This is not quite Sabers Fishing Tackle Unlimited or the Ewa Beach Hiking Club.
It does appear to be heading in that direction. Every now and then, Zechariah Alualu-Tuiolemotu, Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele and their teammates at Campbell head to a favorite spot on the West side, rods and reels in hand. A life outdoors under the Leeward sun. No keeping score. Just a group of football players from the No. 2-ranked team in the state kicking back on a mid-summer day.
“We go with my brother sometimes to Marisco’s by Kapolei,” Alualu-Tuiolemotu said. “It’s kind of an excuse for us to hang out for a whole day sometimes.”
It’s a bit less strenuous than their initial outdoor activity, hiking.
“A lot of the Campbell kids come to our house, sit in our garage, hang out,” said Fionnah Alualu-Tuiolemotu, mother of Zechariah. “One day, they decided, let’s go hiking. That was right before they started getting into full pads.”
They could have chosen a simple, easy trail. Instead, they went to a spot that is absolutely not for novices.
“We always wanted to do something together. Zek brought it up and we all agreed to it. We showed up at my house, then we went,” Sagapolutele said.
“I think DJ (coach Darren Johnson) would freak out a little bit if he saw it.”
The trail is at Waimano Valley Ridge. Narrow in spots, unforgiving for the unprepared. For a group of fit young student-athletes, it was memorable.
“We never did hike when we were younger,” Alualu-Tuiolemotu said.
His family was rooted in Kalihi, leaving Kuhio Park Terrace when he was an eighth grader to settle in Ewa Beach. Now Alualu-Tuiolemotu looks forward to getting into the valleys and shorelines.
“It was an hour hike, eight of us. At the end of the trail, there’s a pond where you can swim. It was clean. It’s deep and it’s cold. It was hella far,” he recalled. “On the day we went, it was raining.”
“On the day we went, it was raining. There’s one part where, if you slip, you fall down the side of the mountain,” Alualu-Tuiolemotu said.
Fortunately, no broken bones.
“It was muddy and we were slipping a lot. I slipped and fell backward. I broke a root. Snapped it in half,” said Sagapolutele, a 6-foot-4, 225-pound senior and, arguably, the top quarterback in the state.
“I’d give it a 9.5 (out of 10). It was hard. It’s a lot of going uphill, going downhill. Grip strength. A lot of ropes. Heading to the pond, you’re going straight down holding the rope,” he said. “At the pond, there’s a nice rope swing. There was a nice waterfall.”
So, since that wet day, fishing has been equally appealing.
“We went more on fishing trips than hiking,” Alualu-Tuiolemotu said.
“The rain made it nice, but it made it harder,” Sagapolutele added. “All our shoes got ruined.”
Even at Marisco’s, there is rarely a fish actually caught, but it doesn’t matter. The persistence of football kids is no surprise.
“Zekki is hard headed. He’s a great leader on and off the field,” Sagapolutele said.
Alualu-Tuiolemotu will be a four-year letterman in varsity football when the season comes to an end. It has the potential to become the greatest football campaign in Sabers history. Alumni and non-Campbell observers are wondering aloud if this might be a state-championship season. Campbell is 2-0 after a 67-35 win over Damien and a 49-17 rout of Punahou. The Sabers host Farrington on Saturday to begin OIA Open Division play.
Alualu-Tuiolemotu is a crucial piece for Campbell’s defense. He was a ball boy in eighth grade, then joined two older brothers when he became a freshman linebacker on the varsity, absorbing the way of the Sabers.
“He’s a special one, for real. If I need to get ahold of anybody, he’ll call them right away,” Johnson said. “He’s my go-to guy. They listen to Zekki. They jump.”
At roughly 6-1 and 230 pounds, Alualu-Tuiolemotu earned MVP honors at the Linebacker Zoo camp in 2023, and again at the GPA Showcase during the summer.
“He brings good leadership and backs up his talk. I try to cut down his tone and let him play ball. It’s nothing bad. The things he does give him energy,” Johnson said.
Alualu-Tuiolemotu is versatile and turbo-charged.
“He can play middle linebacker, defensive line, fullback with ease. His coverage is good, really good. He has wheels. He does his job. He plays middle and we kind of move him around,” Johnson said. He’s a fun kid to be around.”
