State's top defender rejects Warriors

By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer

The state's high school Defensive Player of the Year in football will attend the University of Washington in the fall, and an All-State offensive lineman has accepted a scholarship from the University of Hawai'i.

Wilson Afoa, a 6-foot-3 defensive lineman from Saint Louis School, yesterday decided to accept Washington's scholarship offer.

"It was a real tough choice," said Afoa, who also received offers from UH and Washington State. "I liked their facilities and their school."

Xavier Ho'olulu, a 6-foot-3, 290-pound offensive lineman from Kailua High, picked UH, saying: "I always wanted to go to UH since I was little. It's like a dream right now."

The choice wasn't as easy for Afoa, who struggled with his decision before choosing Washington, in large part to the school's engineering program.

Afoa, who has a 3.5 cumulative grade-point average, said he would like to major in engineering.

Last season, Afoa made 51 tackles, including 19 for negative yards. He also produced 44 hurries, 6ý sacks, three pass deflections and a forced fumble.

He was selected as The Advertiser's Defensive Player of the Year for the 2002 season.

"I think he's deserving of the award," Saint Louis coach Delbert Tengan said. "He has improved immensely since he started for us as a junior last year. I truly believe he'll get better and become a great collegiate player. He has a huge upside."

Tengan also coaches Afoa in basketball.

"His biggest assets are his attitude and work ethic," Tengan said. "If you have those two things going, they'll take you a long way."

Despite glossy statistics, Tengan said, Afoa's work often was subtle.

"He's the kind of guy who does a lot of little things that people don't know about," Tengan said, "but coaches who watch the game will notice."

UH coaches were quickly alerted to Ho'olulu's talents. According to Kailua coach Darren Johnson, they offered Ho'olulu a scholarship last summer, before the high school season even started.

"He was actually the first guy they offered," Johnson said. "That says a lot about him. He's very good."

Ho'olulu is scheduled to take a recruiting trip to UH this weekend. But during a weekly conversation with the Warrior coaches yesterday, Ho'olulu became enthused about the program.

"They were talking about a lot of good stuff," he said.

He said he had planned on announcing a decision next week. "I was trying to wait, but I couldn't," he said. "I really want to go there."

Johnson described Ho'olulu as being "very coachable. He's a good young man."

Ho'olulu will be reunited with UH offensive linemen Marques Kaonohi, Samson Satele and Kahai LaCount. Those four were starting linemen for Kailua during the 2001 season.

"He can play with the best," Johnson said, adding UH "actually ended up getting a damn good one."

Ho'olulu played tackle at Kailua, but is projected to play guard for the Warriors. He said he can bench press 315 pounds.

Farrington High coach Randall Okimoto, who assisted in last month's all-star game, said Ho'olulu "is very mobile. He has good technique as far as pass protection goes. He's a pretty good athlete."

UH has scholarship offers out to seven more prospects — two from Hawai'i, one from American Samoa and four from the Mainland.

Although UH is allowed to offer 25 initial scholarships each year, it is nearing the overall scholarship limit of 85 per academic year.

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