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Another afternoon under the scalding-hot sun at Kaimuki football practice is a given.
But after three years of frustration, the Bulldogs sing the blues no longer. They have Ofa Vehikite singing from his heart wherever they gather.
“Ofa’s hidden talent is that he can actually sing really well,” wide receiver/defensive back Jeremiah White said. “He sings for us in the locker room and he always can dance, so sometimes he sings and dances for us.”
Vehikite isn’t so bad on the field, either. Kaimuki is 3-1 in OIA Division II action with Vehikite as a bolt of lightning. He has rushed for more than 200 yards in each of his four games, a feat that may be a first in D-II football. With 872 rushing yards on just 66 carries, the converted wide receiver is averaging 13.2 yards per attempt. He has scored eight touchdowns in fairly limited work, and Kaimuki is 3-1 in league play with a showdown at Kaiser looming on Saturday.
“He is the most electric and explosive guy on the field. He can change a game by himself and he makes it look so easy,” White said. “The energy he brings just falls into all of us. He’s always positive and bringing everyone up.”
It wasn’t always this optimistic. Freshman year was a dud for Vehikite. After playing flag football through his childhood — with the Waikiki 49ers and Boys and Girls Club of Honolulu — he turned out for the JV team at Kaimuki in 2019. Unknowingly, he had already missed summer conditioning. The JV Bulldogs struggled with roster numbers and a lack of success.
“I came out late for football. I try to forget that year,” said Vehikite, who had never played tackle football to that point. “That was probably my worst year playing football. We lost every game and we never scored until our last game.”
This season is going well. Vehikite missed the road opener at Waimea, a 48-6 loss, but returned for the league opener against Pearl City. He finished his season opener with 240 yards and two TDs on 18 carries. Kaimuki lost 57-34, but the offensive onslaught has not slowed down since. The Bulldogs have won three in a row and have positioned themselves to make a playoff run — if they can get past a scrappy Kaiser squad this weekend.
In Kaimuki’s 40-20 win over Kalani, Vehikite ran for 217 yards and a TD on a season-high 21 carries. He had a season-low nine carries for 209 yards and three TDs against McKinley in a 69-20 victory. Over the weekend, he amassed 206 yards and two TDs on 18 totes in a 53-33 win at Waialua.
All four of his single-game yardage totals rank among the top 10 in school history. The 240-yard game against Pearl City is second only to a 242-yard performance by Justin Paredes in a 2007 contest against Roosevelt.
He has believers across the league, including former NFL lineman Kale Ane, McKinley’s coach.
“My impression before our game is the line looks big, strong and mobile. No. 3 (Vehikite) hit the hole like a normal back, but when he saw an opening, he exploded and he was gone. He seemed to get faster and faster the further he ran,” Ane said. “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a running back this explosive. Kind of reminds me of the Damien running back who played at UH, I think Kealoha Pilares. Also a little like Manti (Te‘o) and my old teammate Arnold Morgado. He’s a special back.”
Kalani coach Radford Dudoit didn’t have much of a scouting report back in week two of the OIA season.
“Honestly, I did not know a lot about him. There wasn’t a lot of film to watch yet. My players seemed to know a lot about him, I guess, because they all grew up together. I think Ofa will be up there with the great Kaimuki running backs. The last good running back that I remember was Billy Masima. Ofa is definitely up there with Billy. Having four consecutive 200-yard games is a great accomplishment at any level.”
At 4-0, Pearl City shares first place in the division with Nanakuli, but coach Robin Kami remembers the challenge of Kaimuki vividly.
“Before we played them I watched some film and we were concentrating on the quarterback (Iosefa Letuli), but that running back stood out. The offensive line was big and physical, and when he hit that hole he was like a rocket. He’s gone. I told our defense if we don’t tackle him early, we’re not going to catch him. He ran well against us,” Kami said.
Waialua coach Gary Wirtz saw Vehikite’s exploits up close on Friday.
“Our game plan going in was to stop the run. They had excellent blocking with size. Ofa is a class act packed with toughness and speed,” Wirtz said. “Film doesn’t do him justice compared to his speed in person.”
Vehikite also enjoys the work of his trench men up front: left tackle Harmon Sio (6-4, 315, Jr.), left guard Champ Wells (5-10, 265, Jr.), center To’osavili Agae-Naipo (6-1, 285, Jr.), right guard Christopher Taufa (6-0, 280, Sr.) and right tackle Eric McFall (6-4, 330, Jr.).
“This is my second year running behind Harmon, Champ and Eric. To’o and Chris, this is their first year playing in high school,” Vehikite said. “It’s going pretty well. It’s what’s helping us win games.”
Vehikite also has the benefit of Letuli, his 6-foot-5 QB. The transfer from San Diego has been efficient with 874 passing yards, nine TDs and only three picks while completing 69 percent of his attempts (45 for 65).
The all-time OIA D-II single-game rushing mark is 379 yards, set by Jesse Carney of Kalaheo in 2010 in a game against Kalani. The all-time ILH D-II record is 370 yards by Kama Bailey against Damien in ’07.
