The Big Island Interscholastic Federation has stripped Kealakehe of its 2008 Division I football championship after the school recently self-reported using an ineligible player during the season.

According to an e-mail press release from Hilo High principal and BIIF president Robert Dircks, Kealakehe principal Wilfred Murakami submitted a self-disclosure report to the BIIF executive board on May 1 revealing that "a student-athlete was found to have participated ... as a 5th year student ..."

BIIF by-laws state that "student-athletes shall have only four (4) consecutive years of eligibility after entry into the ninth (9) grade ... (and) if any player is found to be ineligible, all games (which that player participated in) will be forfeited."

Kealakehe athletic director Mike Hernandez told The Advertiser last night the ineligible player — a Mainland transfer who also had been home-schooled — played in all 12 games last season, so the Waveriders' record now changes from 9-3 to 0-12. Kealakehe lost to Farrington in the first round of the state tournament.

Hernandez said he plans to double-check and verify the high school entry date of "every kid" before future seasons.