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|  Konwaena Wins DI State Title
By Josh Pacheco
02/28/2008 On Thursday night when I got the results from the Girls Division I
Semifinal Games with Punahou and Konawaena, I had an idea that we were
going to be in for something special. Both teams fought through adversity
just to get to the championship, beating tough foes in Lahinaluna and
Farrington, respectively. Little did I know that the "something special"
would turn into, arguably, the greatest State Title game in memory.
The defending champs fought tooth and nail with the Wildcats from
Kealakekua through the opening quarter, as the Buffanblu had an early 9-8
lead in the first eight minutes. Konawaena started to make their move in
the second quarter, paced by Lia Galderia's three field goals and seven
points from Kimberly Brown off the bench. Those two were the only Wildcats
to score, and they outdid the Buffanblu 13-9 in the 2nd quarter to take a
halftime advantage.
Brown and Galdeira continued their solid play in the 3rd quarter,
combining for 11 of the teams 17 3rd period points to bulge their lead to
9. We also started to see Janelle Nomura try to take the team on her
shoulders. She only got 4 points of her 20 in that period, but she started
to wildly drive to the bucket, leading to three offensive fouls, two of
them in the 3rd.
A nine point lead at the 3rd-4th quarter bridge would increase to eleven
before Konawaena would begin to crumble. Nomura put 7 points on the board
for Punahou in the 4th quarter, while Konawaena could only manage one
field goal, which came from Lia Galdeira. Nomura tied the game with mere
seconds remaining, and Galdeira missed an open three at the buzzer to send
it to overtime tied at 44.
The 1st Overtime was fairly uneventful, with both teams having
opportunities at the free throw line, but only able to hit one from the
charity stripe, to send things to a 2nd Overtime tied at 45.
The 2nd Overtime was where Galdeira started to shine. She put in all of
the Wildcats three extra session field goals (10/16 FG's on the night) to
pull Konawaena ahead for good. Coach Bobby Awa was able to clear the bench
with a few seconds remaining to allow her entire team the chance to get on
the floor to play in the Championship game. Konawaena wins their 3rd State
Title with a 54-50 win over Punahou.
The amazing thing is that with an announced 1,687 in attendance at the
NBC, most of the fans were rooting for the Neighbor Island Wildcats. When
the TV timeouts would take place, the Kona-favored crowd would sing loudly
"Let's Go Kona! Kona, Let's Go!" And when the Punahou cheerleaders would
run onto the floor to do their routines, they would get hearty boo's from
the Wildcat faithful. I've never seen that kind of lopsided crowd in favor
of a team that was truly, in all senses of the word, a visitor.
NOTES: The entire Vulcan Girls Basketball team had made their way to the
Blaisdell from McCabe gym after their loss to Hawaii Pacific University.
Senior Forward Jessica Hanato stayed back well after the game was over,
wearing a Konawaena basketball t-shirt and celebrating with the rest of
the Konawaena crowd at least a good 25 minutes plus after the finish. Also
in attendance was Oahu Radio personality Billy V, who is a Konawaena grad.
He was wearing a Green and White Konawaena Polo Shirt with black Konawaena
shorts.
