One of the bigger developments during the high school football off-season is Pooch Taase’s return to coaching. The longtime Faga’itua High School skipper stepped away a few years back, with Joe Iosefa directing the Vikings program since then.

Taase is resuming his post on the sidelines with his acceptance of the head coach position at Fa’asao Marist High School, leading the Crusaders football program. In an interview with 93KHJ’s John Raynar, Taase said he spoke with Faga’itua’s head coach and principal before making the move.

Taasa said, “First of all, I would like to say thank you to the Vikings, all the years I spent there. I just want to say thank you to them, that’s where I graduated from. However, life goes on, and I move on. But I did approach Coach Joey and also the principal when I was in the motion of doing this move. So I would just like to thank all the parents and past Faga’itua Vikings. I really enjoyed everything. But I moved on, and I’ll be a Marist Crusader for this year.”

American Samoa’s high school football season kicks off Friday, September 11th a Veterans Stadium.