ScoringLive staff
December 8, 2016, 12:48pm
Rosters announced for Life Champion Senior Bowl
Baldwin's Jonovan-Taje Akaka catches a pass over Saint Louis' Ronson Timbreza in the 2015 Life Champion Senior Bowl. Pete Caldwell | SLThe third annual Life Champion Senior Bowl, which will take place Saturday afternoon at Vidinha Stadium in Lihue, will feature 132 student athletes from 39 different schools.
Open Division state champion Saint Louis, Division II state runner-up Kapaa and Kapolei have the most selections with 10 each. Farrington and Waianae have the next highest with seven apiece.
The bowl game has players from Oahu, Hawaii Island, Maui and Kauai, as well as players from Guam and Samoa.
The rosters for each team were seperated by a draft format. Instead of picking by best player available, the rounds of the draft were done by position, with last year's losing team (Team Black) picking first. Saint Louis quarterbacks coach Vinny Passas was the general manager for Team Black while Punahou offensive line coach Reggie Torres did the selections for Team White.
Some of the state's top receivers headline the selections for Team Black. Pass catchers on the Team black include Kapolei's Jaymin Sarono and Wyatt Perez, Mililani's Andrew Valladares, Moanalua's Ryan Ramones, Farrington's Kingston Moses-Sanchez and Konawaena's Kamakana Ching. Sarono, Perez, Valladares, Ramones and Moses-Sanchez were all-OIA Division I selections while Ching was a ScoringLive All-Hawaii Division II First Team receiver in 2015.
Top defensive players for Team Black include Kahuku cornerback Stokes Nihipali-Botelho and linebackers Shawn Borges (Damien), Tyler Vasega (Kapolei) and Jaylen Gonzales (Waianae).
Team White arguably has the best offensive player in the bowl game in OIA Red Conference Offensive Player of the Year Challen Faamatau, a running back for Farrington. Waianae's Jaren Ulu, Pac-Five's Ryan Johnson and Pearl City's Kekainalu Simon are the signal-callers for Team White.
Top defenders for Team White include Kapolei linebacker Omar Mareko, Saint Louis cornerback Jalen Saole and safeties Helam Baldomero (Iolani) and Donavan Defang (Lahainaluna).