Josh Pacheco
Program Director, Play-by-Play, and Radio Host
ESPN Radio KHLO / KKON
The Josh Pacheco Show, M-F 10 am - Noon
SportsLine: 935-8585
Fax: 935-0396
Office: 961-0651
espnhawaii.com | |
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| Time To Be Proud
By Josh Pacheco
08/18/2008
Hi again, everyone. The Big Island’s laziest, yet most overworked twenty-one year old is back with another installment of the Corner. Believe it or not, I’ve been suffering from an unhealthy case of Writers Block. No, not because I didn’t have anything to write, but because the Olympics and Major League Baseball blocked me from writing anything productive. First off, a shout out is in order to BIIF Executive Director Ken Yamase. Ken called me in one of my past articles on what I would like to see changed in BIIF Athletics. I made a point on BIIF Football, and how I didn’t like the system that is currently in place. A few weeks later, Ken and I talked about that very thing and let me know why it is done in the way it is. That leads me to a point that I made on the air not too long after that. Often times, people like me (who are paid to make opinions and start debate), along with fans and parents, are quick to point figures at the closest person in charge when we see something we don’t like. Is it fair? No. When people go to an event that they didn’t like, which was promoted by a certain radio station, who do they complain and blame? The event promoter who paid money to advertise on that station? No. They blame the station. Not fair, but people don’t really know where else to look. In Ken’s case, I think he is in a tough position because he has very little wiggle room to work with in scheduling. First, he has to go by the state’s tournament schedules. Based on that, he has to work out the timing and length of the season. So, in the case of football, there is no time to hold a REAL playoff system, so this is his best logical option. With the little room Ken has to work with, he does one heck of a job in keeping BIIF Athletics going. We should be proud. Sticking with the theme of being proud of what we have here in our sports landscape, we had two class representations of sportsmanship and athletic ability in the mainland. Ladies first, so we head to the RBI Girls Softball Team who went to the RBI World Series in Compton, California. They didn’t have the fanfare of a big time tournament, or the television coverage that the Little League World Series is getting, but they had a great showing leading up to their loss in the championship game. Coach James Hirayama assembled an all-star class of softball players who represented our island well. And, chances are good that they could make this run again, as only three of the members of the team lost their eligibility to play in this tournament due to age. And, we can’t forget the Hilo Junior League Baseball team, who, in State Competition, West Regional play, and the World Series, lost a grand total of three times, but clobbered the baseball around the ballpark to impress fans everywhere on their way to the Junior League World Series championship, which was broadcast on national television on ESPNU. Manager Kaha Wong refers to his managerial style as full of discipline. And, while everyone has their own different image of what the perfect coach should be like, I think we all can agree that Wong’s success speaks for itself. He’s taken teams to the Cal Ripken League championship series and the Junior League World Series. What is just as important is that the kids, or young men, have been model representatives. You don’t hear of these young guys getting in trouble, which sometimes is the rule instead of the exception. Finally, are you ready for some football? Okay, one of the most overused phrases in America. My bad. So, looking forward to the BIIF Regular Season? Week one of the pre-season is behind us, and while we did see some unmemorable blowouts, we learned one thing that will last us the entire season: Division II Football WILL be competitive this year. Kamehameha still has some questios to answer at Running Back and on both lines. Makana Cazimero did a nice job starting at Tailback for the Warriors, but can the offensive line protect quarterback Nick Miyasato and let Cazimero and Woolsey run up the field? That question remains to be answered. HPA beat a game Kapa’a team. Kapa’a was supposed to be ranked outside of the Star-Bulletin Top 10 (in which I vote, but not for Kapa’a this time around). HPA capitalized one an 8-yard punt to create a 13-yard scoring drive. Their defense must be good, but what about the offense. They were supposed to be the direct challengers to Kamehameha’s bid at a four-peat. Kohala spent their first weekend of action beating Hawaiian-language Emersion school Anuenue out of the OIA. If you’re looking for a sleeper team in Division II, the Cowboys may lasso up a strong showing under the radar. And what about the Wildcats of Konawaena? A game winning field-goal from Kawika Karratti gave them a 9-7 victory, and current bragging rights in West Hawaii. That’s right. Bragging Rights, in the PRESEASON! It’s not like they play any games that matter in the regular season, anyway. If you are a Waverider fan, I don’t think you have too much to worry about. I’m told that a lot of you are upset, which is understandable. But, you are still looked at as a big favorite in Division I. And what about you, Wildcat fan in Kealakekua? I think you should feel pleased. My sources were telling me that your team wasn’t looking so great. Guess I need to fire my source, huh? | |
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| Solutions Are Needed to Better Serve our Athletes  By Josh Pacheco
06/14/2008
By now, you have all probably heard of the amazing flip-flopping that took place at the HHSAA Executive Directors Meetings in Oahu on Monday. On the same weekend that league Athletic Directors congregated in beautiful Waikoloa to discuss ways to improve the Hawaii high school sports landscape, we also saw excuses and disappointment.
