She came running across the football practice field for a media interview, smiling the whole way.

Yes, she.

Avei Lualemana is a girl, a young woman, actually, and she is making plays at defensive tackle for Aiea Na Alii this season.

Even better, the senior is doing it alongside her brother, freshman Ferenisi Lualemana.

More on him later. After all, he is a boy, one of a zillion or so who have played the rough sport of football since its invention.

Girls playing high school football in Hawaii and across the nation is nothing new. Here in Hawaii, there have been many female place-kickers through the years, but female position players are not as common, and Avei might be the first one to have gotten considerable playing time in the trenches. Running back Chelsey-Ann Kaimi scored a touchdown for Nanakuli against Moanalua in 2000. Before this season, 16 girls have scored in a game in Hawaii, including Castle’s Laura Tyler, who made a tackle as a kicker last week.

Avei is not a starter, but she gets into the defensive line rotation and mixes it up against the OIA’s big boys — and that includes Farrington’s behemoths.

"I came out to play football for my dad’s name, to honor his name," said Avei of her father, Sam Lualemana, who played for Aiea under coach Wendell Say in the 1990s. "He was an all-star player and I’m the oldest (child). In our (Samoan) culture, it’s the oldest who is supposed to keep the importance of the name going. I know he loves football."

Avei and Ferenisi — who is known around the locker room as "Sam Boy" — have the same coach their dad had.

"She’s tough," Say said of Avei. "She took a mean hit against Farrington, where they trapped her good. But the running back fumbled and she recovered it. She just didn’t lie there. She got up to chase."

Aside from that fumble recovery, she has two sacks — one against Moanalua and one against Kailua — two solo tackles and three assisted tackles.

"She has a good attitude and doesn’t complain," Na Alii defensive coordinator Mika Liilii.

Sam Boy and Avei will always have this memory of playing together to cherish.

"When we played Kailua, she was double-teamed, and when the snap came, the gap opened for me," said Sam Boy, who is 5 feet 10, 280 pounds, a starter at nose tackle and a part-time running back. "It shocked me that she got out of the double-team and we both made the tackle.

"At home, she sometimes bosses me around, saying, ‘Throw that away’ and ‘Make sure you fold those clothes.’ At school, people are shocked because we’re always hanging out with each other and cracking jokes and making fun of each other. And no matter what, we know we always have each other."

Avei said she loves to make people laugh, and being around her teammates is a special thing, even if they are, well, boys.

"Being one of the girls on the team (the other is junior safety Leila Matthews, who plays sparingly), I feel protected, safe," Avei said. "They respect me and watch their mouths and watch how they act. And the coaches are always making sure I’m OK.

"I like contact and I like being aggressive and they say I’m tough for a girl. I can take a hit and I can handle playing against bigger players."

Which is just about every opponent. Avei is 5-2, 163 pounds — 4 inches shorter and 27 pounds lighter than what’s written on the official Aiea roster.

"I somewhat have speed that most players don’t have," she said. "I can use that as an advantage. I don’t have to touch them. I just sneak around them and if I’m lucky I can make the play."

Say remembers the Farrington players being a little baffled when they lined up against her.

"They were pointing and looking at each other, and were kind of like questioning, ‘Is this a small guy or a girl?’ " Say said.

"Sam Boy and Avei are always checking to see if the other is OK. The younger brother is always watching out for her and the older sister is always looking after him. They are a very close, tight-knit family, and Sam (the dad) helps us out on the sidelines sometimes too. He was super as a running back."

Avei started for the JV team as a sophomore and missed last season because of a hamstring injury. She wasn’t going to play this year, but having her brother on the team was one reason she did.

Avei also wrestles for Na Alii and was bumped up to the 220-pound class last winter in her first season in the sport. She placed third in the OIA (against girls, not boys this time) and made it to states, and she’s looking forward to trying to go further this year.

"I feel way more prepared than last year," she said.

Going against people more than twice your size in one of the most rigorous sports — one that most girls stay away from — is a pretty good way to get ready.