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First In An 8-Part Series: Defensive Player Of The Year
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There were many deserving candidates for Bedrock Sports Hawaii’s defensive player of the year from the recently concluded high school football season.
But there was one player whose performance and demeanor combined to make it nearly impossible for Bedrock Sports Hawaii to pick outside of that particular box.
It is this organization’s opinion that the man deserving the honor is Kahuku senior outside linebacker Leonard Ah You, who will likely be making his college commitment any day now.
There were many options to choose from, including a bunch from that same Kahuku squad. For instance, a recent look at middle linebacker Liona Lefau’s parade of hits on video left us at Bedrock almost actually feeling the pain he inflicted. When he pushes up to meet a runner, you often see that other athletes go backward a few feet.
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And in 2021, in the Red Raiders’ run to their first of two straight championships, Lefau was unquestionably the defensive player of the year, and he will, no doubt, continue to excel the next time he suits up for a football team — the Texas Longhorns — in 2023.
And then there’s guys like safety Brock Fonoimoana, who recently shared KHON Cover2 defensive player of the year honors with Ah You. He made huge plays at the top of the umbrella of the Red Raiders’ coverage, including some key interception returns for touchdowns, and he also contributed with clutch touchdown receptions on offense.
You could even make a case for guys like Madden Soliai and Aiden Manutai, the Red Raiders’ freshman and sophomore defensive backs who constantly were in the limelight with crucial plays in important situations.
And there were plenty of major defensive stars all across the state. To name a few, there was incredible talent shown by Aiea’s Aizik Mahuka, Logan Rouse and Sila Unutoa, Waipahu’s Romeo Tagata, Mililani’s Gavin Hunter, Campbell’s Blesyng Alualu-Tuiolemotu, and Punahou’s Kekai Barnett and GianCarlo Rufo. Chances are that we forgot a slew of names, and any obvious ones we omitted can be added here after the story is published.
For now, this story is about Ah You.
Rangy, fiery, mean (in the football sense) and aggressive are just a few words to describe Ah You, the man of the hour, so to speak. It was quite a sight to see him in a regular season 16-6 mud bowl win over Campbell, thoroughly enjoying the opportunity to stalk Campbell quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele while covered from head to toe in the muck and looking like a real, live throwback player from the black-and-white tinged 1950s.
From the edge position, he could be found all season doing one of the following on most plays — getting in the quarterback’s face, bringing him down, entering the pile of players to close up gaps with a thud, rushing with his long arms up to knock down a pass, or just looking around for somebody to hit.
And Ah You did it with a swagger, too.
Here’s a kid that was the first to grab the huge Kahuku state championship flag and run around twirling it after the 20-0 state final win over Punahou.
What else? Oh, on senior night, the public address announcer was going over what the Class of 2023 players would be interested in pursuing. For sure, it was Leonard who wrote the words for that announcer to shout out for him: “He wants someday to be President of the United States.”
And then, the dance that put a cap on everything after the finale — the team’s haka, It was, you guessed it, led by none other than Leonard Ah You, whose scowl somehow looked both imposing and fanciful at the same moments.
It was those types of things, the leadership stuff, the ‘I’m going to do this, including preside over the country’ attitude that lent itself to picking this dude as defensive player of the year.
And in the end, it was Leonard Ah You who stripped a ball carrier and recovered a fumble late in the state final to preserve the shutout.
In the back of Ah You’s mind, he must have been thinking: “No way are they going to score here. It sounds way better to say shutout than to say we won 20-7.”
That sentiment, surely, was shared by every single player and coach on the Red Raiders’ roster. Get that goose egg. That’s how much pride they have in their team and, especially, their defense.
We’ll put a cap on this story with coach Sterling Carvalho’s summary of what Leonard Ah You was all about for the Red Raiders (12-2). As you will see, this soon-to-be college football player believes in himself quite a bit, so you as the reader can make your own decision of where you want to draw the line between confidence and too much confidence. Far be it from Bedrock Sports Hawaii to say that Leonard Ah You is not the best in all of the things he believes he is the best in.
“One thing about Leonard, he plays with a chip on his shoulder,” Carvalho said. “He sees himself as the best edge rusher, the best linebacker, the best cover linebacker. He thinks he’s the best wide receiver. He’s always trying to get on the field on offense to catch a pass. He thinks he’s the best at kicking and is out there at practice kicking and punting. He is our best long snapper and he knows it. He does track and thinks he’s the best at the high jump, long jump, triple jump and 100-meter dash. Every time he steps on the field, that’s the player he is, and at the same time he is the most service-oriented guy in the community. Coming from the Ah You family, since he was small, he’s always been performing service with the family for the community.”
There was no need to ask Carvalho about Ah You’s incredible prowess this season.
Ah You already proved everything and showed it to all onlookers with his own certain style on Kahuku’s brand-new and long-awaited artificial turf field.
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The Rest Of The 8-Part Series
Upcoming posts:
>> FOOTBALL WRAP PART 2: Waipahu’s Liatama Uiliata Showed Unique Ability On The Way To Becoming Bedrock’s State Offensive Player Of The Year
>> FOOTBALL WRAP PART 3: Kyle Linoz Revived The Pride In Waimea Football In Grand Fashion
>> FOOTBALL WRAP PART 4: Kahuku Dealt With Intense Pressure En Route To 10th Top-Tier State Championship
>> FOOTBALL WRAP PART 5: Konawaena Took Oahu By Storm For School’s First D-I State Championship
>> FOOTBALL WRAP PART 6: Shang HI Media’s MUST-SEE Video Compilation Of Waimea’s 45-6 D-II State Title Win Over King Kekaulike
>> FOOTBALL WRAP PART 7: Nacnac Productionz’s MUST-SEE Video Compilation Of Konawaena’s 38-28 D-I State Title Win Over Waipahu
>> FOOTBALL WRAP PART 8: Shang HI Media’s MUST-SEE Video Compilation Of Kahuku’s 20-0 Open State Championship Win Over Punahou
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The Season As It Unfolded:
2 Comments
Great article!
Thanks Shang!!!!
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