The excuses lie in the decision to keep the state water polo championships from making a run to the Big Island. Paraphrasing the OIA Executive Director Dwight Toyama, the concern is on the number and the quality of water polo officials on Hawaii Island.
Let’s get straight to the facts. The BIIF would not have seen the tournament for another two years, so wouldn’t that be ample enough time to train officials and get them ready for a big tournament? And if there were not enough officials to cover, I’m sure officials from Oahu would gladly fly down to help.
Our island also has two great venues to host the tournament. Kailua-Kona hasn’t seen a state tournament since the swimming championships in 2003. The aquatic center next to Kekuaokalani Gym would be perfect. What about Kea’au? The Kamehameha Schools swimming pool has ample seating and a beautiful pool and a great looking campus. They would be more than suitable hosts.
The bottom line is that the OIA knows how much Water Polo is growing, so why share its championship stage with the Neighbor Islands?
 The most disappointing part of the HHSAA Executive meetings is that we saw a perfectly reasonable resolution shot down. This resolution was brought up by the BIIF in light of teams like winless Maryknoll of the ILH getting an automatic berth into the DII state baseball tournament just by being the only team in that division. The resolution was passed during the HIADA meetings with the OIA’s help, but when the directors met the following Monday, the OIA reversed course and shot it down.
Competition wise, I could see why the OIA would vote it down. After all, the ILH, or more specifically, Punahou, is dominating the championships in Division I. And seeing how the OIA has a lot of Division I size schools, this proposal could keep some of their schools from winning state titles. As things look right now, the OIA has a better chance of winning titles in Division II than Division I. But, of course, it shouldn’t be about winning championships, right?
Looking at this a little closer, I see that the voting procedures are a little different between the HIADA and the HHSAA. That raises a bigger issue: what’s the point of doing both?
Our fearless leader at HSP raised an interesting suggestion that you can check out in the commentary section. I’d like to propose a simple idea. Let’s have one or the other. If the HIADA meetings are proving to be nothing more than discussion, wasted voting, and resort luxury, let’s get rid of it, since the purpose and money spent aren’t there. But, if there is anything that needs to go, in my humble opinion, it is the HHSAA Executive Directors meetings. The HHSAA Executive Director has no vote, and it is just five leaders with proportional votes making decisions. I think the purpose of the HIADA, where all of the athletic directors are there with constructive thoughts and bright ideas, would do a lot more to benefit our sports landscape.
At least to me, it might be the least questionable alternative.
Josh Pacheco is a sportscaster for ESPN Radio here in Hawaii and lends his voice for BIIF sports and UHH Vulcan athletic events. Josh has a radio show named the Josh Pacheco show which airs every morning on ESPN radio 850 AM from 10-12 am, Monday through Friday. Pacheco also has another show called the Sunday Blitz covering local BIIF, college and NFL topics that airs at 4:30 every Sunday on the same AM station. You may reach Josh at Joshpachecoshow@espnhawaii.com | |
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| TIME TO LOOK BACK ON BIIF ’07-’08 CAMPAIGN
By Josh Pacheco
06/01/2008
The 2007-2008 High School Sports schedule has come to a close. We’ve seen outstanding feats, great state runs, surprise teams, and inspiring coaching.
We could talk for hours about the positive accomplishments of the year. But, as I am taught in radio, you get people tuned in and talking when you talk about things that need change, or didn’t necessarily turn out the way it was planned. Controversy and negative creates buzz, and ultimately produces chatter on how things could improve. With that said, it’s time to throw out a few changes that I would like to see for the upcoming ’08-’09 seasons.
