Being allowed to play football pays off for Kaiser’s Kaufusi

Four years ago, there was one kid in particular who was happier than the rest of the freshman class arriving at Kaiser for the first day of school.

It had been a long wait for Andrew Kaufusi, whose father played for the Tonga national rugby team.

Kaufusi grew up first wanting to play rugby like his dad — until he was introduced to the game of football.

They went to University of Hawaii games when Kaufusi was in the fifth grade and he was hooked. There was only problem.

“(My dad) didn’t allow me to play football until I was in high school,” Kaufusi said. “I’d been bothering him for four years. I kept asking, ‘Dad, can I play this sport?’ and he was like, ‘No, it’s dangerous.’

“I would say, “Isn’t rugby dangerous?” and he would just walk away.”

Kaufusi played soccer and basketball until that first football practice as a freshman.

He had no idea what position he wanted to play, so the coaching staff tried him out at different spots. First he was a fullback and running back and then he moved to tight end.

“I was only playing offense because they thought I’d be good because of my rugby-style background,” Kaufusi said.

He eventually started playing on special teams as a returner and a kicker and then his junior year, he finally took a shot playing defense. That’s when everything changed.

“Oh my goodness, I loved football even more,” Kaufusi said. “The mentality and the knowledge you need to play defense — I knew I wanted to play on that side of the ball.”

That versatility was hugely important for the 6-foot-1 Kaufusi this past season. With the numbers down at Kaiser, the Cougars were suiting up only 24 kids by the end of the year.

Kaufusi played receiver and defensive back, returned kicks and was the punter and place-kicker for the Cougars. After pulling his hamstring returning a kick for a touchdown in the season opener against Roosevelt, Kaufusi missed the next two games.

He came back against Radford and scored touchdowns rushing and receiving and on an interception return in the same game.

He was also the only player in a span of seven games against Kahuku to score a touchdown last season when he took a pass 83 yards to the house.

“Honestly, people think we had a hard time (getting through the season), but personally I thought we were fine,” Kaufusi said. “I think we hurt ourselves not taking care of ourselves — getting injured, academic probation, things like that — but we did have the potential to go further and do better than we did.”

Kaufusi’s versatility extends beyond the football field. He’s also a starting fullback on the boys soccer team that finished the regular season 9-0-1 and opens the OIA playoffs tonight as the No. 1 seed out of the East.

At one point during the year, Kaufusi decided not to play soccer or any other sports to focus on football training.

He earned a full scholarship offer to Division II Azusa Pacific in California in November, and once he decided to take it, it freed him up to go back to playing as many different sports as he could.

“It was a really big deal for me to get that full scholarship,” Kaufusi said. “I didn’t want to put that (financial) stress on my dad. I would have felt really bad if I went away to school and he still had to worry about me.”

Kaufusi said he also plans to run track and try out for the volleyball team at the same time in the spring.

He will take his official trip to Azusa Pacific on Thursday and will miss the OIA soccer semifinals. He’s scheduled to fly back at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday and will head straight to Castle if Kaiser advances to the final.

“Coach (Layne Abolos) just said if we make it to the final to hurry up and get to the field when I get back,” Kaufusi said.

When the soccer season ends, there won’t be much of a break before the next sports season. Kaufusi’s entire high school career has been that way, and all of a sudden, here he is about to go to college on a scholarship for a sport he had never played until high school.

Kaiser has had three different head coaches in his four years at the school, and this past season was tough with the limited numbers and a 2-7 record. It got so hard that Kaiser nearly forfeited its final regular-season game against Kahuku on senior night.

But if there’s one thing Kaufusi can take pride in more than anything else, it’s knowing his high school is on the right track with a coach he very much enjoyed playing for.

“This past year with (football coach Arnold) Martinez, there was a drastic change at Kaiser,” Kaufusi said. “He did so much for our facilities and I’m proud that I can leave knowing that Kaiser is set for the next 10 years with Coach Arnold because he’s laid such a great foundation.”

It helped having a kid like Kaufusi to lead the way.

“As a coach you are always looking for guys who buy in and care about each other, care about the program, care more about the team than themselves,” Martinez said. “When you have a group of guys that love each other in a team sport, success is inevitable. When you have guys that are willing to make sacrifices for each other you build a familyhood. Andrew is one of those guys. He loved his teammates no matter the circumstances and he gave his best to be a leader. He takes care of business on and off the field, and that is why he has a chance to play college football on scholarship.

“I’m really excited and happy for Andrew and his family.”