When Teva Loft, Morgan “Bula” Montgomery, Kaulana Tihada and Kuola Watson were called to the principal’s office Jan. 25 at Lahainaluna High School, the four seniors thought they were all in trouble.
Instead, the message via Zoom call from the NFL and Marcus Mariota was that the Lunas football captains and three coaches are going to Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas — they will all be part of the coin flip prior to the game.
“It almost seems unreal, we never pictured it, we didn’t even think about it,” Watson said last week Monday. “We all went into the meeting thinking that we were going to get talked to, we thought we were all in trouble.
“Marcus Mariota came on the phone on a Zoom call and just told us, just dropped a bomb on us pretty much. … He just told us that we’re going to the Super Bowl. I’m really excited, I’ve never even been to an NFL game before.”
Tihada said last Tuesday, “I am very excited, yeah, we’re so lucky to have this trip,” adding that the coin flip “is going to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It’s, like, unbelievable.”
Tihada also thought the foursome had been called to the principal’s office because they were in trouble.
“A little bit, yeah, it was in the back of my mind,” Tihada said. “Then Marcus came on the Zoom meeting with some other NFL people and he said he was taking us to the Super Bowl and we were just shocked.”
Loft added, “I thought the same thing, I thought we were going to get lectured. It was a good surprise, though, just seeing Marcus Mariota on the Zoom call. I thought it was going to be something good when I saw him.”
The overwhelming theme from all the Lunas who are making the trip is that the publicity generated from them being there can help with the ongoing recovery efforts from the Aug. 8 wildfire that devastated Lahaina.
“It means a lot, just to show everybody that we’re doing OK,” Watson said. “The Super Bowl is the biggest platform that I can think of. I’m still in shock to this day. I don’t really have any words to say.”
The Watson home is still standing in the Hawaiian Homes neighborhood near the Lahaina Civic Center, while across the street the Tihadas’ family home was destroyed by the fire.
Watson has been interviewed by numerous national and international media outlets since the fire delayed their season that ended with a 5-1 record — he knows that the opportunity to shed more light on the plight and difficulties of rebuilding the town will come on the trip to Las Vegas.
“Whatever I can do personally, whatever we can do to help out Lahaina as representatives of the Lahainaluna football team,” Watson said. “Just helping out how ever we can, spreading the word, and I don’t know, maybe shedding some light on the town, bringing some pride. I don’t know, it’d be pretty cool if I see one of my friends at the Super Bowl.”
Loft, who is living with his father in Napili after his mother’s house in Lahaina was destroyed by the fire, has never been to Las Vegas nor has he seen an NFL game of any kind.
“It’s going to be crazy, I don’t have the words to describe it,” Loft said.
Montgomery said Saturday at the Maui Interscholastic League round-robin wrestling tournament that he also was without the complete words to describe the feeling.
“I’m just stoked, just speechless,” Montgomery said. “The day that me and all the others found out we got called into the office and we thought we were in trouble. Once we got the news, Marcus Mariota, he was the one that broke it to us, we were like frozen for a second, looking at each other. Just like, were all just like shook. We didn’t believe him at first.”
Keith Amemiya is the President of the Downtown Athletic Club of Hawaii and Chair of the Governor’s Sports Task Force and was one of the first to receive word from the NFL and Mariota’s Motiv8 Foundation that the Super Bowl invitation was coming.
“I’m so excited and happy for them. For all that they’ve accomplished under unimaginable circumstances, no one deserves it more than them,” Amemiya said in a text to The Maui News last Tuesday. “Through it all, they’ve made Lahaina extremely proud and have served as an inspiration to the entire state and beyond. They’re the hope and promise that we need on the long road to recovery.”
Tihada has been to Las Vegas — his older brother Josh Tihada played collegiately at Nevada Las Vegas — and has seen an NFL game in person, but he is also excited about the opportunity to continue to spread the word on the situation that remains complicated in Lahaina.
“Oh, yeah, this is an opportunity to get awareness back to Lahaina,” Kaulana Tihada said. “It’s going to put the spotlight back on Lahaina, just bring back more awareness and more coverage to Lahaina and just tell us that we cannot forget about this town, that we’ve still got to rebuild and stuff.”
The Tihada family is still living in temporary hotel space in Kahana.
“It’s a little different from living in my old house, but we’re very lucky to have a place to stay because there’s some people that are camping, so we’re very lucky,” Tihada said.
Tihada can’t wait to share the Super Bowl experience with his friends.
“Oh my gosh, that’s going to be unbelievable, that’s going to be amazing,” Tihada said. “We want to represent Lahaina well.”
Lahainaluna head coach Dean Rickard was told of the invite while he was snowboarding at Lake Tahoe. He confirmed the invite in a phone interview with The Maui News last Tuesday before boarding a plane home.
Lunas coaches Rickard, Bobby Watson and Garret Tihada will also make the trip. NFL Films has already released a 30-minute documentary on the Lunas’ 2023 season and this trip will be part of a longer documentary that is in the works.
“Well, who wouldn’t be excited, right?” Rickard said via phone last week. “It is crazy. I don’t know all the details yet, but all I heard was that we were invited and who wouldn’t want to be invited, right? So a lot of the details haven’t been given to me yet — all I know is that me, coach Garret, coach Watson and Kaulana, Teva, Bula and Kuola are all going to the Super Bowl.
“I know it has something to do with the NFL Films video that was put out. They are continuing to keeping that story going and they wanted to have us as guests to the Super Bowl. When this opportunity arose, I quickly raised my hand and said, ‘Yeah, we’ll go.’ “
The NFL made the official announced today that the four players and three coaches from Lahainaluna will serve as the honorary coin toss captains at Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas on Sunday, Feb. 11.
Mariota will narrate a special introductory video before members of the football team walk onto the field for the Super Bowl LVIII coin toss.
“The Lahainaluna High School football team embodies the power of football to bring people together, even in the most challenging of circumstances,” NFL Senior Vice President of Social Responsibility Anna Isaacson said in the NFL news release. “We are honored to have members of the Lahainaluna football team join us as coin toss captains at Super Bowl LVIII to recognize their incredible efforts in rebuilding their community.”
“The school would like to thank the NFL and its partners for this unimaginable opportunity and their continued support for Lahaina,” Lahainaluna High School Principal Richard Carosso said in the release. “We are very excited for our coaches and players to be a part of the Super Bowl and are proud of how well they represent the values and spirit of their team, the school, and the Lahaina community.”
Through the NFL Foundation, the NFL has provided the Lahainaluna High School football team and two other local football programs – the Lahaina Intermediate School and Lahaina Chiefs Pop Warner team – with grants to fund new equipment.
Thanks to additional support from USA Football and Riddell, the NFL is replacing all football equipment, including helmets, shoulder pads, girdles, jerseys and pants for the Lahainaluna High School and Lahaina Intermediate School football teams. In addition, the NFL will provide those items as well as footballs, mouth pieces, cleats, blocking pads and tackling sleds to the Lahaina Chiefs Pop Warner team.
Today's breaking news and more in your inbox
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7rq3UoqWer6NjsLC5jq6lnJmkmrSwvsiznJ1nYmV%2FdXuPa2alrZ6WwG6zzqKloGWkpHq0wc%2BeqWaan6y5brjVoqCiZZGoeqm7zaipmqqpYrCwtc1mq6iro2KworzTmqCnq18%3D