FILE – The Lahainaluna High School soccer workforce maintain fingers to thank the followers after a sport on Oct. 21, 2023, in Lahaina, Hawaii. Captains of the workforce whose city was destroyed by a lethal wildfire attended to Super Bowl in Las Vegas as friends of the NFL.

Mengshin Lin/AP

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Mengshin Lin/AP

FILE – The Lahainaluna High School soccer workforce maintain fingers to thank the followers after a sport on Oct. 21, 2023, in Lahaina, Hawaii. Captains of the workforce whose city was destroyed by a lethal wildfire attended to Super Bowl in Las Vegas as friends of the NFL.

Mengshin Lin/AP

High college soccer gamers took half on this yr’s Super Bowl as honorary captains in the course of the pre-game coin toss, six months after a lethal wildfire destroyed their Maui hometown.

At the massive sport, 4 Lahainaluna High School soccer workforce members — Morgan “Bula” Montgomery, Teva Loft, Kaulana Tihada and Kuola Watson — have been joined by their coaches Dean Rickard and Garret Tihada and former head coach Bobby Watson.

In August, the deadliest wildfire in recent U.S. history swept by way of the city of Lahaina, killing no less than 100 folks. More than 5,000 residents have been displaced.

The NFL has pledged funding to assist exchange tools for the highschool soccer workforce and different native soccer packages.

“The Lahainaluna High School football team embodies the power of football to bring people together, even in the most challenging of circumstances,” mentioned NFL Senior Vice President of Social Responsibility Anna Isaacson, in a information launch. “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 inspiring and rebuilding their community.”