If we go by the number of state championships in the highest divisions of each Hawaii high school sport, the Interscholastic League of Honolulu was dominant in the 2016-17 school year.

The ILH took 10 championships in boys sports and nine in girls, with the four predominantly public school leagues combining for five and six. (Those leagues also won two titles in mixed competition.)

Opponents of the proposed football alliance that would put the best of the Oahu Interscholastic Association against the top ILH teams might view this as further evidence of disparity and that the two leagues should never play each other in the regular season.

Actually, it’s the opposite. Football is one of the sports where the OIA’s best can and do compete well against the best of the ILH. Prior to Saint Louis beating Kahuku in the inaugural open division championship last fall, OIA schools had won the top title four of the previous five years.

Corporate sponsorship in the alliance proposal and gate proceeds derived from attractive regular-season matchups could help the OIA schools improve all of their sports programs.

The state’s athletic directors meet at the HIADA conference soon. Hopefully they address the alliance and move closer to it becoming reality, maybe in time for 2018. Having three tiers of prep football on Oahu benefits not just the powerhouses, but also the smaller programs that would not have to constantly deal with mismatches.

With league football schedules due out soon, it is virtually impossible for the alliance to go into effect for a season that starts in less than three months, even if key decision-makers were inclined to make it happen.

The more pressing, immediate challenge has to do with officiating.

Due to a lack of trained field officials, the football schedule making the final rounds of OIA athletic directors includes some games to be played earlier in the week than the traditional Friday and Saturday.

“It looks like only a couple of Wednesdays and Thursdays,” OIA executive director Raymond Fujino said Tuesday, while acknowledging it is far less than an ideal situation.

Junior varsity games that start at 5 p.m. are followed by varsity games. It’s a half-hour earlier start than two years ago, when student-athletes were getting home close to midnight. That was bad enough on weekend nights.

There is good news, though, and reason to believe this situation will be for only this year.

Matt Sumstine coordinates football officials for the Hawaii High School Athletic Association and heads up the Hawaii Football Officials Association. He says there is a pool of about 80 trained field officials available for games this year.

“And it really needs to be around 150,” he said.

Sumstine has been running a football officials recruiting and training program the past 18 months that is starting to produce a steady stream of new officials to replace those who hang up their flags.

“We’ll get our numbers up to where they need to be. My personal feeling is that, yes, things will get better from here. I think we’re over the worst of it and on the rebound,” said Sumstine, who added the program is producing about 10 to 15 new officials a year as five or six drop out annually. “But things don’t get better on their own. They require community support. We need the fans to stop being so belligerent to the officials, and not just in football. Who wants to take time away from their family to get yelled at by people?

“We’ve got 20 new people signed up for (the) fall program. They won’t be able to be field officials for high school games this fall, but possibly can do things like working on the chains and timing. It’s rare to find a field official who can learn it that quickly.”

It’s also rare to find people who can or want to keep officiating for decades, and that’s why recruiting and training has to be ongoing.

“And some of us just get old and can’t keep doing it for physical reasons,” said Sumstine, who doesn’t officiate himself anymore because of a chronic injury.

Fujino also said less abuse from fans is key in retaining officials.

“It’s not easy, and everyone will make mistakes. The perspective on the field is a lot different than from the stands. But they have meetings to review, and Matt provides a lot of good training,” Fujino said.

At around $75 or $80 a game, the pay isn’t great. But it can be a rewarding way for former players to stay in the game.

And, if anything, this year’s schedule highlights the importance of a deep pool of officials.

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. His blog is at hawaiiwarriorworld.com/quick-reads.