the issue of continued student participation is not a factor. But, I've never understood why a season can't be treated like it is one year.

Let's forget tiebreaking procedures, calculators, and potential scenarios. If you treat the season like it is ONE season, and you win more games than anyone else in your league, shouldn't that simplify the process of determining a champion? They do it in Division I, and they end the year in a four team tournament because only four teams participate in that division. It shouldn't be that hard, but the league makes it that way. It would only be ironic if the second half tiebreaker goes to a tiebreaker, and then we need another one to determine the overall champion. It is all extremely unnecessary.


The Kea'au football program is gaining respect across the league.

On Friday night, the Kea'au Cougars erased a fifteen point deficit to defeat Waiakea 29-28, after Johnny Vance converted a two-point conversion following Jesse Huihui's thirteen yard touchdown run. Huihui was playing with nagging injuries, as were others. The offensive line lost two starters to injury the week of the game. The program was facing the potential of starting the Division I semi-finals on the road.

In past years, this program would spiral downwards, with its players losing focus and confidence. Under second year Head Coach Michael Nonies, that has changed, as his team has shown that despite facing deficits and being overmatched, his team will still hold their heads high and play hard.

I spoke with Kealakehe interim head coach Sam Kekuaokalani on Saturday before his team's 58-0 win over Hilo, and he told me how impressed he was with Kea'au. Even though his team beat the Cougars 36-0 the week earlier, he praised the fundamentals of his opponents and said that if they can continue to piece things together, their talents will take them to great places. Kekuaokalani, a bishop, father of five (and soon to be six), teacher, and basketball coach, praised Nonies for the effort he has put into keeping Kea'au competitive.

The Waveriders coach would know, as he was an assistant on last year's Kealakehe team that had to scratch and claw to put up enough points to beat a defensively tough Kea'au football team, a surprise to many who thought Kealakehe would be able to put them away handily. And defense is another strong suit this year.


Game of the Week: HPA vs. Konawaena (7:00 pm, ESPNHawaii.com)

As we chronicled last month, Konawaena trailed 21-0 at halftime of their road contest against Ka Makani last month. Their come-from-behind 28-21 win over HPA was the result that put Cliff Walters' team back on the map in division II. Konawaena is coming off of a dominating win against Honoka'a on Saturday, and seem to have recovered from the shutout loss handed to them weeks back against Kamehameha-Hawaii.

Hawaii Prep is coming off of an important home win against Kamehameha-Hawaii on Saturday. Winning 27-24, Ka Makani put themselves in a three-way tie with Konawaena and Kamehameha-Hawaii for the first round title in division II, claimed by the Warriors in a tiebreaker. The key for HPA will be whether they can establish their running game, which finished in negative numbers against Konawaena in their first meeting. Kawohi Schutte ran for 180 yards against Kamehameha-Hawaii last week in their win.