by Sofia Colignon | staff writer

Senior Karsten Battles has been chosen by the US Army to play in the annual All-American Bowl on January 6th, at the Alamo Dome.

The US Army All-American Bowl, this year hosted in San Antonio, is the nation’s premiere high school All-American game, in which 100 of the best high school athletes in the nation get to compete in an annual match East vs. West.

The US army’s selection committee takes into consideration athletes from all over the country, their rankings, and recognitions before choosing their best 100. This year, Battles was chosen among these players to participate on the match.

“I’ve been training for eight years now, and going to camps all across the country to ty to get to this point,” Battles said.

Battles’ position on the field is deep snapper, and he will be playing for the West team on this anticipated match. 

“I’ve seen him improve in his consistency, strength and, leadership, he’s increased a lot in the last two years. He helps other kids, younger kids, learn how to snap [throughout] the season, as well as during our practices,” Battles’ coach, Bruce Gillespie said.

Throughout the years, Battles has been recognized by multiple coaches all around America, and has lately been noticed by Coach Marubio, who is in charge of nationally ranking these football players and publishing it for the whole nation to see, helping them if they want to get into college, obtain scholarships, or continue to play professionally.

“As a coach, I’ve been on [another] staff from another school and we’ve had about six or seven all-americans selected since the competition started in 2001, but this is the first in my position that is a deep snapper, the other guys were always either quarterbacks, runner backs, or receivers. So it is a new experience for me as well,” Gillespie said.