BIIF Sets Football Championship Schedule

Fans hoping to watch both Big Island Interscholastic Federation football championship games will now have to make a choice on which one to watch.

Both the Division I and Division II title tilts will be played at 7 p.m. Friday. At Wong Stadium, top-seeded Hilo will face second-seed Kealakehe. Earlier this season, the Vikings survived a 7-0 win at Kealakehe.

Kamehameha-Hawai’i will host Konawaena at Pai’ea Stadium. In the opening week of the regular season, the Warriors traveled to Kealakekua and left with a 20-6 victory.

Kalei Namohala, Ka’u High School Athletic Director and the BIIF’s football coordinator, said in an e-mail that multiple factors led to the games being scheduled at the same time. Problems cited include “availability of facilities” and the rescheduling of games caused by Hurricane Ana.

Namohala also said that the league tried to schedule both games at the same site, but was unsuccessful in making that happen.

The winner of each game will advance to the first round of the First Hawaiian Bank/Hawai’i High School Athletic Association State Football Championships. Opening round games will be played on Friday, Nov. 6 and Saturday, Nov. 7.

The Division I contest will be broadcast on ESPN Radio’s AM 850 in Hilo and AM 790 in Kona. It will also be streamed at ESPNHawaii.com. Broadcast starts with the pregame show at 6:30 p.m.