FOOTBALL: Could we please do away with having a 1st half and 2nd half season champion?  This may have been the worst idea I have seen implemented all year long. No offense to the players and coaches of the Waiakea Warriors football team, but they shouldn’t have played in the Division I Football Championship Game. The two best teams hailed from Kealakehe and Keaau, and because of Waiakea beating Kealakehe in the second half of the season, Waiakea became the champion for the last half of the year. And, we ended up seeing a blowout of a championship game. BOYS & GIRLS BASKETBALL: Forgive me, but this one will take a little while. This is a hard one to criticize because there wasn’t much time between the ruling handed  down by the HHSAA to implement the season changes and the season itself. We ended up seeing six nights of games and tired officials for a little less than two months. It was a recipe for disaster. I applaud the athletic directors for doing the best job they possibly could under the tough circumstances. It might be good to space out the season by a couple of weeks, in all leagues statewide. It would be smart to allow for a couple of days off during the week, which will let the students have some nights to concentrate on their studies. Also, for time and facilities sake, it might be a basketball fan’s dream to have the girls and boys play on the same day. For example, if Hilo was scheduled to play at Waiakea on a Saturday, let’s have the girls and boys JV start in the early afternoon, followed by the girls and boys Varsity games in the 6 pm and 7:30 pm slots. This will allow for better media coverage, and more for the basketball fan’s buck.  Let’s also centralize the BIIF basketball tournaments. It was done a few years back, where every playoff game was held at the Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium. But, we have backtracked away from that. Yes, it is tough with the UH-Hilo Vulcans Basketball teams calling the Civic their home floor, but they have been more than accommodating over the past few years. Last year, important matchups in the first couple of days in the tournaments were held at the higher seed’s site, which left diehard fans to decide where they wanted to go. If their son or daughter was playing at one place, then it was an easy decision, but the casual fan had to make a choice, which made it a greater possibility they would go to none of the sites instead. Let the Civic be the basketball hub again for every playoff game, boys and girls. Revenue wise, it is a smarter decision for the league. SOFTBALL: Let’s start treating softball a little more like a major sport. I think the majority  of high school sports fans are seeing softball more on the radar. With the success of USA Softball and College Softball, here locally and on the national level now with the Women’s College World Series, the attention is trickling down to our high school ladies, too. I think the league should take notice of it more. Like basketball, we need to centralize the softball tournament at one site. From a media person’s standpoint, I would love to cover more softball. But, when it comes to covering a league tournament, I am left with the choice of deciding where to go. More often that not, I want to cover both the Division I AND Division II Championships. I don’t like to leave one out. When both are being played islandwide on different parts of the island, it leaves me with a tough decision which will always make people unhappy, so I end up not covering any of it at all. Whether you choose Carvalho Park in Hilo, or the softball field in Honokaa, let’s put the Division I and Division II tournaments in the same place. If it could be done for baseball, whose games take longer, we can definitely do it for softball.
Here’s to an exciting 2008-2009 slate of great High School sports!
Josh Pacheco is a sportscaster for ESPN Radio here in Hawaii and lends his voice for BIIF sports and UHH Vulcan athletic events. Josh has a radio show named the Josh Pacheco show which airs every morning on ESPN radio 850 AM from 10-12 am, Monday through Friday. Pacheco also has another show called the Sunday Blitz covering local BIIF, college and NFL topics that airs at 4:30 every Sunday on the same AM station. You may reach Josh at Joshpachecoshow@espnhawaii.com | |
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| Pahoa High Boys Volleyball A Great Story By Josh Pacheco
05/19/2008 Forget wins and losses for a second. Take that back, lets add them to the story that is Dagger Boys Volleyball. This team is more than just a feel good story. They epitomize what high school sports are all about.
