The first official competition in the Maui Interscholastic League in 20 months will be Kihei Charter School vs. King Kekaulike High School in boys and girls bowling matches on Saturday morning at Wailuku Lanes.

MIL bowling competition for 2021 for both boys and girls has taken on a familiar plan for the league, although it is new to the sport.

Due to the calendar time crunch brought on by the sports pause that started Aug. 4 because of the state Department of Education vaccination-to-play decree, the MIL bowling teams for both boys and girls will play a one-round regular season from Saturday to Nov. 6.

The league will then hold a tournament similar to the five-team tournament format used in other team sports in the MIL, like volleyball and basketball.

The No. 5 seed vs. No. 4 seed play-in game matches will take place during the week of Nov. 8-12, and the semifinals for boys and girls will be played on Nov. 13.

Tournament championship matches are set for Nov. 27, and winner-take-all playoff matches between the regular-season winner and tournament winner would follow, if necessary.

Unlike the Division I format for other sports, MIL bowling sends just one team of five players to the state tournaments, while a yet-to-be-announced number of individuals will also qualify for state, which is set for Dec. 9-10 at Leeward Bowl on Oahu.

“Usually we would just do two rounds — so there’s a first-round champion and a second-round (champion), that kind of thing — but we didn’t have enough time,” MIL bowling coordinator Wade Hondo, the Baldwin athletic director, said Wednesday. “So, I think this year we just decided to just try something different.

“The coaches were, like, ‘Let’s try it.’ With the time that we had, it’s a different format, so we’ll try it out, see how it is. Next year we will have more time, but we’ll see how the coaches and the kids like it.”

Hondo likes the format for this simple reason: “Everyone gets a chance. Can you imagine if a 4 or 5 seed beats the 1? … No matter what, you’ve got a chance, when it comes to the tournament, you’ve got a chance.”

All of the Saturday matches and weekday practices for all five teams — Baldwin, Kihei Charter, King Kekaulike, Kamehameha Maui and Maui High — are at Wailuku Lanes, the newly renovated facility on Vineyard Street that was formerly known as Maui Bowling Center.

“They have gone out of their way, we couldn’t have done this season without their support and they’ve been so, so very supportive,” Hondo said. “They have been understanding about all of this the entire way. The entire way, bending over backwards to help us.”

The MIL girls ranks have 22 bowlers currently on rosters approved by the league recently, nine of whom are returnees to the sport from the 2019 season. Kamehameha Maui leads the way with seven players and three returnees. Baldwin has five players and three returnees, while Maui High has six players and two returnees.

There are 26 MIL boys bowlers, 10 returning — Baldwin and Kamehameha Maui each have seven players, while Maui High has six, and King Kekaulike has five. The Bears boys return four players, while the Warriors and Na Alii each have three back.

“We’re going to see how it goes this year, talk to everybody and see how they like it,” Hondo said. “We’re trying to keep interest up and grow the sport — we have got to think outside of the box this year.”

* Robert Collias is at rcollias@mauinews.com.