Team World ready: Rossong starts at QB (Tonight 7:30, TV info)


Team USA vs. The World game kicks off at 7.30pm on

Wednesday, February 2 at Austin Westlake High School Stadium

Not even unseasonably low temperatures and icy cold weather can dampen the enthusiasm and expectation of the World Team as they prepare to take on Team USA on Wednesday.

The best 45 junior (aged 19 and under) international American football players from eight countries and four continents will take on 45 of the most promising U.S. high school-aged prospects at Austin Westlake Stadium in the Texas state capital at 7.30pm CT on February 2.

The World Team hails from such relative football outposts as American Samoa, Austria and Japan, while in opposition Team USA boasts standouts heading to some of the most prestigious and successful college football programs in the country.

World Team players traveled a total of 135,800 miles to arrive in Austin, a distance equivalent to 54-1/2 trips from New York City to Los Angeles.


Photo Credit: Shawn Hubbard

The Head Coach says:

“I think we are ready,” said World Team Head Coach GREG MARSHALL, who is head coach of the University of Western Ontario Mustangs. “The players had a great week of practices, and we got a lot of things in. System wise, it really came together in the last couple of days. We are looking forward to a good game. I know USA has an outstanding team, but we are prepared and ready to go.

“In a very short time period, the players came together as a team. Of course we came down here to win a football game, but we always came to have a great experience and come together as a team. I am very proud of this team, because they certainly did that.”

The players say:

“It’s going to be a cold game, and a lot of the American boys won’t be used to that compared to a lot of us,” said Canadian quarterback BEN ROSSONG. “We are a family now. It started out that a lot of guys didn’t talk to people outside of their country, but we have broken down the boundaries and are close with one another.

“It’s been great to learn a different style of football, and learn from a great group of coaches. And I am really excited about playing in the game.”

“The team is ready for the game,” said wide receiver LAWRENCE TUIOTI-DANIELSON from American Samoa. “We have worked hard in practices. You have to work well together to be a team and I think do and we are ready to face USA. We are one team, one heart, one soul.”

In opposition:

Led by Austin (Texas) Westlake High School head coach DARREN ALLMAN, the U.S. Under-19 National Team is selected by USA Football, the national governing body of the sport and the official football development partner of the NFL and NFL Players Association. The team is comprised of 45 high school seniors who will sign their national letters of intent on the morning of Feb. 2 and represent their country that night. Team USA includes players from 20 states and Washington, D.C.

A national team exemption granted by the NCAA allows high school seniors to play for USA Football and not have their participation count as one of their two permitted all-star game appearances.

The U.S. Under-19 National Team is 4-0 in international competition. Team USA won the gold medal – going 3-0 – in the summer of 2009 at the IFAF Junior World Championship in Canton, Ohio. The U.S. also won the 2010 Team USA vs. The World game, 17-0, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Captains:

World Team:

#2 — Joel Seutter, DL, Canada, University of Saskatchewan

#3 — Steven Lumbala, RB, Canada, University of Calgary

#23 — Jake Harty, WR, Canada, Henry Wisewood High School

#31 — Beck Coulter, LB, American Samoa, Eastern Arizona College

#44 — Tavita Katina, DL, American Samoa, Hawaii commit

#70 – Michael Habetin, OL, Austria, Swarco Raiders

Team USA:

#7 — Stephon Tuitt, DE, Monroe Area (Ga.) H.S., Notre Dame commit

#15 — Kiehl Frazier, QB, Shiloh Christian (Ark.) H.S., Auburn commit

#24 — Wayne Lyons, CB, Dillard (Fla.) H.S., Stanford commit

#80 — Jaxon Shipley, WR, Brownwood (Texas) H.S., Texas commit

In charge of the game:

Wednesday night’s referee, BILL LeMONNIER, was the referee for last month’s BCS National Championship Game between Auburn and Oregon. In addition to the United States, the game’s officiating crew will have members from Norway and Mexico.

Coin Toss:

Air Force Technical Sergeant DAMIEN M. LARCHE, former University of Texas Longhorn and current Minnesota Vikings long snapper CULLEN LOEFFLER and Nigerian native and Houston Texans defensive tackle AMOBI OKOYE will serve as honorary captains at the second annual Team USA vs. The World game. TSgt. Larche and Loeffler will represent Team USA while Okoye holds the honor for the World Team. Conducting the coin toss is USA Football chairman and veteran NFL team executive CARL PETERSON.

In preparation for this year and next:

The World Team is the culmination of 12 months of preparation for International Federation of American Football (IFAF) staff, coaches and players. Scouting the best young players from four continents not only involved assembling the final 45-man roster, but also a Development Team of younger players that has practiced and prepared with the World Team in Austin all week.

“We felt it was important to give as many players as possible the opportunity to come here and be exposed to this level of football,” said IFAF Development Team coordinator TIM ENGER. “Once the coaching staff picked the main roster, we looked at the next generation of kids that are born in 1992 or 1993 who can potentially come back to this team next year.

“This is great for the kids, because you don’t really know what is out there until you come to an event like this. So the players come here, and get inspired by it and we hope that they spread the word when they go back to their home countries.”

2010 revisited:

Some may consider the clash between Americans who have been playing their nation’s game all their lives and relative newcomers to the sport a mismatch, but at the inaugural game in Fort Lauderdale in 2010, only 17 point separated the rivals. In a 17-0 win at Lockhart Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., the U.S. took until the final play of the first half to put points on the board.

Live online:

Live coverage of Team USA vs. The World can be enjoyed by fans around the world by tuning into USA Today online partner [URL]http://www.highschoolsports.net.

Live and delayed television coverage in the United States and internationally:

The second annual Team USA vs. The World football game will be nationally televised live on Fox College Sports Central as well as on seven regional cable networks. Among the outlets broadcasting the game on tape delay is NFL Network, which will air the game on Friday, Feb. 11, at 4:30 p.m. ET.

In all, Team USA vs. The World will be available in more than 100 million households live or on tape delay in the United States.

Internationally, the game will be shown to a 1 million-strong audience on the Armed Forces Television and also to viewers in Israel and Turkey on Fox Sports Middle East. The game also will be streamed live online at www.HighSchoolSports.net, a partner of USA TODAY.

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