It’s a quick comparison for Johnson, who played and coached at Kahuku before moving on to Kailua, Kaimuki and Campbell.
“Oh man, he reminds me of (former Kahuku player) Johnny Tapusoa. He plays to hit the hell out of you, so fun to play and laugh with. He has that Mike Singletary instinct where just blows by you. He has that Ray Lewis kick-your-tail attitude,” Johnson said. “He’s just focused and just wants to hit you.”
Waianae coach Vince Nihipali played in the ILH and has coached in both the ILH and OIA.
“Zechariah is a very physical linebacker who moves well for a player with his size. He’s an athletic football player. He makes a big difference with his leadership. You can tell by observing him and the defense that everyone listens and follows his lead,” Nihipali said. “He just gets better every single year.”
Alualu-Tuiolemotu has a 3.5 grade-point average. Johnson is perplexed by the lack of college scholarship offers. Alualu-Tuiolemotu tries his best not to dwell on the future.
“He ended up not coming one time because he said he wasn’t up to it,” Sagapolutele said of one of their group hangouts. “I kind of figured it was him worrying about college and life. I was trying to help him with it.”
It may be the measurables, the metrics or whatever standard numbers are in play for recruiters. Alualu-Tuiolemotu has a max squat of 405 pounds and 225 on the bench press.
“I don’t really do max. The 40 (yard dash), I haven’t run that in forever,” he said.
Sagapolutele, who is a commit to Cal, sees the real deal daily.
“I think it’s really coaches not recruiting well. Some coaches don’t come down (to Hawaii) to recruit unless you are prototypical size and your name is out there,” he said. “A lot of times, kids are considered undersized are unnoticed, but if you can ball, you can ball. You can’t teach someone to be a dog. It’s individual.”
Measuring the intangibles of a linebacker, as much as any position, is sometimes more art than science.
“Zek kind of has everything. Pretty good in coverage. Great run stopper. Good sideline-to-sideline player. Can go north-south if he needs to,” Sagapolutele said. “If someone’s not focusing, messing around, he’ll get them to straighten up. He’s one of the funniest guys in our group..”
Iron sharpens iron when the offense and defense battle at practice.
“We go at it. He’s the main guy I go at. If we get a good play, I’ll go at him,” Sagapolutele said. “If they get a stop, he’ll go at me. It gets a little intense, but it’s just great competition.”
Blesyng Alualu-Tuiolemotu, one of Alualu-Tuiolemotu’s brothers, plays at UNLV.
“Me, my brother and the boys, we always talk about it. If we were smart enough, we would’ve won states my sophomore year. We always have hella talent, but sometimes we had guys who were too cool to be leaders,” Zechariah Alualu-Tuiolemotu said. “Now, with the leaders we have, we’re always on each other. Accountability. Guys who want to work. Guys who want to practice. We don’t have that nonchalant attitude. Coach DJ is always preaching accountability every day. We really get it from him.”
The now matters. The walk matters.
“It’s not really just talking about it. Me, Jaron, Aisiah, we just tell our teammates, don’t get complacent. Keep your heads down and keep working. We know we have something good here,” Alualu-Tuiolemotu said. “Keep pushing them in the weight room. Don’t feel like practicing? They listen. They wouldn’t listen if we weren’t doing it. We’re showing them what they should be doing. It comes to a place where if you’re not working out, you’re the odd man out.”
Grit is great. It is also rare.
“Ever since my freshman year, our linebackers have been up to par, especially my brother (Blesyng),” he said. “I wasn’t playing a lot as a freshman and sophomore, but my dad said to keep working and when it’s my turn, I’ll flip it around.
Sau Tuiolemotu put all five of his sons through training since elementary school. The hills know the Alualu-Tuiolemotu brothers well.
“My dad was very strict on us training-wise,” Zekki Alualu-Tuiolemotu said. “Every day, in the morning, we would train. Going to the beach most times wasn’t for fun. It was to run the sand. Any holiday, my dad would find things for us to work out. Most of our childhood was working out. Running after practice. Running with the tire. Running hills in Kalihi Valley, Kakaako (Waterfront Park), Makakilo.”