It has been an often magnetic, evolutionary span of time for Vehikite. In 2020, the cancellation of fall sports and implementation of virtual learning sent student-athletes into a void. For Vehikite, it was one more year of that empty feeling. Scoring only one TD as a team in the lowest level of OIA football was disappointing, but Vehikite turned it into motivational fuel during the lockdown as facilities began to open up.
“Where I live there’s treadmills and (machine) weights. I was running at our school,” he said.
Coincidentally, the year without football was when Reid Yoshikawa first met Vehikite. Yoshikawa, the baseball coach, was a temporarily assigned vice principal.
“It was summer school going into his junior year. I saw a bunch of kids playing ‘tag’ around the cafeteria. I stopped him because he was running through the hallways. At that point, I asked him if he played football and he said he played defensive back mostly, but some wide receiver. As I watched him during summer school, it became apparent that no one could catch this kid! He would dodge others trying to tag him. Even with three people chasing him, no one could get him,” said Yoshikawa, who became the football coach a year later. “To my surprise, the reason why they all played ‘tag’ was because of a special-needs autistic student who would always want to play during lunch. It showed how big a heart that Ofa had because he never did say no. They played out of pure enjoyment. I talk to the special needs student from time to time and he always brings up that summer when Ofa would play with him.”
Vehikite emerged out of the lockdown with strength in the classroom, as well. He kept his grades up and currently has a 3.2 cumulative grade-point average.
By 2021, offensive coordinator Kawehi Moefu envisioned a new role for Vehikite.
“Coach Kawehi just told me, ‘How do you feel at running back?’ I said I would play any position. It doesn’t matter to me,” Vehikite said. “It felt pretty weird to adjust, getting handed the ball, not catching.”
It was quite the change, but his background playing rugby only helped.
Vehikite’s father, Pupunu, played the sport growing up in Tonga.
“We play rugby all the time, but it’s just for fun,” Vehikite said. “It was probably a couple of days and I just got used to playing running back.”
“Last year went pretty decent. I was happy that I scored my first touchdown.”
In Vehikite’s first varsity season Kaimuki took its lumps, finishing 3-5 in Yoshikawa’s first season as head coach, but the ’Dogs managed to score 145 points. Vehikite led the team with 476 rushing yards, scoring four TDs. He also had five catches for 46 yards, trailing only the versatile White in receptions and receiving yardage.
“I saw a different Ofa who was adjusting to being a running back (in 2021). He would always be full speed once he touched the ball and run into linemen and defenders. He didn’t have quite the ball-carrier vision that he has now,” Yoshikawa noted. “He’s worked hard in the weight room since March and put on about 15 pounds while keeping his speed. He squatted 400 pounds. He ran an electronically timed 4.5 (40-yard dash) at a combine when he was playing baseball for me in May.”
The future is unmapped, but the direction is upward. Vehikite has already completed a largely universal requirement for four-year college applicants: Algebra II.
“I got an A,” said Vehikite, who is awaiting his ACT result.
The singing talent is still mostly hidden.
“I know he can dance,” coach Yoshikawa said. “The players say he sings, too, although he’s never sung a solo in front of us.”
Perhaps what Vehikite does best, though, is brotherhood.
“What makes him a good friend,” White added, “is that he always got your back and that’s true. He wants the best for all of his boys. Ofa ain’t my friend, he’s my brother. We got each other like we’re brothers.”
OFA VEHIKITE
Kaimuki running back, senior, 5-7, 170 pounds
GPA: 3.2.
>> Movies: “Terminator,” “Planet of the Apes,” the “Fast & Furious” series
>> Food: Boneless chicken plate (Rainbow Drive-In), Funyuns, Spam musubi
>>Music artists: Tupac (“Dear Mama”), YSK Betru (“Love Me”), Ice Cube (“It was a Good Day”).
“YSK Betru is from Palolo Valley. He’s a junior (at Kaimuki).”
>> Team: Seattle Seahawks
>> Athlete: Ray Lewis
>> Class: Physical education, freshman year
>> Teacher: Mr. Kelly Komoda, Jefferson Elementary School.
“My fifth grade teacher. I remember all the jokes he made and all the games he played with us.”
>> Funniest teammate: Harmon Sio.
“He just makes everybody laugh. He just cracks jokes. Tristan Louis and Clayton Marino are funny, too.”
>> Smartest teammate: Iosefa Letuli.
“Not only the decisions he makes on the field, but in the classroom.”
>> New life skill: Cooking.
“I learned how to cook during the pandemic. My grandmother Unatea, my mom’s mom, taught me. I just watched and she asks sometimes if I can help her. I like this Tongan bread, faikakai. It’s made from breadfruit. I can’t make it without my grandma.”
>> Shoutouts: “I would like to shout out the man above. All glory goes to Him. I would like to shout out my parents (Kalatiola and Pupunu Vehikite). Also, shout out to my line for their blocking.”
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