Pahoa High claimed its first ever state boys volleyball tournament berth a few weeks ago by finishing in third place in the BIIF Division II race. Yet, four days after the island's tournament ended, the state tournament would begin, and this volleyball team was in serious trouble. They didn't have enough funds. They fundraised at the beginning of the season, and players and coaches put some of their own money together towards the end, but it was still nowhere close to what they needed to cover air, transportation, hotel, and meals. In four days, this team was able to make the arrangements to get to the state tournament on Oahu, and it was in large part thanks to people like you who are reading this piece. Coach Ikaika Marzo, knowing that time was short, came to us in the media. He came on the air with us, he went to other outlets, and through the community's big heart and sense of aloha, they allowed the Daggers to fulfill their invitation to the tournament. Now that the heartwarming story is out of the way, their action on the court was the most improved of any team this year. Coming in, Coach Marzo, I'm sure, would be the first to tell you that his team wasn't loaded with talent. There were players who barely had any experience coming in and with a small school like Pahoa, there isn't a vast selection of players to choose from. But when they got to the state tournament, the feel good story turned into a showing of grit, determination, and hustle. After dispatching Hana in two games on the first day of the tournament, the Daggers faced their biggest challenge to date of the 2008 campaign, the #4 seed Campbell. Pahoa trailed often, especially in the third and deciding game, where they were down by seven points a few times. But, there was no quit, no hung heads. Instead, they fought, caught a few breaks, and knocked off their seeded opponent. Fast forward through their semifinal loss to the eventual state champion, Hawaii Baptist, and to the third place game against HPA. Great defense (eleven blocks, the Ka Makani hitting -.148 for the match), timely kills, and pride led to a third place win. I'm sure the only people that thought this deep tournament run could happen were the parents, coaches, and players of Pahoa. But, in the end, they made believers in all of us. They didn't just make their small and growing community proud, but for all of those throughout the state who were generous to these young ones, they made the entire state proud.
Josh Pacheco is a sportscaster for ESPN Radio here in Hawaii and lends his voice for BIIF sports and UHH Vulcan athletic events. Josh has a radio show named the Josh Pacheco show which airs every morning on ESPN radio 850 AM from 10-12 am, Monday through Friday. Pacheco also has another show called the Sunday Blitz covering local BIIF, college and NFL topics that airs at 4:30 every Sunday on the same AM station. You may reach Josh at Joshpachecoshow@espnhawaii.com | |
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| A Competitive Baseball Playoff Field Awaits
By: Josh Pacheco
04/28/2008
I never played baseball in my life, except if you count that one office party that my parents had where I had an infield single at Carvalho Park and was stranded at first base, wearing my Chicago White Sox shirt and hoping to score a run to show my parents that I could play. After all, they told me that they would never let me play baseball in high school. It was too dangerous to them. I ended up playing tennis and going winless in my first three years. With all of that said, I have never been more excited for the upcoming BIIF Baseball Tournament.
This isn’t a first for me, as this is going to be the third year in a row where I will be handling the play-by-play duties for the big game, but it will be a first for everyone else that we will crown a Division Two champion. Also this year, we will get to see a widely competitive four-team field for the Division One crown that may be the best field we have seen in a long time. But before we can look at the teams, one of the best decisions was made well before the teams were decided.
Months before the baseball season started, the BIIF decided to play the entire tournament at Wong Stadium. If you may remember last year, nothing was played at Wong Stadium, due to the Springfest Carnival happening next door. Foul balls going out of play is an obvious concern, so they played the entire tournament at the higher seed’s school site, which meant Hilo had to play at Walter Victor, just off by mere feet from Wong Stadium. I remember the championship game, which was one of the best championship games I had ever seen, was played at Waiakea High School, where there was a dip going into the outfield wall, which caused an inside-the-park home run. Not your typical baseball field, not to say that all of our fields are in the first place. This year, every playoff game is at Wong Stadium, which means fans only need to go one place to follow all of the action, not spread them selves around, which in the end, is a great thing for everyone.
