TAMPA, Fla. — Growing up 2,500 miles from the nearest NFL team, Kahuku High alum Chris Kemoeatu might as well have been a million miles from his dream.

Last night, virtually as far from home as he could be while remaining in the country, Kemoeatu achieved that dream.

The 6-foot-3, 344-pound, fourth-year guard played a vital role for the Pittsburgh Steelers in their wild 27-23 win against Arizona in Super Bowl XLIII.

"I'm speechless, just excited that we are world champions," Kemoeatu said. "This is what you dream since you're growing up as a kid. To get that ring and to hold that trophy. It's just unbelievable."

It very nearly didn't happen.

And for the briefest of moments, Kemoeatu feared he might be to blame.

After jumping out to a 20-7 lead, the Steelers appeared helpless when Arizona's defense began switching up its schemes.

The gambit paid off. Darnell Dockett, in particular, began finding his way into the Steelers' backfield with regularity. Dockett gashed the Steelers for two sacks and coaxed a holding penalty from center Justin Hartwig, resulting in a safety.

"They get paid on that side of the ball, too," Kemoeatu said. "They picked the center and we did a bad job of communicating on that play."

When Larry Fitzgerald split the Pittsburgh secondary for a 64-yard touchdown following the ensuing free kick, Arizona had completed what would be the biggest comeback in Super Bowl history, if the 23-20 score had stood.

Between Pittsburgh and victory was 78 yards and 2 minutes, 30 seconds to work with.

"We were a little nervous going into it, but we kept our poise and we've been in those positions before a bunch of times. We do a good job of not blinking," Kemoeatu said.

Except Kemoeatu blinked: Holding, No. 68. Repeat first down.

"But it was all OK," Kemoeatu said with a smile. "My teammates bailed me out. That's what teammates do."

Seven plays later, Kemoeatu had a front-row seat to Santonio Holmes' game-clinching 6-yard touchdown catch on a pass from Ben Roethlisberger.

"We all knew all we had to do was give Ben two or three seconds and he would do the rest," Kemoeatu said.

They did, and he did.

Not bad for a big kid from thousands of miles away.

"The little town where I am from, everything is football," Kemoeatu said. "Not too much of us get to where I am. To go this far ... usually kids from Hawai'i just make it to college and it ends there."

Not this particular night. Kemoeatu shared the field with others with Hawai'i connections Aaron Francisco (Kahuku High) and Travis LaBoy (University of Hawai'i).

"To make it this far, it's a big accomplishment," Kemoeatu said. "Not just for me, but for Aaron. He had a heck of a game. ... It's always good for us to come and represent for our families back home and everybody else.

"We've come a long way, all the way from Hawai'i."