This year’s 2013 ASHSAA Varsity Football Championship match up was settled in the Battle of the Toas between the Warriors and the Vikings and the Clash of the Titans between the Lions and the Sharks. It’s the Tafuna Warriors (# 1) and the Samoana Sharks (# 2) that will face each other.

The last time these two gridiron teams went at it for the championship was back in 2009, not long after the September 29, 2009 Tsunami. That year the final game was postponed and this was the match-up used in the 60 Minutes program featuring American Samoa as the “Football Island.” The undefeated Tafuna Warriors went on to lose to the Sharks in a surprising two point 6 - 8 score, with former Head Coach Pepine Lauvao leading Samoana to the 2009-2010 Championship title.

This year, as everyone knows, the favored win is heavily slanted towards the still undefeated Tafuna Warriors, who have been setting records in almost every single game they’ve played this season.

But favors aren’t what the Sharks are looking to give out this year, as the spark of their defensive unit really shined during their first meeting with the Warriors three weeks ago — despite the huge gap in points that sent Tafuna home with another win.

ASHSAA ‘13 football highlights are brought to you by GHC Reid and Co. Ltd, Oloa o Leala, exclusive distributors of Coca Cola and Powerade — your family of fine beverages.

SEMI-FINAL MATCH RESULTS

BATTLE OF THE TOAS:  Warriors 36-Vikings 0

Despite the shutout Tafuna gave the Vikings, this one wasn’t an easy win for Tafuna. This was the only game where another team looked almost “even” considering the way the Vikings held them to an 8 - 0 score into half-time; and it was a first for the Warriors this season, as all their games — thus far — have gone into half time with either a 40-point lead or just total domination.

Fagaitua gave it their all, and did a splendid job of finally giving Tafuna a competitive game this season, after the huge first round loss of 66 unanswered points to Tafuna.

Tafuna on the other hand was tripping over minor mistakes — errors that they’ve hardly made this year, and that was a huge factor in the hard time against the Vikings in the first half of the game.

The majority of the Warriors unanswered 36-point victory were racked up in the second half of the game, as the Senior Captains for Tafuna stepped it up a notch and guided the Warriors to their usual rhythm of continuous end zone appearances.

CLASH OF THE TITANS: Sharks 37 - Lions 6

As surprising as it looked, this was by far the most points that Samoana has been able to score against the Lions or any of the top six teams in the league this year, as this match took a surprising turn against the Lions, who sent the first punch to the Sharks early in the game, with Leone taking back a fumble for the first touchdown of the game, to try and kill Samoana’s morale, early in the first quarter.

Leone pumped up sent the kick off after making the first touchdown of the game within the first two minutes, but it was rudely answered by Samoana with an 87-yard return to the end zone to lead by two points of 8 - 6. From then on, Samoana’s defensive unit basically carried the Sharks back to the finals again.

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

In keeping with our recognition of the toa spirit of the games leading up to the championship one, Samoa News selected players from each of the Semi-Final games to share the PLAYER OF THE WEEK title.

For the Battle of the Toas, Lauina Futi, AJ Filoiali’i, Joshua Lauvao, and Taupule Asotau, all from Tafuna High School, are the Players of the Week from this match up.

And in the Clash of the Titans, Samoa News selected Frankie Seiuli, Bon Autele, and Lauoi Mageo, all from Samoana High School to be the Players of the Week from this match up as they were the effective game changers on defense — and basically bit off any roars from the Lions.