(From Mom’s trip journal: Told from her perspective)
Game Day! The Samoana High School and Tafuna High School have both made it to the championship playoffs in football and the rivalry is escalating and both are ready for game day. Yesterday, throughout the villages team colors were on display with banners, flags, and posters. There was everything from carefully painted banners spouting “fight” phrases to shrubs decorated with little strips of fabric tied all over its branches. It was really neat to see such community support and team pride. The Samoans love their football.
We had a bit of a lazy morning then headed to Samoana High School for a pep rally that was supposed to start at noon. All the students and teachers were dressed in their Royal Blue & White school colors of the Samoana Sharks. Some kids had their faces painted, there were painted t-shirts, and a variety of uses for the school i ‘e. The band was playing and several students let cheers which included traditional fight songs as well as a few Samoan songs. It was a lot of fun feeling the excitement of the students. During the pep rally the football team had warm-up drills on the football field. At 1:00 the buses started to pull up in front of the school to load up students for the trip to the stadium. My rental truck came in handy for toting some of Jessie’s teach friends to the game. I took a few of the blue streamers off of the school fence and tied them on my antenna so we would be identified as Shark fans. The area was active with fans from both teams as we made our way to the stadium.
As we arrived we could see that the stadium seats were almost full. There were 6 of us and we managed to find a spot, near the 50 yard line but up high enough to see well, where we could all sit together. The group included me, Jessie, World Teach friends Max, Matt, and Bobby, and another teacher, Femi. The crowd was excited and cheered and sang throughout the game. There was a pretty lengthy pre-game intro by some high up official who talked for quite some time thanking people and reminding the students about playing a fair game. There was a prayer and the national anthems, including both the US anthem and the American Samoan anthem. Finally the coin toss and the game started between the Samoana Sharks and the Tafuna Warriors.
The first half was very exciting and ended with Sharks – 7, Warriors – 0. At half time cheerleaders from both teams performed at center field. The second half the Sharks held the score to 7-0 until just before the end of the 3rd quarter, when the Warriors ran a running play that pushed through the line to score. The play of the game was on the extra point attempt; the Sharks blocked the field goal attempt! The score was now Sharks – 7, Warriors - 6. The Sharks managed to hold the line for the remainder of the game and took the team to a 7-6 win. As the clock counted down the last 2 minutes of the game, the crowd started to go wild with excitement. As the clock ran out and the Samoana Sharks became the 2009 Football Champions, the lady next to me turned around to me screaming with excitement and gave me the biggest hug. The kids were beyond crazy. The coaches held a congratulatory talk with the team and students out on the field. They also said a prayer of thanks. This very morning the quarterback of the team buried his father who passed away earlier in the week. He wanted to play the game for his dad and during the prayer following the game was down on his knee in tears knowing his father would be proud.
As we headed to the parking lot the crowd continued to cheer and yell. We loaded the truck and pulled into line to exit the stadium. There was a string of cars a mile long heading out and the streets were lined with students from both teams cheering as the cars passed. The stadium is in the heart of Tafuna country so as we headed out of the area back toward Samoana High School, the stream of cars sporting Royal Blue made an impromptu parade, honking, cheering, and waving to the fans that lined the streets. This continued all the way back to SHS. It was really a lot of fun to be part of the excitement.
We decided to have dinner at Sadie’s by the Sea and Jessie’s WT friends joined us. We had good food and I enjoyed visiting with Jessie’s friends. It was a nice dinner and time at Sadie’s. After dinner Jessie and I went to the McDonalds in Fagatogo, a village just past the school, to take care of my diet coke addiction. The place was hopping with the Samoana football team and students celebrating their victory. Jessie chatted with a couple of her students while I waited in line for our drinks. I enjoy seeing the interaction between Jessie and her students. I get a kick out of them coming up and calling her “Miss”. After McD’s, we returned home and did some house cleaning. Jessie’s roommate will be home sometime tomorrow and we have our stuff strewn all over the place. We did some laundry and tidied up while chatting so time went by quickly. After getting things cleaned up, it was time for a shower and bed.
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| 11.28.2009_Championship |
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