Now to the teams, and I am extremely excited about the field for this year’s Division 1 tournament. From what I have seen and called this year, every team could beat one another on any given day or two. The top seed is Waiakea, and with their undefeated record, which we will expand on momentarily, and their regular season championship, they have already locked up one of the two state berths in Division 1. They have had their share of dominating wins against many of the Division Two clubs, but their matchups against their fellow playoff contenders have been exciting. They opened the season with a two-run victory over Kamehameha-Hawaii, then needed ten innings and a two-run Brian Alben blast deep to right field to beat Keaau, and even though what I saw on the field was a five-run loss to Hilo, it was reversed to a win after an ineligibility issue. And guess who Waiakea plays in the Semi-final round? You guessed it! The Viks.
It’s a shame that the Viks had an ineligible player take away a win against Waiakea. Really, no matter who it happens to, it’s a shame. While everyone can debate where the blame lies, I want to look at what this does to the Vikings as a team. They went from the second seed to the fourth seed with the loss, coupled with the fact that they suffered a late season loss to Kealakehe. More importantly, where will the confidence lie within the team? Getting a loss taken away from you can be a morale crusher, but how they will recover will be interesting under first year head coach Warren Arakaki, who has done a fine job with the team.
As of this article’s writing, we still do not know who the second seed and third seed is. We know that it is between Keaau and Kamehameha, who finished the year at 8-2-1, after an eighth-inning tie on the last Wednesday of the season. If you want to save time, we could just finish the game where it left off to figure out who goes to the final. But, I’m sure that people would rather finish that game to decide the seeding, because it is a lot more complex issue that you might think. If Kamehameha had actually lost that game, they would be the fourth seed, since they would have tied with Hilo, and the Vikings beat them by a 3-1 score earlier in the year. If Keaau lost, they would be the third seed and Hilo the fourth based on a Keaau victory. Can you say “time to look again at some of these rules?”
Division Two has a lot on the line, no matter how you feel about the division. The BIIF has a tie for the most entries into the tournament this year, with four. The top two teams from the regular season go to the state tournament, which means that Kohala and Hawaii Prep will be in Oahu on May 7th thru 10th, the Cowboys as the regular season champs, and HPA as the 2nd place runner up due to a tie-breaker. Under coach Steve Nakamura, Kohala has become a contender each and every year. Even without the divisional structure, the Cowboys were still one of the “top dogs” in baseball. Now, they can be looked at as a contender on the state level. Honoka’a, Pahoa, Konawaena, and Ka’u will all be looking to go after the other two spots to the state tournament, and maybe even looking to knock off a top team while they are at it.
Looking for one more reason why this tournament is going to be great? I can’t give you a favorite. Every team in Division One, and most in Division Two, could be looked at as tournament championship contenders. And that is how the tournament should be.
Josh Pacheco is a sportscaster for ESPN Radio here in Hawaii and lends his voice for BIIF sports and UHH Vulcan athletic events. Josh has a radio show named the Josh Pacheco show which airs every morning on ESPN radio 850 AM from 8-11 am, Monday through Friday. Pacheco also has another show called the Sunday Blitz covering local BIIF, college and NFL topics that airs at 4:30 every Sunday on the same AM station. You may reach Josh at Joshpachecoshow@espnhawaii.com | |
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| Solutions Are Needed to Better High School Athletics
By: Josh Pacheco
First of all let me begin by saying a warm thank you to the entire staff of HawaiiSportsPage.com for allowing me to take a little dip outside my radio studio and away from the microphone to delve into another venture where we, the Big Island sport fans, can debate and discuss local sports topics that can only enhance our homegrown sports landscape. Now on to the issues…
We are just a matter of days removed from the recent meeting of the minds at the HHSAA Executive Directors meeting in Oahu, and there is still some buzz regarding the conversational message that BIIF Executive Director Ken Yamase left for everyone to ponder:| “One League, One Vote”
 First of all, I’d like to applaud Yamase. It takes a lot of fortitude to stand up in front of the Executive Directors and bring up an issue such as that, especially when it is specifically targeted towards the Oahu leages. Granted, this is not up for vote, as it is purely discussion, but this has some people asking around the state if this change in voting procedure should take place.
