The American Samoa High School Athletic Association (ASHSAA) nears the opening of its 2015 Football Season, and word is they’ve moved it up a day —from Friday, Sept. 11 to Thursday, Sept. 10 — this week.

Samoa News Pre-Season Promos bring you the the Wildcats of Nu’uuli Voc-Tech High School, which are one of the underrated teams in the league.

This year the Wildcats will field both Varsity and Junior Varsity teams — a first for them, in about ten years, as they normally have the lowest student enrollment in all of American Samoa. However, it looks like that’s changed, as it has kept its ranks open for those football players in private high schools that are not fielding teams in this year’s season — the Kanana Fou Stallions and the Fa’asao Marist High School Crusaders.

The JV football team head coach is Rod Atafua, who is also the Wildcats school principal this year. Atafua is well-known on the local gridiron as the Wildcats made quite a name for themselves under the supervision of Head Coach Atafua, where they made the play-offs twice in a row a couple of years back — but last year they came up short.

Taking the reins of head coach from Atafua for the Wildcats Varsity Football Program this season, is Alvin Mamea, who is also a teacher at NVTHS. Mamea told Samoa News that his team has been practicing throughout the summer, and there have been some huge changes to their program, and Samoa News notes with the changes they've made to their coaching staff, their team just might be the team to beat this year.

“So far we've been preparing for the upcoming season all summer,” Mamea said and noted that as of three weeks ago,”we are about 85% ready.” At that time, he said they were still waiting for some of their players to come back on island, “but with the number of kids that show up to practice, I have a strong feeling that we will be fully equipped and prepared for the season."

According to Mamea, they have a total of 40 players overall to seal the deal for the Wildcats this season.

What’s different? Mamea said, We’ve changed the game plan for our team compared to last year and the previous years. Number two, we are working hard to have our players disciplined on and off the field."

He pointed out that in previous years, the biggest issue “was trying to discipline these kids. We have to work with them on the small issues like coming to practice consistently, and showing up on time and to make sure that they learn something everyday before they leave this field.”

Like the Warrior’s head coach, Mamea spoke about the impact of the Troy Polamalu Fa'aSamoa Initiative this summer on his team.

“That was a good camp, it had a huge positive impact for not only for us coaches, but for the kids as well. We've taken everything we've learned and we've managed to instill it in our game plan for this season."

He added, "I took a lot of those techniques, a lot of those methods, and everything that I’ve learned during the camp, and I am using it on my team, along with some of the input and ideas from my coaching staff."

As for the Nu'uuli Wildcats goal for this year’s football season, the Wildcats Head Coach stated, "Number one, I want all my senior football players this year to go to college after high school and play football. Number two, we want to win a championship, we want to get up there.”

He said, "Nu'uuli Voc-Tech has been at the bottom of the food chain for so long, that we are trying to change the culture, change the mindset of these kids, and instill in them a positive winning attitude. We want to win this year, and we've got some good players. If they show up on time, I think we can do it."

The new NVTHS football head coach sends out his thank you to “all of those whohave supported him and his team prepare for the upcoming football season — there’s the Wildcats principal Rod Atafua. “for allowing me this opportunity,” and of course his coaching staff, “for supporting me at the position of Head Coach, if it wasn't for these guys, I don't think I could do any of it."

He concluded, “I also want to thank Carol Baqui A'asa, Liza Mamea and our PTA side who've been working really hard on getting us new uniforms. A special thanks also to all the parents of my players, for letting them come out to practice everyday during the summer, I know you all have family and church related events going on this summer, but you took the time out to let your kids come to practice, so on that note, thank you all very much for your support.”