Editorial
Damien, ILH are on the right track

It's been 18 years since Damien High School beat St. Louis School in a football game, and Brother Greg O'Donnell, Damien president, has had the wisdom to see that it may be at least that long before it happens again.

He's done the math: St. Louis has outscored Damien 415-7 in their past six meetings, including 84-0 last year.

More important, he sees the clear danger. "Ferocity in football is great," he said, "but when there's a physical mismatch, it's too risky." He's right to stick to his guns on his decision to forfeit this year's games with St. Louis — whether it's one game or two.

He deserves the solid support of this community and the parents and students of his own school. The minority who are vocal in opposing his decision will come to appreciate his wisdom.

A more constructive reaction to O'Donnell's decision to forfeit the St. Louis games is that of the Interscholastic League of Honolulu, which now has adopted for the first time a classification system in an attempt to bring a modicum of parity to its football schedule.

The change would have the small schools — Iolani, Damien and Pac-Five — playing the big ones — St. Louis, Kamehameha and Punahou — once instead of twice each season. It's a step in the right direction, but ultimately it falls short.

Six teams are simply not enough to field a workable tiered system. The obvious solution, once unreasonable pride is put aside, is to mix and match private and public schools. Let Damien try its luck with Waialua and Kalani, while St. Louis dukes it out with Kahuku and Wai'anae.

Now, that would be real sport.