Confusion and consternation about a convoluted Interscholastic League of Honolulu Open Division playoff were prevailing sentiments in prep football circles to begin the week.

With Saint Louis, Punahou and Kamehameha posting 1-1 records in the ILH second round, all still have a chance to earn the league championship and its lone berth into the HHSAA Open playoffs.

But how each team could get there is anything but straightforward.

What You Need To Know

  • The Interscholastic League of Honolulu held a random card draw between coaches of Punahou, Saint Louis and Kamehameha on Monday to determine which Open Division football team would get a bye advantage in a playoff for the ILH second-round title

  • Kamehameha won the draw and will wait to see the outcome of a Nov. 1 game between Saint Louis and Punahou at 6 p.m. at Radford High

  • If Saint Louis wins that game, the Crusaders and Warriors will play the following week in a winner-take-all game, but if the Buffanblu win Nov. 1, two more games will be required to settle a champion and state representative

  • The HHSAA is exploring moving its Open Division semifinal round back a week, from Nov. 15 to Nov. 22, to accommodate the ILH

Saint Louis won the ILH first round with a 2-0 record. But with all three teams effectively splitting the second round, a card draw was held Monday to determine which of the three would have a bye advantage to settle it.

Kamehameha coach Kaeo Drummundo drew the ace, giving the Warriors the bye. It sets up two main scenarios.

In the first, if Saint Louis beats Punahou in the first tiebreaker game, 6 p.m. at Radford on Nov. 1, the Warriors need only win one winner-take-all game at Radford the following week for the championship, despite the Crusaders owning the first-round title.

But if Punahou were to win the Nov. 1 game instead, the ILH championship would require a total of three playoff games to settle, not two.

It sets up a situation in which Saint Louis could consider forfeiting the first game to Punahou to rest up and make its two league rivals play each other Nov. 8 before facing the winner for all the marbles the following week.

The seeming contrast of the two scenarios was agreed upon within the ILH before the season, Spectrum News was told, with an preference on avoiding the same matchup in consecutive weeks of a playoff.

The murky rules impacted the HHSAA, which was caught off guard by the three-game playoff scenario with the state four-team Open semifinals scheduled for Nov. 15. Now the HHSAA must explore moving that back to Nov. 22.

That is not as easy as simply switching dates. Police, paramedics and other personnel must be scheduled for what was to be an open date.

“Checking to see if Mililani is available and (if) we can move everything we already had reserved,” HHSAA Executive Director Chris Chun messaged Spectrum News on Monday night.

The Open Division final will be held at the University of Hawaii's Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Complex on Nov. 29.

The ILH will not compete this week.

Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.