The tire is a masterpiece. Sau Tuiolemotu’s homemade leash connects it to the runner, wrapping around the waist.
“We used to run from the bottom of Makakilo hill by Walmart all the way to the top. Then go to the beach and run the sand. We still do that now in the offseason,” Alualu-Tuiolemotu said.
The father has the same vision for each of his sons.
“My biggest hope for him is just do his best in the classroom, on the field and in the community. To be a leader and walk what he talks because he’s a captain,” Tuiolemotu said. “If he does all those things, everything will fall in place.”
Dad says son No. 4 gets his gift of gab from Mom. She agrees.
“They get it from me. All of my kids besides my third one (Ethyn), they’re very vocal,” Fionnah Alualu-Tuiolemotu said. “My biggest hope is just for Zechariah to continue to be himself, be the leader he is. Reach his goals in football and in life.”
She is there for present and the future, right by his side.
“In this football journey, everybody has a different journey. We as parents just continue to encourage him to be patient. Somebody’s going to come his way, whether it’s Division I, D-II or JC (junior college). My thing is to just keep encouraging him,” she said. “It’s an emotional roller coaster, this recruiting process. He’s talked to so many coaches from this past summer. This can really get to a child, so as parents, we have to be there.”
Most high school players never get that opportunity to play at the next level, any level. This 2024 season is the one point in time when the lives of these Sabers overlap. Nothing stays the same.
But there might be another muddy adventure down the road.
“We were supposed to go to Jackass Ginger, but that’s still postponed,” Zechariah Alualu-Tuiolemotu said. “We want to do more.”
FAVORITES
Zechariah Alualu-Tuiolemotu
Top 3 movies/shows
1. “Prison Break”
“It’s two brothers. I like the way one brother will do anything for his other brother. One got falsely accused of murder, so the other intentionally got sent to prison so he could break his brother out.”
2. “Fast and Furious” series
3. “Snowfall”
“He basically is a smart high school kid, good with numbers. But there’s racism, so instead of doing it the right way, he puts all his knowledge into drug dealing and becomes rich doing that.”
Top 3 foods/drinks
1. Mango A Go Go, Jamba Juice
2. Apple iced tea, Minute Maid
3. Buffalo chicken wings, Pizza Hut
“I’ve never tried Wing Stop.”
Top 3 homemade food
1. Mom’s fried noodles
“She rarely makes it, but when she does, everybody’s excited.”
2. Dad’s steak
“That’s pretty common. We just had that last night.”
3. Auntie (Fina Alualu)’s mac and cheese
“Sometimes she’s lazy about making it, and me and my cousin get mad at her.”
Top 3 music artists/ favorite song
1. Maoli – “Time To Get Over”
2. Future feat. Drake – “Wait For U”
3. Nova G – “1500”
Favorite athlete: Tyson Alualu (Detroit Lions)
“We’re cousins. His dad and my mom’s dad are brothers. When I was a baby, he was in college. When he comes down, we see him a lot. I see him more as an uncle kind of relationship with him. I know he has lot of knowledge.”
Favorite team: Baltimore Ravens
“That’s our whole family’s team. Since we were kids, our whole family is Ravens fans.”
Funniest teammate: Aisiah Paogofie
“We’re just the same, all our jokes and stuff. He’s just a good guy. When everyone is around, he’s so hilarious.”
Smartest teammate: Fale Timoteo
“In school, he’s got good grades. When we talk about school, he’s always on point with it.”
GPA: 3.5
Favorite teacher: Ms. (Sierra) Matsubara
“She was my social studies teacher in my sophomore year. She’s understanding. Every time I ask a question, she would break it down and make it easy for me. I’ll be asking hella questions.”
Favorite class: P.E.
Favorite motto/scripture: “Muamua leatua.”
“God first, in Samoan.”
Hidden talent: “I can rap a little bit.”
New life skill: Driving
Bucket list: “Win the state championship with my team and become defensive player of the year. I want to be in Alaska in a lake house. Be by myself. I can fish. Nobody bothering me.”
Time machine: When and where would you travel?
“I would go back to play flag football with my cousins in Kalihi for Rock Solid. That was the funnest time in my life. I don’t get to be with my cousins anymore.”
Youth sports
“I played soccer, rugby and I did boxing, too.”
