Wherever he lines up, Liufau should be a force

By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writer

During the 1940s, Army boasted back-to-back Heisman Trophy-winning running backs Doc Blanchard and Glenn Davis, who, because of their running styles, were known as Mr. Inside and Mr. Outside, respectively.

Today, Hawai'i has its own Mr. Inside and Mr. Outside. Except he is one player and he tries to stop guys carrying the football.

St. Louis School's returning all-state defensive lineman Tolifili Liufau will be at his familiar defensive end position, but will see action as defensive tackle. Even though the Crusaders have enough depth to avoid moving their players around, this is different.

"He's such a dominant player," first-year Crusaders' coach and defensive coordinator Delbert Tengan said. "You want to move your dominant player all over the place, so (opponents) can't game-plan away from him. We just want to move him around and see if he can plug things inside and do somethings off the edge."

Liufau, who is 6 feet 3 inches tall and weighs 310 pounds, said he has only played tackle at practice. As an end, he has used his his speed and strength — he has bench pressed 225 pounds 38 times — to push himself past blockers en route to the quarterback. The senior, a third-year letter winner, led the Crusaders with five sacks and five forced fumbles during the Interscholastic League of Honolulu season last year. He said there are advantages to playing inside.

"When you play the inside, it's closer to the quarterback," Liufau said. "When you play end, you have to run all the way around (the blockers). Inside is more challenging, too, because you get double-teamed."

With Liufau, there's no finesse. He admits his coaches encourage him to combine technique with his natural talent, but instincts take over in the heat of battle.

"I just go for the power," Liufau said of beating his blockers. "I like to just toss 'em."

Liufau said his offensive line teammates have helped him. He cited offensive tackles Mesepa Reed, an all-state pick last year now with the University of Hawai'i, and teammate Jeremy Inferrera, for giving him good workouts.

"They're skilled players," Liufau said. "Our offensive line coach teaches them all the techniques and stuff. They all have good technique."

As perhaps the state's top high school prospect, Liufau is on everybody's radar. He has standing offers from USC, Oregon, Washington, Wisconsin, San Diego State, Tennessee and Brigham Young. There are still more schools inquiring.

"I like USC and Oregon," he admitted. "But we'll just have to wait and see."

Meanwhile, there are other issues before college. One is playing the top-ranked school in the country in De La Salle (Concord, Calif.) on Sept. 21 in the HHSAA/First Hawaiian Bank Football Classic.

"It's going to be an exciting game, to see where we stand in the football rankings," Liufau said. "Everywhere I go, people ask me, 'You guys ready for the De La Salle game?' I just say, 'We're trying to get ready.' But you have to think about the games coming up before that game."

The second issue is bringing back the state crown to the ILH. When St. Louis had the string of 15 consecutive Prep Bowl/state titles, players always talked about not wanting to be the first team not to win a championship. Now, the seniors are trying to avoid being the first graduating class not to win a state title. (Since freshmen can't play varsity, the graduating class for football is three seasons.)

"It makes us push harder," Liufau said. "Two years we lost it. This year, everybody's working hard, especially the seniors. We're trying to be a good example to the underclassmen."

So which would be more important, beating De La Salle or winning the state crown?

"It would be good to win both," Liufau said.

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