HONOLULU — The stage is set for all three tiers of Oahu Interscholastic Association playoff football.
Saturday night’s action across the island – highlighted by a late surge by defending state champion Kahuku to defeat fellow contender Mililani 29-17 – concluded the OIA regular season and finalized seedings in the Open Division, Division I and Division II.
The top four teams qualified in each tier. Interestingly, there was no need for a head-to-head tiebreaker in any division, as records sorted out into a natural hierarchy over the course of the season, with one unbeaten team, one one-loss team, one two-loss team, and so forth.
The other final-weekend game to determine seeding was Aiea’s 31-10 win over Farrington on Friday. Na Alii locked up the No. 2 seed in Division I.
Here’s how it broke down with league records in parentheses, followed by the number of all-time OIA titles won by each school.
OPEN DIVISION
1. Kahuku (6-0), 28 OIA titles (2 in Open era)
2. Mililani (5-1), 4 OIA titles (1 in Open era)
3. Campbell (4-2), 2 OIA titles (0 in Open era)
4. Kapolei (3-3), 0 OIA titles (0 in Open era)
DIVISION I
1. Waipahu (6-0), 12 OIA titles (1 in D-I era)
2. Aiea (5-1), 2 OIA titles (1 in D-I era)
3. Kailua (4-2), 4 OIA titles (0 in D-I era)
4. Farrington (3-3), 1 OIA title (0 in D-I era)
DIVISION II
1. Nanakuli (7-0), 2 OIA titles (1 in D-II era)
2. Pearl City (6-1), 0 OIA titles (0 in D-II era)
3. Kaiser (5-2), 3 OIA titles (2 in D-II era)
4. Kaimuki (4-3), 3 OIA titles (3 in D-II era)
In each division, the No. 1 team will face No. 4 and No. 2 will host No. 3. The winners of the semifinal games will automatically qualify for their respective state tournament field.
In the Open Division, there will be a third-place game to determine the league’s final representative to states, as the OIA places three teams there.
Semifinal games will be played on Friday and Saturday.
Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii.