Kailua's Marcus Malepeai celebrates with teammate Matt Bishop after a touchdown scored against the West. Sylvia Lee | SL

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East and West squads gathered on the field after the conclusion of the HUB Goodwill Senior Bowl. Evan Asato | SL

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In the Hawaii Union Builders Goodwill Senior Bowl at Mililani's John Kauinana Stadium, the East won 20-7 over the West.  However, it was a victory for everyone involved because players from both teams relished the opportunity to represent their schools on the football field for the last time on Friday night. Each school had a least one representative and the players from the O'ahu Interscholastic Association Red and White and the Interscholastic League of Honolulu got to be teammates for a week. For the seniors, this moment was bittersweet for all of them, but many have aspirations to play in college.

Rod York of Mililani coached the West squad and Arnold Martinez of Moanalua coached the East squad and both of them enjoyed coaching these young men in their final high school game.

"It's definitely a privilege and an honor to be selected, this is my second time. It's a great opportunity for coaches to collaborate and work together. I want to thank the HUB and everyone who sponsors the game, they do a great job for the kids and great way of recognizing the kids. It's not about me, it's about getting the players together and that's why it's a goodwill game by creating camaraderie with everybody," said Martinez.

"It's awesome, I feel honored to be selected," said Rod York. "That's been the biggest enjoyment is working with these guys and getting to know them a little bit. These are the best all-star kids, they're so humble and it makes it that much greater that I can work with them."

The coaches got to know players they competed against during the season and these are the same players that gave them nightmares as they prepared for their upcoming games, but this was an opportunity to learn about these players as people.

"Take Isaac Hurd for example," said York, praising Campbell's quarterback. "The kid answers 'yes, sir' or 'no, sir' he doesn't get on his guys when he gets sacked and he's always level headed. I've always heard that, but just to experience a guy like him, there's a reason why he's an MVP and the offensive player of the game. There's a reason why he's successful because it starts with his attitude. It's the same with these other guys, especially the Punahou guys, we lost to them in the championship and they come here and they're just so humble so it's and it's an honor to work with these guys."

"We have great kids and great players, it doesn't matter where you play. They just love to compete and if you get them to focus the right way and it's a joy to coach them. It's fun and you dream a little bit and say, 'Man, if I had these guys, we could do something special'," laughed Martinez.

The wet conditions and the rain made it difficult for the offenses to get going, but players on defense on both teams showcased their talents.

The East defense held the West to 15-yards of net rushing and had three interceptions. Michael Bender (Moanalua), Max Look ('Iolani) and Joshua Ramelb (Moanalua) each had an interception. Ratu Mafileo (Moanalua), Peter Sagapolutele (Saint Louis) and Fitou Fisiiahi (Kaiser) each had a sack for the East. Jaisen Sanchez (Saint Louis) had three tackles and four passes-defended. Gerime Bradley (McKinley) and Antonio Copeland (Moanalua) had three pass defended each. Kahuku's Clifford Ramseyer had four tackles and a fumble recovery.

Kalaheo's Makena Johnston led the East defense with six tackles and Jacob Lacaden (Saint Louis) contributed five tackles and Tanner Oshiro (Saint Louis) also chipped in five tackles.

"It's an honor, especially coming from a Division 2 school and we didn't have a winning season. I had to come out to show everybody that we all work hard just like everyone else and it pays off in the end. It was fun and everyone was respectful and the experience was awesome because everyone had the same mutual respect for each other and we were able to know each other as people, not only as football players. I made a lot of new friends and it's going to last forever, I'm going to see them outside of football and it's going to be a good memory for me," said Johnston.

"It was fun meeting people from different areas and how they play football. I met a lot of good friends and maybe they could be my future teammates," said Lacaden.

When asked who on the team he got to learn better as people, Lacaden replied, "Definitely Mathias Tuitele-Iafeta (McKinley) and Aaron Kesi (Farrington), they were helping me back up at linebacker. You have to trust everyone at linebacker and definitely on the d-line, everyone had to gel so well in three practices. It was great, but those two guys are the guys I became good friends with."

For the West, Pearl City's Kristian Va'ana-Kikuyama led the defense with six tackles, one of them was a tackle-for-loss.

"I'm really thankful for my family and the Man Above for putting me here on this field. It was fun, I got to know other people and other players because eventually we'll go off to college together. It's a little sad that this is my last game and I have the passion to play, I hope I can play ball in college," said Va'ana-Kikuyama.

Leilehua's Maake Muti had a sack, Waipahu's Mark Failauga had four tackles, and Radford's Andrew Killen had an interception along with four tackles.

"It's an honor to come out here to play and represent my school knowing that my hard work paid off and they gave me an opportunity to come out," said Killen.

He remarked it was a little awkward at first getting to know his new teammates he played against during the season. However, he said, "We have to break the barriers down and get used to each other and feed off of each other during the game. During the game you get a feel of how their personality is."

The Mililani Trojans were well-represented on the West defense. Jacob Afele had five tackles and Mata Leota had an interception and Kaimana Wilson had a fumble recovery. Keli'i "KK" Padello had two tackles, a sack and two quarterback hurries.

Many players on both teams decorated their helmets with stickers they collected from other teammates. A lot of them hope to keep these as souvenirs and to perpetuate the memories they made during this time.

"It's the bond that matters, but the stickers are the evidence of that bond," said Lacaden.