Posted on: Saturday, June 14, 2003

Athletic directors approve 2nd state football tourney

By Wes Nakama
Advertiser Staff Writer

KA'ANAPALI, Maui — A second high school football state tournament that creates a classification system moved a giant step closer to reality yesterday morning.

A recommendation for the tournament won a general assembly vote, 41-23 with one abstention, at the Hawai'i Interscholastic Athletic Directors Association conference yesterday at the Sheraton Maui. The athletic directors' recommendation goes to the Hawai'i High School Athletic Association's executive board — made up of presidents from the state's five leagues — for a final vote on June 25. If the HHSAA board passes it, plans can move forward to hold the tournament in November.

Since 1999, the HHSAA has run a single state football tournament.

HHSAA executive director Keith Amemiya said the board usually approves most recommendations coming out of the athletic directors' conference. The proposal's large margin of victory yesterday also makes it more likely to pass a board vote.

"Football classification has been discussed for three years running, and now it's been approved by the athletic directors," said Amemiya, who submitted the recommendation to the athletic directors. "I'm still cautious, and I'll believe it when I see it. But I can't think of any good reason why it won't pass (the board vote). That's why I'm optimistic it will be approved by the principals."

O'ahu Interscholastic Association executive secretary Dwight Toyama, whose league basically provided the proposal's only opposition, said he wouldn't want to predict the final outcome just yet.

"I don't know how the board is going to vote," Toyama said. "We're not necessary opposed to Division II, and Keith said it's going to be successful, but I'm still not convinced and there's still a lot of questions — that's why we recommended a study. It's going to be an interesting meeting."

Amemiya addressed financial concerns about the tournament with a stipulation in the proposal that he and his wife, Bonny, would personally cover any monetary losses it incurs.

OIA athletic directors raised other concerns related to gender equity, criteria for classifying teams, league representation and distribution of funds, but Amemiya maintained the tournament's specifics could be worked out later and what was important was approving the concept of a Division II tournament.

Statewide classification for football is in place everywhere else in the nation. Under its current format, Hawai'i's is the only state tournament that does not take into account school enrollment or strength of a school's football program.

"This is a big breakthrough for smaller schools throughout the state," Amemiya said. "Now they will have a realistic opportunity to compete for a state championship. Hawai'i now has enough schools (45 for football) to warrant classification, and when every other state is doing it, it must have some merit."

Amemiya acknowledged many questions remain about the tournament's specifics — including what teams will be in what division — but said he has confidence the details can be worked out. He noted the OIA already has a form of classification, with its power-based Red and White conferences.

"Maybe I'm naive, but I don't think it'll be too complicated," Amemiya said. "The best way to find out all the answers is to try it for one season. I give credit to the schools who voted in support of this despite political pressure to maintain the status quo. But today's vote is a strong statement about how firmly people believe in the concept. The positives far outweigh the drawbacks, and I think that's the reason it passed."