In the past, and per my conversation with the Star-Bulletin’s Paul Honda the past dates back to the mid-80’s, there was a system in place where it was indeed a vote for each league. That has all changed, and likely won’t change again, at least in the near future. If you take a look at the current voting structure, the Big Island is no minority. Each league has one vote per school that is a member of that particular affiliation. The OIA has 29 schools, hence 29 votes. The ILH follows behind with 26. Yet, the ever-growing BIIF has 22 votes in its stable. The MIL has 12 votes, and the KIF has 5. To put the scenarios in perspective, two leagues (whether it is the OIA / ILH, or OIA / BIIF) can override three other leagues in a voting decision. Hardly a majority rule, but it is what the system is based on in the state.  I don’t feel the voting procedure will change. After all, I believe we do need to vote for or against the change, and the two Oahu schools would surely not let it get through, not to mention the MIL and KIF aren’t in favor, only because they know it won’t happen, so why waste the time to back something that will never see the light of day? So instead of not being happy with the system, the individual Executive Directors from the Neighbor Islands must work harder to sell any proposal they are putting on the table. It must be fully detailed, leaving nothing behind, and appealing to the Oahu members in some way.
These Executive Directors must step up their efforts to put forth creative ideas to be heard by everyone. Time to think out of the box. One more issue that has generated some buzz for some time is the classification of Division I and Division II in Hawaii High School athletics. Can anyone truly explain to me what constitutes a Division II school, as compared to a Division I? If you can, you are one of the few. There is no set definition on what creates the difference. In order to create a new system of doing things, you need to define it, and structure it, and neither of the two were done prior to the move, which brings us to the obvious dilemma we are in, how do we decide it? Many ideas have been brought out and debated and discussed on talk shows like my own, blogs like the Hawaii Sports Page blog, and other word-of-mouth forums. I, unlike others, won’t tell you that my idea will “definitely work,” but I will tell you that this idea is created to bring out the debater in you to find something that can work better. One thing I feel strongly about is that we need to decide the classifications based on the size of enrollment in these different schools, and that classification should not be decided by the HHSAA. I think the HHSAA can set up a timetable for the different leagues to get a rule in place for their own classification rules, but in the end, the individual leagues need to make the classification rules themselves. They, better than the HHSAA, know their island and their school population sizes.
 The leagues can work together with the help of their individual athletic directors to formulate the plan, and then execute it. Then, all schools that would not classify themselves in the division II level would not play in that division, and would only play on the top tier. Division II schools can play up if they would like, and more power to them if they make that decision, but the Division I schools would not be able to play down in any sport.
As my Maui colleague Fred Guzman says, “If you have 2,000 students, and you aren’t winning, then get better!” What will also affect this rule is the conversations taking place within the BIIF to have all sports play within their own divisions, meaning Division I would only compete with Division I and the same for Division II. This rule will affect revenue for some of these smaller schools, but the reason I mention this in regards to the classification rule is that this may deter the bigger schools from “playing down.” I’m sure a large-sized school wouldn’t want to play in a sport where their only opponents are smaller schools who don’t necessarily win often. Hawaii High School sports has undergone many changes over the past several years, some met with open arms, yet many with shouts of displeasure. Now is the time to see how pro-active and creative our Executive Director and school Athletic Directors are in growing our local athletic ventures. Josh Pacheco is a sportscaster for ESPN Radio here in Hawaii and lends his voice for BIIF sports and UHH Vulcan athletic events. Josh has a radio show named the Josh Pacheco show which airs every morning on ESPN radio 850 AM from 8-11 am, Monday through Friday. Pacheco also has another show called the Sunday Blitz covering local BIIF, college and NFL topics that airs at 4:30 every Sunday on the same AM station. You may reach Josh at Joshpachecoshow@espnhawaii.com | |
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