Hilo players wrap up a Waipahu ball carrier in the championship game of the 2018 HHSAA Division I tournament. Two proposals submitted by the Oahu Interscholastic Association that would potentially alter the size of both the Division I and II tournament fields cleared several hurdles and one or the other is set to be implemented for the 2019 season. Michael Lasquero | ScoringLive

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LIHUE, Kauai — There will be changes forthcoming to the state football tournament this fall.

On the final day of the 59th annual Hawaii Interscholastic Athletic Directors Association conference at the Kauai Marriott Resort at Kalapaki Beach Thursday, two proposals submitted by the Oahu Interscholastic Association that would potentially alter the size of both the Division I and II tournament fields cleared several hurdles and one or the other is set to be implemented for the 2019 season.

The situation, however, remains a fluid one with numerous moving parts. One proposal is contingent upon the Kauai Interscholastic Federation declaring for D2, which would increase the size of the D1 tournament from four to five teams. The other proposal is based upon the KIF declaring for D1, which would decrease the D2 tournament from six to five teams (as of Thursday night, the KIF had not yet declared its intentions, but Kapaa AD Greg Gonsalves told ScoringLive Wednesday night that the league is tentatively planning to enter the D2 field).

At Thursday morning's HIADA general assembly, both proposals were supported by both Oahu leagues — the OIA and the Interscholastic League of Honolulu — and passed by a vote count of 51-40. ADs from the three neighbor island leagues — the KIF, Big Island Interscholastic Federation and the Maui Interscholastic League — voted in opposition of the measure.

Later that evening, at the Hawaii High School Athletic Association executive board meeting — also held on the grounds of the 800-acre beachfront resort — both HIADA recommendations were passed by the board, which is made up of the five league presidents and utilizes a weighted vote

The first proposal, with the KIF declaring for D2, passed, with all leagues but the BIIF voting in favor of it. The proposal with the KIF declaring for D1 was amended from the original wording. The amendment essentially states that for both the D1 and D2 tournaments, there will be one more berth than the number of leagues participating. That is, if all five leagues declare for D1, for example, then it would be a six-team tournament. If four leagues were to declare for a division, then a five-team tournament would take place and a scenario where only three leagues declare for a division would result in a four-team tournament.

The HHSAA's regular representation formula would be used to determine league berths based upon participating teams in each league versus the total number of teams in the state that compete in that sport, would be used for all three divisions.

"I think the (OIA) membership just wanted — based on the formula — just wanted two teams represented in both (D1 and D2) divisions and that's what these proposals did and it was passed, so yeah, I guess it's a win for us," OIA executive  Raymond Fujino said after the executive board meeting.

In an example cited by the OIA in its proposal, it would gain the fifth berth by virtue of having the most teams of the five leagues. However, should another league alter its declarations and end up with more teams than the OIA in a specific division, it would gain the extra spot in the tournament.

"That was stressed in the proposal and it's by the formula, so yeah, if they have more teams than us, we're OK with another league getting that extra team in," Fujino said.

If two leagues have the same number of teams declaring for a division, there would be a play-in game for the fifth and final state berth.

Kau AD and BIIF football coordinator Kalei Namohala took issue with the proposal following the HIADA general assembly vote. She cited that the BIIF will now have three more teams playing 11-man football in Pahoa, Kau and Kohala, which competed in 8-man football until last fall.

"It only favors one league the way it was kind of written up, but I think when they put the proposal in, they put it as the results from this year so it only would have benefitted one league not all leagues, so we like proposals that benefit all leagues, not just one league," Namohala said.

"The OIA did clarify — but it's not written — that because we no longer have eight-man football, so the three schools are in 11-man and if that can re-adjust the system or the formula then maybe we might get the fifth seed, but we still don't know because it's not written that way, so I don't know. We just weren't for it because it didn't benefit all leagues," Namohala added. "We'll see with the formula how it affects the new numbers because our eight-man (teams) went to 11-man, so we'll see how it adjusts, I mean, that's all we can do."

