Kahuku forfeits season

[11/10/10] The Oahu Interscholastic Association could have chosen not to take action against the Kahuku High School football team for using an ineligible player this season, according to league bylaws.

However, once the league decided it would, its bylaws dictate that the mandatory penalty is forfeiture of all games in which the team used the ineligible player, a state judge ruled yesterday.

Circuit Judge Karl Sakamoto's ruling came in a lawsuit filed by three Kahuku football players and their parents challenging OIA's decision last week to end Kahuku's season before it got to play in last Friday's OIA championship game against Mililani.

Sakamoto upheld the OIA decision, and the ruling prevents Kahuku from participating in the state high school football championship tournament, which begins Friday. Kahuku was undefeated and No. 1 in the Star-Advertiser's top 10 poll going into the OIA championship game.

A lawyer for the Kahuku players and parents said they will not appeal Sakamoto's ruling.

[11/9/10] The Oahu Interscholastic Association will oppose a request before a state judge this morning to allow Kahuku High School to participate in the state high school football championships starting Friday.

Three Kahuku football players and their parents filed a lawsuit yesterday challenging the OIA's decision last week to bar the school from the playoffs because it had to forfeit games over an ineligible player.

The suit said innocent team members and others would be unduly harmed by an "inadvertent clerical error."

Lyle Hosoda, the OIA's lawyer, said Kahuku High was allowed to present its side before the forfeiture decision.

"It's a situation that is unfortunate and regrettable," he said. "We have to apply the rules uniformly and equally to all."

The Hawaii High School Athletic Association will also oppose the request, according to its attorney, Joseph Stewart.

He said allowing Kahuku to participate would be "catastrophic" in terms of extending the state playoffs and rescheduling games.

The lawsuit says the error involved a player who was in ninth grade for a brief period before he was transferred back to eighth grade.

He went back to Kahuku the following year, the attorneys said.

But under OIA rules a student can be eligible for only four consecutive years "upon entry to the ninth grade," which would mean he would not be eligible this year because of his initial ninth-grade enrollment five years ago.

The lawsuit and supporting papers described the student as a "minor" player who was academically ineligible until he played on the team for the first time this season.

The OIA, the suit's lawyers said, has handled other incidents in "far less draconian" ways than "penalizing the entire team comprised of entirely innocent student athletes."

They said the OIA refused to hear the players' and parents' side of the controversy before the organization made its decision. The refusal, the suit said, violated their rights to due process under the state and federal constitutions.

Della Au Belatti, a member of Seitz's law firm who will handle the case, said yesterday that they were still seeking a "flexible solution" that would avoid litigation and still allow Kahuku in the playoffs.

But after Sakamoto met the lawyers privately in chambers in the afternoon, the OIA and HHSAA lawyers said they opposed the request for an injunction.

[11/8/10] He quarterbacked the finest high school team in Hawaii this fall.

Now, Evan Moe has taken his offense to another level.

Moe, a senior who guided Kahuku to a 10-0 record, is a co-plaintiff in a lawsuit to be filed this morning against the Oahu Interscholastic Association, the Hawaii High School Athletic Association and state Schools Superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi.

The intent? To supersede an OIA ruling, allowing the Red Raiders to play in the state football tournament that starts Friday.

OIA Football Coordinator Harold Tanaka declined comment, noting that he and Executive Director Dwight Toyama are bound to legalities. "I can't comment on this," Tanaka said yesterday afternoon. "It's with the attorneys."

The suit was announced yesterday by attorney Eric Seitz, who is working pro bono on behalf of Moe, his brother Sterling Moe and Jamal Napeahi. Parents Delsa Moe and Joseph Napeahi are also listed as plaintiffs because the players are minors.

The legal angle was a brainchild of parents, former players and other supporters who have been riled up since Friday when the OIA ruled that the Red Raiders had used an ineligible player during the season. Kahuku was prohibited from playing in the league championship game against Mililani on Friday night and is done for the season.

According to Seitz, the player ruled ineligible had bounced between eighth and ninth grade and had never played football until this season, not realizing that he was, technically, a fifth-year senior.

"Adults made mistakes, and kids are being required to pay for it and that is simply an outrageous situation," Seitz said. "There was no fault by any of these people. There was really only minimal responsibility by anybody at Kahuku High School for what happened. The situation that occurred was simply something that could not be avoided. For the OIA to have taken the action that it took, basically to bring down the death penalty for a minor infraction, is something that we simply cannot tolerate."

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The top-ranked Kahuku High football team lost its appeal yesterday to school administrators for using an ineligible player and will have to forfeit the season, it was announced yesterday by the Oahu Interscholastic Association.

As a result, Mililani won the OIA Red Conference title, and the two teams involved in tonight's third-place game between Leilehua and Waianae automatically advance to the state tournament playoff that begins next weekend.

The infraction was self-reported by Kahuku at an OIA sanctioning committee meeting on Thursday night that led to the forfeiture. The Red Raiders appealed the ruling yesterday but failed to sway the committee.

A statement released by the OIA said the league "unfortunately and regrettably must declare Kahuku High School ineligible to participate in any further varsity football games this season, and must forfeit all games in which it used an ineligible player."

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Kahuku (10-0) had been a season-long No. 1 team in the Star-Advertiser Football Top 10, heading into yesterday's scheduled matchup with Mililani for the OIA Red title. Among the wins was a 49-27 rout of No. 2 Saint Louis in an early nonconference game.

Two weeks ago, a rumor surfaced that two Kahuku players were in their fifth year of high school, which would mean they were ineligible to play sports. Torres said he looked into it and found the players to be eligible.

By Wednesday, word of a possible ineligibility surfaced again. Principal Donna Lindsey contacted OIA executive director Dwight Toyama. The self-reporting process required Lindsey to conduct her own investigation, and the results were reported to the league in a Thursday night meeting that lasted 3 hours.

When the league scheduled a follow-up meeting for 11 a.m., yesterday, the writing was on the wall. When the morning came, the announcement of a press conference to follow the OIA meeting all but made it official.