National Signing Day was this past Wednesday (February 1st) where hundreds of high school seniors, junior college players, and even the select return LDS missionaries can sign Letters of Intent (LOI) to attend a particular university. Many of the young men are of Samoan or Tongan ancestry and hail from the Mainland United States in places such as California, Utah, Washington, Texas, Oregon, as well as here in the Hawaiian Islands and even the Territory of American Samoa. With that said I thought it was time to take a look at the post-season accolades that many of these Usos and Tamasi'is have received and where they have signed and come up with an elite all star team. There is no scientific or truly fair way to select the team but I'll take a crack at it anyways.
First Team
QB Stanford Leti 6'0, 190 Moanalua HS (Honolulu, HI)
He was selected 1st Team All State by the Honolulu Advertiser and Star Bulletin as an athlete. Also named Conference Offensive POY as a QB. Leti as an option QB led Moanalua to it's first berth in the D2 Hawai'i State Championship Playoffs. In addition Leti played DB and returned kicks for his team. In the post-season Leti was named West Offensive Player of the Game in the HUB All Star Game which matches the top seniors on the island of O'ahu. Leti also was priveleged to play in the Samoa Bowl in American Samoa this past Decemeber. Leti is being recruited as a Safety and verbally committed to the University of Hawai'i in the fall but must first qualify academically on his SAT.
RB Stanley Havili 6'1, 210 Cottonwood HS (Salt Lake City, UT)
Havili signed with signed with USC on Wednesday and will most likely compete at Fullback in the backfied with among others RB Hershel Dennis (part Samoan). Havili notbaly passed up attending BYU and may foresake going on an LDS mission while at USC. Havili was Utah 4-A All State RB and was All Utah Region 6 MVP. He had 2652 all purpose yard (including 1500 rushing yards and 1000 receiving yards) and scored 32 TDs in 2005. Havili was also named 1st Team All State as a Junior. Havili's older brother Sione completed his playing career at Weber State this past fall. Sione Havili was a 3 time First Team All State selectee at East HS in Salt Lake City.
RB Rocky Taloa 6'1, 22o Esperanza HS (Anaheim, CA)
Was seleced CIF Southern Section 2nd Team, 1st Team CIFSS Div 1, All Orange County Register 1st Team and Sunset Conference POY. Taloa finished second in Orange County rushing with with 2128 yards. He rushed for 25 TDs, and averaged 7.6 a carry and 152 a game. He will likely play at a junior collage next fall.
R Joe Halahuni 6'2, 220 Orting HS (WA)
Washington 2A Player of the Year, 1st Team All State (2A) as WR and Return Specialist and 2nd team All State as DB. 1st TeamAll Area Tacoma Tribune. Selected Honorable Mention NW Nuggets by Tacoma Tribune. Was named Nisqually League Offensive MVP for the 2nd year in a row. 38 receptions for 1000 yards and 13 TDs as Sr and had 33 receptions for 934 yards and 11 TDs as a junior. Signed LOI to attend Oregon State where he will most likely play TE.
R Peter Tuitupou 6'4, 218 Mountain View HS (Orem, UT)
Second-team all-state and first-team all-valley as a senior in 2005 ... Mountain View High (Utah) team captain ... 28 catches for 391 yards his senior year ... won two letters in football and three in basketball ... honor roll ... plans to serve an LDS church mission before enrolling at Utah. Recruited as TE but may develop into a OL when he returns from mission.
R Devin Unga 6'1, 201 Kahuku HS (La'ie, HI)
Helped lead Kahuku HS to State Championship. Will attend Oregon State with twin brother Kevin (Linebacker) as well as teammates Suaesi Tuimaunei and Kaulin Krebs. The four 2006 Kahuku graduates will join currently Kahuku alum at Oregon State and Jeremy Perry and Al Afalava. Selected 1st Team All State by the Honolulu Advertiser and Star Bulletin. Plays basketball and helped lead high school to State Championship as a junior.
This is the hardest area to chose because there are soooooo many Polynesians deserving of the selection based on post-season accolades and also the many who have signed LOI's to play college football.
OL Saia Falahola 6'2, 310 Trinity HS (Euless, TX)
Comes from the "Tongan" high school of Texas, Trinity High School. The high school in the past 10 years has produced standouts such as Ofa Mohetau (Texas Tech), Semisi Heimuli (Texas A&M) , Lee Foliaki (Texas A&m), Brendan Pahulu (Houston). Falahola follows another Tongan from Trinity (Alifaleti Likio) who attended Arizona State from 2002-03.
Was a leader on the Trinity High Texas 5A state champions in 2005 ... teammate of fellow Arizona State Sun Devil signee Dimitri Nance, a tailback ... selected to The Dallas Morning News' All-Area first-team ... selected first-team all-state on the offensive line by the Associated Press ... was selected to the All-Texas Class 5A first-team ... made first-team All-Texas in 5A by TexasFootball.com ... District 6-5A first-team offensive guard ... selected to the Fort Worth Star Telegram's Super Team as an offensive lineman ... named to the first-team of the Class 5A All-State squad by TSWA (Texas Sports Writer's Association) ... Euless Trinity (14-1) won the 5A Texas state Championship for the first time ever ... was the best offensive lineman on a team that rushed for 5,036 yards (492 yards per game, including 354.3 yards rushing) and scored 44.6 points per game ... won the Ray Verkerk Outstanding Lineman Award at Euless High ... will likely play guard or center.
OL Whitley Fehoko 6'0, 320 Farrington HS (Honolulu, HI)
The son of UH mascot, Vili the Warrior. Fehoko will attend San Diego State after verbally committing to Utah early in the recruiting process last September. 1st Team All State Honolulu Star Bulletin and 2nd Team All State Honolulu Advertiser. Was selected 1st Team All Conference. Participated in HUB All Star game at Aloha Stadium as well as the All American Bowl in Lafayette, LA. Has a younger brother Sam who attends Farrington who will b on the recruiting radar for the 2006-07 season.
OL Romney Fuga 6'2, 280 Edison HS (Huntington Beach, CA)
Recruited to BYU as a DT. Was selected 2nd Team All State Cal-Hi Sports 1st Team All CIF So Sec, 1st Team All CIF So Sec D1, LA Times Lineman of the year and 1st Team All LA, 1st Team DT by the Orange County Register as well as 1st Team All Conference. Participated in the California-Florida All Star game following the regular season. Plans to serve LDS mission following freshman year.
OL Mau Nomani 6'4, 275 Tigard HS (OR)
Signed with Oregon State where he may compete right away as a true freshman. Selected 2nd Team All State (4A). Also selected Honorable Mention for Tacoma Tribune's NW Nuggets Team. Also selected All Conference (Pac-9)
OL Sonny Tevaga 6'4, 364 Dominguez HS (Compton, CA)
Helped lead Dominguez to it's second CIF-Southern Section Championship in 2005. Will join brother Shannon Tevaga at UCLA. Tevaga was selected 2nd Team All State by Cal-Hi Sports. Notably Tevaga's fellow lineman at Dominguez, Tovia Utu was selected 1st Team All CIFSS D3, and 1st Team Long Beach Press Telegram Dream Team 1st Team.
The First Team Defense is soon to follow please feel free to send comments to aigafoundation@hotmail.com or visit powerprepsports.com
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