Team Stars & Stripes have named four players who will captain the all-star team of NCAA non-scholarship student-athletes against the CONADEIP All-Stars in the fifth annual Tazón de Estrellas (Bowl of the Stars) this Saturday, December 21.
Under head coach Don De Waard of Central College, the 52 seniors from 27 Division III schools across the United States representing Team Stars & Stripes will play at the 36,000-capacity Estadio Tecnológico on the Tec de Monterrey campus, kickoff 1pm CT / 2pm ET.
The game will air live with commentary in Spanish language at the following link: http://deportes.terra.com.mx/en-vivo/19870/
Four players have been named as captains:
Offense: OL Travis Hook, Central College and QB Juan Flores, Cornell College
Defense: DL Danny Samson, Central College and DL Jake Rotkvich, Lake Forest College
“The team is excited and ready to play on Saturday,” said Global Football President Patrick Steenberge. “As has been the case every year when we bring Team Stars & Stripes down to Mexico, we have a fine group of student athletes who have enjoyed a week of bonding as a team, experienced the local culture and volunteered in the local community. The captains were chosen for the leadership they have shown this week and there were several other worthy candidates.”
The colleges and universities represented on the Team Stars & Stripes roster are: Augustana College, Buena Vista University, Central College, Coe College, Cornell College, DePauw University, Elmhurst College, Endicott College, Grinnell College, Grove City College, Hanover College, Kalamazoo College, Kenyon College, Lake Forest College, Lawrence University, Loras College, MacMurray College, Ohio Northern University, Pacific University Oregon, Rhodes College, Rose Hulman, St. Norbert College, Susquehanna University, University of Wisconsin-Stout, Utica College, and Wartburg College.
The Tazón de Estrellas and its forerunner the Aztec Bowl have produced a series of exciting games and established a fierce but friendly rivalry between the Americans and Mexicans. The Tec Monterrey All-Stars won 24-12 in 2009 before Team Stars & Stripes leveled the series with a 48-7 victory in Toluca in 2010 and the CONADEIP All-Stars won by a margin of 45-27 in 2011. It was the turn of the Americans to triumph in 2012 by a score of 32-15 to level the series at 2-2.
Veteran official Bill LeMonnier will again take charge of the Tazón de Estrellas. LeMonnier officiated the 2011 BCS National Championship Game between Auburn and Oregon. In 20 seasons with the Big 10 Conference, he has been honored with 16 Bowl assignments, including the Fiesta Bowl, Orange Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Holiday Bowl, Pigskin Classic, Texas Bowl, GMAC Bowl and Independence Bowl. He has worked eight seasons in the Arena Football League, serving as the referee for Arena Bowl XVII, and also worked the 2007 and 2011 IFAF World Championships played in Japan and Austria respectively.