Editor’s note: This post has been updated slightly since it first went live with new information that has come to light.
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The First Hawaiian Bank/Hawaii High School Athletic Association State Football Championships will be held at the Mililani High and Farrington High fields, the HHSAA told Bedrock Sports Hawaii on Monday.
The Open and Division I semifinals are at Farrington on the weekend of Dec. 17 and 18. Then, the D-II semifinals are scheduled for Wednesday, Dec. 22 at Mililani.
After that, the Open and D-I championship games will be held on Thursday, Dec. 23, at Mililani, with the D-II title game set for Thursday, Dec. 30, at Farrington.
Tickets could be hard to come by, especially for the championship games. The approximate capacities of the two venues are 4,000 for Farrington’s Skippa Diaz Stadium and 5,000 for Mililani’s John Kauinana Stadium.
Schools participating on the tournament will be allotted a certain amount of tickets, and all other tickets will be sold digitally on GoFan.com. More ticket information will be forthcoming soon. All fans must show proof of COVID-19 vaccination to attend any of the state tournament games.
“This is a great opportunity for these student-athletes to play in the first football state tournament in more than two years (because of COVID-19),” the HHSAA’s Natalie Iwamoto said Monday.
Mililani, which has had some difficulty lately with its lights and scoreboard, is working diligently to resolve those issues, and the work is expected to be done before the state tournament begins, Iwamoto said.
Four teams have punched their ticket into the state tournament so far — ILH champion Saint Louis (5-3) in the Open, ILH champion ‘Iolani (9-0) and MIL champion Lahainaluna (5-0) in D-I, and KIF champion Kapaa (5-0) in D-II. Eight more slots are waiting to be filled.
State tourney Open Division field
>> ILH champion: Saint Louis
>> OIA champion: Kahuku or Mililani or Campbell or Waianae
>> OIA runner-up: Kahuku or Mililani or Campbell or Waianae
>> OIA third place: Kahuku or Mililani or Campbell or Waianae
State tourney Division I field
>> ILH champion: ‘Iolani
>> OIA champion: Moanalua or Aiea
>> MIL champion: Lahainaluna
>> BIIF champion: Konawaena or Hilo
State tourney Division II field
>> KIF champion: Kapaa
>> BIIF champion: Hawaii Prep or Kamehameha-Hawaii or Honokaa or Ka’u
>> MIL champion: Kamehameha-Maui or King Kekaulike
>> OIA champion: Kaiser or Radford
Kapaa and Lahainaluna clinched their spots with victories last week. Saint Louis and ‘Iolani made it in previously.
A Kapaa defender held on to the jersey of the Waimea quarterback in Saturday’s game at Hanapepe Stadium. The Warriors won 20-6 to clinch the KIF title and a state berth. (Image credit: Kauai correspondent).
The Lunas, who have won 30 straight MIL games and have captured the last four D-II state championships, will be going for the title in D-I this year.
Molokai Plays A Scrimmage Against King Kekaulike
In other Hawaii football news, Molokai, which has fielded an MIL 8-man team for many years, scrimmaged King Kekaulike on Maui in an 11-man setup on Nov. 12. The Farmers did not play this season because the two other MIL 8-man teams, Lanai and Hana, did not have enough players to field teams.
Mililani Athletic Director Glenn Nitta Retires; Joy Matsukawa Is New Interim AD
In other Hawaii sports news, Joy Matsukawa is the interim athletic director at Mililani in place of Glenn Nitta, who retired March 31. Nitta began teaching at Mililani in 1973 and became athletic director in 2001. For more on Nitta’s time as the Mililani AD, click here to read a MililaniTimes.com article.
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ALSO AT BedrockSportsHawaii.com:
>> No. 1 Kahuku Overpowers No. 5 Campbell 49-23 To Clinch OIA Regular-Season Football Title
>> SATURDAY SCOREBOARD: Kapaa Sews Up KIF Championship, State D-II Berth
>> Campbell Football Team’s Jonah Tavui Was The Story Within A Story In Saturday’s Loss To Kahuku
>> Four From The Junior Class Are Reminders That Kahuku’s Ascendancy Is An Offshoot Of The Red Raiders’ Generational Descendancy
>> WATCH: 11 Videos From No. 1 Kahuku’s 49-23 OIA Title-Clinching Win Over No. 5 Campbell
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