FROM BEDROCK SPORTS HAWAII, AUG. 13, 2022
Editor’s note: Four years later, Tama Uiliata is a University of Hawaii sophomore with 55 career receptions for 463 yards.
Unbelievable.
Yes, that’s right. You could call it hyperbole, but unless you were there at Waipahu’s topsy-turvy 36-25 nonleague football victory over Leilehua at Hugh Yoshida Stadium on Friday night, then you won’t know for sure if I’m exaggerating or not.
And I am talking about one player in particular. His name is Liatama Uiliata and he is a PLAYAH!!!
We’ll give you some middling highlights first before we get to the big stuff he did on both sides of the ball:
>> Intercepted a pass from his safety position (think: tracking down balls from far away in center field) in the first quarter.
>> Intercepted another pass in the first quarter, but it was nullified by a penalty.
>> Threw a 2-point conversion pass to teammate Faapaia Fualema, also in the opening quarter.
>> Caught three medium-range, right-on-the-sideline passes that appeared uncatchable from quarterback Joshua Manu. He went up, snagged the ball anyway with defenders draped on him and came down — slightly out of bounds — all three times.
>> Caught a long cross-field lateral from Manu and turned to throw, but was greeted immediately by a Mules defenders. It looked as though he would surely be tackled, but instead, he sidestepped the Mule and got the ball off somehow, but incomplete.
And now, here’s the portion of the broadcast (if this were on the radio) where you get a voiceover from Marauders coach Bryson Carvalho.
“He’s been noticed before, but this was his way of introducing himself (as a senior),” the coach said (afterward). “We know he is an excellent player and we are trying to get him an offer to play at the next level. We feel like he can do it.”
No doubt, although his size is a factor — 5 feet 9, 176 pounds.
And now on to Uiliata’s more brilliant highlights:
>> Sprinted down the right sideline for an over-the-shoulder grab of a Manu pass for a 70-yard touchdown to break a scoreless first quarter tie.
>> Finished with 10 catches for 228 yards, which is 21 off the school record.
And we haven’t gotten to the piece de resistance (the most important or remarkable feature, when translated from French) yet.
For this, it would help if you use your imagination and pretend you are listening to a radio announcer calling it:
“OK folks, it’s Waipahu 29, Leilehua 25. Five and half minutes to go. Mules quarterback Dustin Chow takes the snap and rolls right. He gets it off. It’s high. Oh boy, here HE comes. It’s Uiliata speeding over from the left. He jumps and comes down with it. And he’s off going the other way. He weaves, changes direction, stutter steps. Man, he’s making them miss. And he’s in the clear now. He’s going to score. That’s a 79-yard touchdown interception return. And that is going to make it really hard for those Mules with 5:15 left.”
That play came only a few minutes after Leilehua hit Waipahu with a punch in the gut in the form of Camren Flemister’s 99-yard kickoff return.
In a postgame interview, the Marauders’ Tama-of-all-trades called it a game-breaker, and then added:
“We needed it. So I wanted to do what had to be done and thanks to my D-line, with a lot of pressure, he (Chow) had no choice but to throw the ball and I was in the right place at the right time. They’re an Open team and we’re in Division I and its shows we really can compete on that level.”