Waimea’s Matagiese to join best in nation

By Lanaly Cabalo - The Garden Island

Published: Tuesday, November 18, 2008 1:14 AM HST

Waimea High School senior Siasau Matagiese — otherwise known as Saui — is the lone football player from the island of Kaua‘i invited to next month’s inaugural the Hawai‘i All-Star Football Classic to be played at Aloha Stadium.

The all-star game is said to attract national attention as it will feature some of the best Hawai‘i and American Samoa high school football prospects and pit them against those from the Mainland.

“I was excited to hear that I was the only guy from Kaua‘i invited because I thought of a couple of guys from Kaua‘i High School who I thought would get chosen over me,” Matagiese said.

Matagiese finished his final season with the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation earlier this month with 13.5 tackles (11 solo, 5 assisted), 5.5 tackles for loss and an interception. He is currently being recruited by two Division I Mainland colleges.

“It’s another game after the high school season I can play in,” he said. “It’s supposed to be the top players in the country playing in it, so I figured it would be good for me to go.”

This, he hopes, will give him an opportunity to get a feel for what it’s like to play football at the next level.

“A lot of the Mainland players are a lot bigger than us here, so if I can get a look at how they play now, hopefully it will put me that much ahead of them,” he said. “I’ll probably get a better look at the other players who are trying to play in college too.”

Matagiese is familiar with some of the local players who already committed to Football Classic having met them at camps — Mana Rosa of Baldwin High School on Maui and Jordan Loeffler of Hilo High School from the Big Island.