And then there were eight.
Ka‘u High will not participate in Big Island Interscholastic Federation football this season because of low player turnout, Trojans athletic director Kalei Namohala announced Friday.
Namohala had previously told Stephens Media Hawaii that Ka‘u would not field a team if it didn’t have at least 30 players.
There will now be four teams in both Division I and Division II.
“This changes a lot,” said BIIF executive director Lyle Crozier. “All of the athletic directors are going to meet Wednesday and we are going to come up with a schedule for the season.
One thing we are looking at is having the teams play everybody and instead of having a one-week playoff, where the No. 1 seed plays the No. 2 seed, we would have a two-week playoff where everyone would qualify. The other option is that each team would play everyone in their division twice, and one out of division game. Then we would have a regular season champion with no playoff.”
The Trojans join Kohala High on the sidelines, leaving eight teams on the island for the 2013 season, four apiece in Division I and II.
Namohala, also the BIIF football coordinator, said the league hoped to unveil a revised regular-season schedule next week.
Kohala, which also couldn’t meet a 30-player threshold, dropped out last week. However, the Cowboys and Honokaa are trying to work out an agreement where the two teams would combine, according to Dragons AD Keith Tolentino.
The BIIF preseason begins Aug. 10, with Waiakea visiting Hawaii Prep and Kamehameha-Hawaii hosting Kalaheo (Oahu). Honokaa is not scheduled to play until an Aug. 24 contest against Waiakea at Wong Stadium.