Radford AD Kelly Sur, who previously coached football at the school before going into athletic administration, admitted that the wording needed to be cleared up, but that the bottom line is that the proposal uses the HHSAA formula.

"If you look at league representation, everything is based on formula, so if you look at league representation we get the most teams, so basically, I mean, if we're going by league representation the formula fits what we're asking for," Sur said.

To further complicate the matter, the ILH's plans for D2 remain unknown. The closure of Saint Francis School last month leaves PAC-5 as the only other team that competed in D2 in the private-school league last year. However, a league must have more than one team in a division to be able to qualify for the state tournament. With Saint Louis, Punahou and Kamehameha locked into the Open Division, that leaves just three teams — PAC-5, Iolani and Damien — between both lower tiers.

While a total of 23 committee recommendations gained HIADA approval, one did not and another was withdrawn.

The lone defeated proposal reached the general assembly floor via a  minority report from the Maui Interscholastic League. It sought to include the MIL into a four-year rotation to host the boys and girls D1 state soccer tournaments. Consequently, the league agreed to forego their hosting opportunities for the first-round regional games for both tournaments every year.

However, the measure was opposed by the OIA, BIIF and some ILH ADs, while the MIL and KIF voted in support of it. Ultimately, it did not pass by a vote of 29-59 with three abstentions.

King Kekaulike AD PK Higa, who has championed the effort on behalf of the MIL to bring both soccer tournaments to the Valley Isle, remained optimistic that progress is being made.

"I think the intent that we had was a little bit different than the previous years because in previous years we were looking to bring a rotation, (but) this was a little bit more intended to start a conversation about looking at changing the entire format, going back to the four-day tournament rather than a split regional, so in that sense, yeah, I think we accomplished it," Higa said. "The (voting) numbers didn't really reflect what we wanted, but I think when the leagues go back, hopefully they'll consider it and start that dialogue. I just hope that we can just look at why we're doing it and again just look at who our constituents are, which is the kids, our student-athletes."

The withdrawn item, which pertained to league representation for the state golf tournament, also reached the floor via minority report, this one from the BIIF. At debate was how each league determines its number of participating teams, which affects the number of state tournament berths it will garner.

"It's just a question on how schools declare that they're in their league," said HPA AD Steve Perry, who also serves as the HHSAA's state golf coordinator. "In the Big Island we say a golfer must actually compete in at least one match to say that the school has a team, so if HPA has a golfer, she or he has to play in at least one match to count in the state numbers. It sounds like other leagues don't do it that way. They just say if they have a kid on the roster, even though they don't compete in any league matches and so that school then counts in their quota, so we've been not counting the same way."

During the discussion on the general assembly floor Thursday, HHSAA executive director Chris Chun suggested that the HHSAA executive board be tasked with clarifying the matter for all individual sports, not just golf. Consequently, the BIIF withdrew the minority report and agreed to defer the issue to the executive board.

"All we want to do is have the board take it up to be consistent, whether it be they have to compete or they've just got to be on a roster, that's all," Perry said.

There were 22 other HIADA recommendations that gained approval from the executive board. Among the notable ones were:

 • To allow the use of instant replay to be developed by the football committee and officials coordinator for the 2019 state football tournament (only for televised games at Aloha Stadium).
 • To display the official time on the scoreboard down to the end of all periods of play for all state soccer tournament games at the Waipio Peninsula Soccer Complex main stadium.
 • To exclude the counting of any illegal pitches (including balks) and intentional walks from the pitch count rules for the baseball state tournaments.
 • To eliminate the use of qualifying standards and instead accept the top 24 athletes in each event, along with four alternates, for the state track and field championship meet.
 • To allow for the qualification of the state wrestling tournament with a two-pound growth allowance.
 • To exempt the D1 state football tournament from the normal HHSAA team tournament seeding procedures and allow for any first-place team from a participating league to be seeded.