HHSAA approves new football state tournament format

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Change is coming. And Fast.

The Hawaii High School Athletic Association board has approved a one-year pilot for a three-tier state football championship, which will go into effect this season.

The changes consist, most notably, of the addition of an Open Division, which will consist of six teams. Also, the Division I tournament will expand to eight teams, while the D2 tournament will remain a six-team bracket.

The Open Division will be made up of the four semifinalists from the Oahu Interscholastic Association and two D1 teams from the trio of Punahou, Kamehameha and Saint Louis from the Interscholastic League of Honolulu.

The D1 field will be made up of four OIA teams, Iolani from the ILH, two teams from the Big Island Interscholastic Federation and one from the Maui Interscholastic League. Iolani is assured the ILH's lone D1 berth because Punahou, Kamehameha and Saint Louis all declared only for the Open division.

The D2 tournament representation has not been affected, with two OIA teams and one team each from the BIIF, MIL, ILH and Kauai Interscholastic Federation.

A press release from the HHSAA late Monday afternoon said that the decision came after several months of talks between the state's leagues and that teams had been preparing for the possibility of this outcome to materialize as early as this season.

The three-week state tournament kicks off Friday, Nov. 4 with the first round. The championship games for D1 and D2 will be played as a doubleheader on Friday, Nov. 18, with the Open Division title to be determined on Saturday, Nov. 19.