FILE – The Lahainaluna Excessive Faculty soccer staff maintain fingers to thank the followers after a recreation on Oct. 21, 2023, in Lahaina, Hawaii. Captains of the staff whose city was destroyed by a lethal wildfire attended to Tremendous Bowl in Las Vegas as visitors of the NFL.
Mengshin Lin/AP
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Mengshin Lin/AP
FILE – The Lahainaluna Excessive Faculty soccer staff maintain fingers to thank the followers after a recreation on Oct. 21, 2023, in Lahaina, Hawaii. Captains of the staff whose city was destroyed by a lethal wildfire attended to Tremendous Bowl in Las Vegas as visitors of the NFL.
Mengshin Lin/AP
Highschool soccer gamers took half on this yr’s Tremendous Bowl as honorary captains through the pre-game coin toss, six months after a lethal wildfire destroyed their Maui hometown.
On the massive recreation, 4 Lahainaluna Excessive Faculty soccer staff members — Morgan ”Bula” Montgomery, Teva Loft, Kaulana Tihada and Kuola Watson — had been joined by their coaches Dean Rickard and Garret Tihada and former head coach Bobby Watson.
On the Tremendous Bowl, members of the Lahainaluna Excessive Faculty soccer staff will function honorary captains.
After the Hawaii wildfires devastated the group, NFL Movies captured the staff’s emotional return to their dwelling subject 🙏 pic.twitter.com/fDgZgR7ezX
— NFL Movies (@NFLFilms) February 8, 2024
In August, the deadliest wildfire in current U.S. historical past swept via the city of Lahaina, killing at the least 100 folks. Greater than 5,000 residents had been displaced.
The NFL has pledged funding to assist change tools for the highschool soccer staff and different native soccer applications.
”The Lahainaluna Excessive Faculty soccer staff embodies the ability of soccer to deliver folks collectively, even in essentially the most difficult of circumstances,” stated NFL Senior Vice President of Social Accountability Anna Isaacson, in a information launch. ”We’re honored to have members of the Lahainaluna soccer staff be a part of us as coin toss captains at Tremendous Bowl LVIII to acknowledge their unimaginable efforts in inspiring and rebuilding their group.”