Tiebreakers may factor into playoffs

By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writer

O'ahu Interscholastic Association football closes its regular season this weekend with seven teams contending for the remaining five postseason berths in two tournaments.

Two points to consider in determining some of the berths:

• The OIA's tiebreaking procedures are in this order: Head-to-head, eliminate ties, records against common opponents, coin toss.

• If a game is tied after regulation play, it goes into the record book as a tie. National Federation rules say only postseason games use overtime to break ties, OIA football coordinator Richard Townsend said.

The winner of Saturday's Kaiser-Kalaheo game at Kailua earns the fourth and final White Conference berth. (Kapolei, 'Aiea and Radford have clinched the other three berths.) If the Kaiser-Kalaheo game ends in a tie, the next tiebreaker is common opponents. Since both played the same schedule, their records would still be identical. A coin toss would determine who advances.

Townsend said coin tosses, if necessary, would likely take place Sunday.

Over in the West, if Pearl City, Nanakuli, Leilehua and Wai'anae all finish at 4-3, the head-to-head tiebreaker among the four are: Pearl City and Wai'anae would be 2-1 and would get the second and third berths, respectively. Nanakuli and Leilehua would be 1-2. Revert back to the top of the tiebreaker list, Nanakuli wins with a victory against Leilehua. Pearl City has won all possible tiebreakers, thus has clinched a playoff berth.

If Nanakuli, Leilehua and Wai'anae finish with 4-3 records, the head-to-head tiebreaker has each team beating one, but not the other, so all would be 1-1. The next tiebreaker is records against common opponents. In this case, Leilehua and Wai'anae would both be 3-1 and earn the third and fourth berths, respectively, while Nanakuli would be 2-2 and would miss making the playoffs.

• Changes: Friday's game between Farrington and Kaimuki will be played at Roosevelt, instead of at Kaiser. Also, the Waialua-Kalani game at Kaiser has been moved to Friday from Saturday.

Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at skaneshiro@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8042.