If there's anyone who knows a thing or two about coaching a football team to a big win, it's Sterling Carvalho.
During his time as the Kahuku head coach, the Kaua‘i native led the Red Raiders to three consecutive HHSAA Open Division championships from 2021 to 2023, the only three-peat in the program's storied history.
After an abrupt release from his position in the spring of 2025, a legal process between Carvalho and the OIA ensued. Despite an effort in court to return to the Kahuku sidelines, Carvalho began the 2025 season away from the game.
Carvalho, a teacher at Hawai‘i Technology Academy, wasn't quite sure what next for him in the coaching realm until he was approached by Galu and Diane Tagovailoa. Flag football is debuting as an Olympic sport in 2028, and American Samoa is looking to qualify. Carvalho was offered the role of head coach, which he accepted.
"I love it," Carvalho told Aloha State Daily of his experience thus far. "Football is football, and I played flag football for a long time. I was blessed with this opportunity to coach the national team for American Samoa, so we put together a team."
The first assignment for Carvalho was to assemble a roster, so he flew to the West Coast and held tryouts, forming a team of eight players primarily from California and Arizona, all of whom were of Samoan ethnicity. The team then went to Ningbo, China, for the 2025 International Federation of American Football Men's Asia-Oceania Flag Football Championship in October, finishing in third place out of 15 teams.
American Samoa's third-place finish in the IFAF Asia-Oceania Championship was enough to earn a bid at the 2026 IFAF World Championships in Düsseldorf, Germany, in August. Of the 16 teams in the tournament, American Samoa's IFAF world ranking of 33 was the lowest in the field. But the team gained a major boost when quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa, brother of Tua and son of Galu and Diane, joined the squad.
Following a 21-7 opening victory over Australia, American Samoa's true introduction to the tournament, as well as the flag football world, was its contest against the United States, the world's No. 1 team, the mighty squad that hadn't lost since 2012, a battle between the highest-ranked team in the tournament against the lowest.
American Samoa made world headlines with a 38-32 win over Team USA, led by Taulia Tagovailoa's five passing touchdowns. The Americans were handed their first loss in 14 years.
For those that have followed Carvalho's career, American Samoa's win over USA may have hearkened back to Kahuku's historic 2023 win over St. John Bosco of California, who were defending national champions at the time. The win vaulted the Red Raiders to a No. 9 national ranking by MaxPreps.
"Team USA and St. John Bosco were great experiences. Beating the nationally ranked defending national champs, it was amazing. But beating USA on the world level, what no team was able to do in 14 years, it was very surreal," Carvalho said. "But give all thanks and glory to our Father in heaven for allowing me that opportunity to be coach and having the players. It was all about the players. They did an amazing job. They executed everything that we schemed and practiced. I was just so proud of them.
"Just so happy for the country of American Samoa. ... Nobody else outside of our team ever thought we could beat Team USA, but we believed. We were dreaming about the Olympics, dreaming about beating all these national powers within the world, especially Team USA, and we believed that we could."
With the victory, American Samoa won its group but lost 24-14 to Canada in the quarterfinals. The team took fifth place out of 16 teams, though only the top three finishers [USA, Italy and Canada] earned Olympic bids.
Three spots have been secured for the 2028 Games, while three more are up for grabs to make up the inaugural six-team field. American Samoa is certainly in the running, and their road to qualifying will involve a lot of travel.
Next spring, the team will head to Bali, Indonesia for a regional tournament, as well as a continental tournament in Australia. A talent identification camp will be held as well to see if there are other players that could be seen as contributors to the team.
If all goes well for American Samoa, then the squad will head to Montreal, Canada in June 2028 for another qualification tournament from June 1-4, where two bids are up for grabs. The final spot before the 2028 Games will be awarded at another tournament in Orlando the following week.
Carvalho spent decades coaching high school football, which involved the traditional 11-on-11 format of gridiron football. Flag football, which is 5-on-5 on a smaller field, has been a new, refreshing challenge.
"Flag is definitely different (from gridiron football), right? It pushes me even further as a coach," Carvalho said. "It's just a different mentality. I'm a little more energized because it's something new, something I always have to scheme, research, draw up things. It revitalized me to get out of my comfort zone, to expand and explore a different type of football out there. You're going against countries, and you're going against the world now."
Though flag football brought back Carvalho back to the sidelines, he says he hasn't closed the door on coaching high school football. Some notable jobs have opened across the state during his time away. Would he be open to a return to the high school ranks while maintaining his mission to lead American Samoa to an Olympic bid?
"I probably could juggle the two. I definitely do miss [high school football] because I miss working with the kids, helping the youth and the rising generation to be better people in all aspects, in all areas of life, and so I do miss that," Carvalho said.
"But right now, I'm just so grateful for the opportunity to coach the national team. ... We'll see where our Father in heaven takes me and his plan that he continues to have for me. I'm just grateful for the opportunity that I currently have now."
Christian Shimabuku can be reached at christian@alohastatedaily.com.
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