With preseason action less than a month away, anticipation is building for the Big Island Interscholastic football season, including the debut of the league’s eight-man division. ADVERTISING With preseason action less than a month away, anticipation is building for the
With preseason action less than a month away, anticipation is building for the Big Island Interscholastic football season, including the debut of the league’s eight-man division.
BIIF officials have confirmed that three schools — Kohala, Pahoa and Ka‘u — will field eight-man football teams for the 2014 season, making it an official league sport.
“We have schools on this island that can really benefit from it,” said BIIF executive director Lyle Crozier.
The eight-man schools will play each other twice during the regular season, with scattered games against some of the island’s junior varsity squads and Maui Interscholastic League opponents. The MIL is the only other league in the state that has eight-man football.
The rest of the BIIF landscape remains the same, with Keaau, Kealakehe, Hilo and Waiakea playing in Division I, and Honokaa, Hawaii Preparatory Academy, Kamehameha-Hawaii, and Konawaena battling in Division II. All teams will play each other once, regardless of division.
The weekend of Sept. 19-20 will feature rematches of the 2013 BIIF title games.
On Sept 19, HPA will travel to face Konawaena. The Wildcats have won the last three Division II BIIF championships and Ka Makani are looking to avenge a 27-19 loss in last season’s championship game.
The following day, Kealakehe will host reigning Division I BIIF champion Hilo. The Waveriders, led by the new regime of head coach Sam Kekuaoklani and athletic director Alan Vogt, are looking to rebound from the program’s first losing season in over a decade.
Both division championship games are slated weekend of Oct. 24-25, with the Hawaii State Athletic Association games starting Nov. 7. League officials are still working out the details for the eight-man league championship.
Crozier noted that the current schedule is subject to change, and schools have 14 days after the start date to drop a program without penalty from the league.
Eight-man pioneers
A year ago, Ka‘u athletic director Kalei Namohala and head coach DuWayne Ke took stock of their football program.
The Trojans had historically struggled to compete with the bigger schools on the island, and with only 18 kids consistently coming out to practice, Namohala decided to inform league officials that Ka‘u would not field a football team.
“When I had to give our kids the bad news about not having an 11-man team, they, and the coaches, were crushed,” Namohala said.
However, out of that initial disappointment, a groundbreaking opportunity formed.
Last season, Ka‘u became the first school on the island to field a full-time eight-man squad. The Trojans played six games, two against MIL opponents Seabury Hall and Molokai, and home and home series with the Kealakehe and Kamehameha JV teams.
“The selling point for our kids was, one, you still get to play football, contact to contact. Some of them thought it was flag football”, said Namohala. “Two, you’re the first — pioneers of the sport. You’re making history by being the first BIIF school to have an eight-man football team.”
Namohala said playing Seabury Hall early in the year — which had competed in eight-man football in 2012 —was the luckiest draw for Ka‘u, and helped start the program out on the right foot.
“That Seabury Hall game sold our coaches. They were so excited how well our kids did,” Namohala said. “They saw that it was a faster game, that they couldn’t hide anyone and that it gauged how much our kids had learned and how much more they needed to learn.
“I believe it gave them confidence seeing that they could compete in eight-man. Seabury Hall players had told them after the game that they’ve never been hit so hard before, so that boosted their egos. Scoring in 11-man was always challenging for us, but we were able to put numbers up on the board in eight-man. That helps moral and keeps the kids engaged.”
The Spartans won that game 31-20, but the Trojans get a shot at redemption this season when they travel to Maui to face Seabury Hall Sept. 5.
Looking ahead
This year Pahoa and Kohala will also field eight-man teams.
It will be the first time in nearly a dozen years Pahoa will see action on the gridiron. For Kohala, it brings the sport back to a passionate community that embraces their high school teams and athletes with fierce loyalty.
While eight-man football has carved out its niche on the Big Island, and looks to have a bright future, Namohala said she thinks it may take some time for the rest of the state to catch on. Until a third league commits to an eight-man league, the sport will not have an official state championship.
“I don’t see an official eight-man state championship in the near future until the OIA (Oahu Interscholastic Association) or ILH (Interscholastic League of Honolulu) comes in. It’s a hard sell because most of the schools are so into the traditional, 11-man football,” said Namohala. “The ILH voted down the idea of creating an eight-man league last year because only a couple of schools showed interested, so it was not enough to form a league. They will look into it maybe in a couple of years again, hopefully.”
Namohala said she has spoken with the MIL coordinator to create a champion vs. champion postseason matchup, but the idea is still in its infancy and will need to be revisited.
“I’m glad that we got to do eight-man last year,” said Namohala.”I’m so proud of our kids, coaches and community that embraced it. I believe in helping our students succeed in life through whatever positive means available and within our limitations.”
