After a season lost to the pandemic, what a better way to kick off than by playing two.
BIIF football will return in style in late August with a doubleheader matching division rivals before a statewide television audience, the league announced Friday.
The regular season begins Friday, Aug. 27, when Honokaa hosts Pahoa in the Dragons’ return to Division II, and it ratchets up a day later with four games, the highlight being a pair of games at Paiea Stadium on Spectrum 16. Hawaii Prep and Kamehameha play at 4:30 p.m., followed by Konawaena and Hilo at 7 p.m. Both games are rematches of the 2019 BIIF titles games.
Kamehameha athletic director Kimo Weaver said the BIIF has not made a decision or received feedback from the county as to whether fans will be allowed in the stands for games.
The BIIF has retained its home-and-away, interdivision scheduling format, so Division I teams (Hilo, Konawaena, Kealakehe, Waiakea and Keaau) will each play eight games, while the D-II teams (Kamehameha, HPA, Honokaa, Pahoa, Kohala, Ka’u) will play 10 apiece.
Teams can begin mandatory conditioning and practices Monday, the official start date of Hawaii High School Athletic Association season.
There is only one nonconference game listed on the schedule provided by the BIIF, an Aug. 21 matinee between Honokaa and Waiakea at Ken Yamase Memorial Stadium.
The league will again use Thursdays as a mechanism to spread out the schedule and ensure availability of officials. The first such contest is Sept. 9 matching Pahoa and Kamehameha.
Because of the divisional imbalance, each D-I team will receive two off weeks during a 10-week schedule that runs through Oct. 30. The championships games are the following week, with the HHSAA playoffs beginning the weekend of Nov. 12-13.
Some other highlights:
• After facing off during Week 1, Hilo and Konawaena will meet again on Oct. 1 in Kealakekua to begin second half of the season.
• The second meeting between Kamehameha and HPA will be Oct. 2 in Waimea.
• The renewal of West Hawaii’s rivalry comes on a Thursday night. The Waveriders visit the Wildcats on Sept. 23. The teams play again in Kailua-Kona during the last week of the regular season.
• There are three new coaches in the league. While Hilo’s Chris Todd and Kamehameha’s Kealoha Wengler will debut during the Aug. 28 doubleheader, the first game for Kohala coach Jay Blanco is earlier that day at Ka’u.
• Pahoa is hitting the road for all 10 of its games. The Daggers play two games apiece at Honokaa and Kamehameha, and they are using Paiea for three other “home” games.
• As is Honokaa’s annual preference, five of their six home games are on Friday night. The other is on a Thursday.
