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AFM Magazine


Hawaii: One State, One Class

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Hawaii high school football is not without its warts. The biggest is its lack of classifications.

Because the state’s best teams are among the nation’s best, no classification leads to lots of lopsided scores. Two years ago, St. Louis beat Damien 84-0, and Damien president Greg O’Donnell said the Monarchs would forfeit rather than play the Crusaders the next season. A compromise was worked out where Damien would play St. Louis only once each season rather than twice. But the question remains. Why is Hawaii the only statewhere there is no high school football classification?

Hawaii High School Athletic Association executive director Keith Amemiya has tried unsuccessfully to create a two-tiered state tournament so that smaller schools and schools with less football tradition would have a chance for a championship.

Also, it was hoped that the St. Louis-Damien situation would create a dialogue to explore classification.

It never really happened, and most observers believe the reason is a 32-year rift between Oahu’s public and private schools. Their differences stem from the Honolulu public schools breaking away from the private schools to form a league with the rural public schools (at issue was an age-old problem that still exists – recruiting). Since 1970, an air of distrust has existed between the private and public schools over football, making any attempt at interleague classification difficult at best.

So, schools like Damien play against St. Louis in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu, instead of say, Waialua, a small school in the Oahu Interscholastic Association that gets pounded by Kahuku on a regular basis. The OIA had Red, White and Blue divisions for several years, with schools moving up or down in classification depending on their success the previous season. But the system had its kinks and was eventually scrapped.

“I don’t see why we don’t have it,” former St. Louis coach Cal Lee said of classification. “Whoever has the power should work on classification. It makes sense. The self-esteem of all players is the most important thing.” As for the underdog teams, they will always try. Only later will they realize it was futile.

“We always thought we could pull off the impossible, only to find it was impossible,” former Damien tight end Ben Henry said of taking on St. Louis.





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