Kefu among San Mateo elite

"Just the way he carried himself off the field. Just how he came up with the big play when San Mateo needed it most," Kefu said. "I said, 'Dang, I want to be him.' All the people singing songs and chanting his name."

When Kefu got to high school, he would watch Aragon's Manase Tonga - two years ahead of Kefu - play whenever he could. When the Bearcats didn't make the playoffs, Kefu would watch Tonga and the Dons in the playoffs.

Kefu wanted to be like Tonga.

"The Tongan community was behind him," Kefu said. "Everyone (was) coming out to see him play."

After a record-breaking senior season, Kefu is joining Tuipolotu and Tonga to make up a triumvirate of San Mateo football greats. This season Kefu helped lead the Bearcats to an 11-2 record as he rushed for nearly 2,700 yards and 38 touchdowns, shattering the school's rushing record of 4,507 yards, set by Tuipolotu. He is now the Central Coast Section's all-time leading rusher with 5,439 yards and led the Bearcats to the school's first CCS title in 17 years and the Peninsula's first in 10 years.

But most importantly, Kefu helped lead the Bearcats to their first win over archrival Burlingame for the first time in six seasons.

"Now I know how Albert and Manase felt during those games," Kefu said.

Kefu is the Daily Journal's Male Athlete of the Year to go along with being the San Mateo County Times football player of the year and the San Francisco Chronicle's Bay Area football player of the year.

Style and ability

make Kefu a load

Kefu averaged more than 200 yards per game his senior season - and it could have been more. Kefu was pulled out of the Sequoia game after gaining 87 yards on just four carries.

"Coach said, 'Why stay in the game?'" Kefu said. "I was mad because I'm competitive. But we just sat there and coached the other kids. That was fun too."

Not exceptionally big (5-11, 205) and not the fastest (4.7 40-yard time), Kefu's running style more than made up for a perceived lack of anything. A powerful runner, Kefu had no problem lowering his shoulders and planting them firmly in a would-be tackler's chest or dragging three or four opponents a few more yards at the end of a play.

But when Kefu got into the open field, watch out. His outstanding balance and leg drive kept Kefu always falling "downhill" - rarely did he fall backward. After pinballing off defenders on his way through the hole, his ability to run while crouched down in a three-point stance (running with an out-stretched arm keeping him on his feet), enabled Kefu to defy gravity and keep moving toward the end zone.

Against Capuchino, Kefu's 59-yard scoring run sealed the Bearcats' win. After running into trouble at the line of scrimmage, he pulled away from tacklers. Just before breaking free, Kefu stumbled and looked to be going down. He put his hand down to keep his balance, spun out of another tackle, stepped out of an ankle tackle, got some blocking downfield and dove into the end zone out of sheer exhaustion.

"That was phenomenal. That play was phenomenal. That's the word for it," San Mateo coach T.J. Ewing said after the game. "He was like surreal. It looked like 'The Matrix' or something. He had four or five guys hitting him, in slow motion, he's spinning, he's up, hand on the ground. I've never seen that before. All the years."

Kefu's performances drew high praise and compliments from his coach.

"He's the Walter Payton of high school football," said Ewing, who resigned after the CCS title game to take the head coaching position at Monterey Trail High School in Elk Grove just outside Sacramento.

"[Kefu] wasn't faster or stronger (than his opponents), he willed himself to those yards," Ewing said. "He never ever - and we never ever - thought about those yards. All we wanted was success.

"He played for the love of the game and the respect of his opponents."

Respect: Kefu's

biggest accolade

Kefu said his most memorable moment wasn't his 253-yard, four-touchdown performance in the Bearcats' 41-13 win over Palo Alto in the CCS championship game. His most memorable moment came in San Mateo's last-second, 31-27 loss to Aragon, but it wasn't for any one play. He was most satisfied when, after burning the Dons for two late touchdowns - both coming on fourth down plays, each of which gave the Bearcats the lead - he looked over to the Aragon bench.

"(I remember) the sound of the fans when I scored those touchdowns against Aragon, I looked over (at the Aragon bench) and I looked at their faces," Kefu said. "Right then, I knew I had earned their respect. They had never respected us.

"Nothing feels better than earning respect. Not getting respect, but earning it."

Hard work needed

to be 'The Man'

After two years of being the second choice on offense, this past season Kefu was the first choice - and second and third option as well. When Kefu made the varsity team as a sophomore, he shared the backfield with senior Shawn Sopoaga. Last year, he split time with Willis Fonua, both of whom excelled for College of San Mateo last season.

While Kefu may have been the understudy, he was the one coaching those two while they garnered big plays and much of the glory.

"Shawn, it was his first year of playing running back, so I was trying to teach him the position," Kefu said. "And Willis had all the talent but didn't have the football knowledge. Those two years, I could depend on them to make the plays. This year, I got most of the carries. Coach told me, 'It's your turn. You get the goal-line touchdowns. You have to make it happen now. You and no one else.'"

To prepare for a season of being "the man," Kefu and his teammates worked extra hard. After watching the Bearcats get better and better, they really turned it up a notch last season. The Bearcats trained three times a day during the summer - blowing off normal high school things like hanging out at the beach or going to the mall.

Kefu was at the head of most of the training, leading by example.

"He was vocal when he was younger. But I told him, 'Just lead by example (this year)," Ewing said. "I think (being less vocal and emotional) gave him some more energy and the kids followed that."

Past plays a role in future success

Despite all the success Kefu enjoyed his first two seasons at the varsity level, he was more determined to make up for the Little Big Game his junior year when he sat out most of the third quarter with leg cramps.

"I wasn't there for my teammates in the Little Big Game my junior year. I just had that mindset that I didn't want to let my team down," Kefu said. "I just had to work harder than everyone else (coming into his senior season). I was just doing extra things. Coach tells us to do eight (reps), I would do 10."

Coming out of Bayside Middle School four years ago, Kefu and his football teammates had a decision to make. He could to Aragon where a strong football tradition had been built over the past 10, 15 years. Or, he could attend San Mateo with its 100 years of football tradition, although the Bearcats were at the bottom looking up the past few seasons before Kefu's arrival.

Kefu chose the latter.

"We just wanted to bring back the tradition of San Mateo football," Kefu said. "We could have gone to Aragon, but why go to a school that was already good?"

Doesn't matter what Kefu does at next level

Now, after leading the Bearcats back to the lofty heights of the past, Kefu takes on another challenge when he leaves June 16 for Eastern Washington, a Division I-AA school where Kefu will have a chance to come in and play right away. Whether he makes it on the football field at the next level doesn't matter to Ewing.

"I want to look at him and say he's a great high school football player. If he goes on, it's all gravy," Ewing said. "I think people need to focus on the time here and when he played high school football. He made such an impact at the high school level.

"In his class, he's raised the bar. He won the CCS championship. He's the all-time leading rusher (in the section). He has everything. If people are talking on the street, being from this area, he's the best. As a high school football player, he's the best.

"I think more importantly than winning was the way he played. He played for the love of the game and the love of his opponent."

Nathan Mollat can be reached by e-mail: nathan@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 102. What do you think of this story? Send a letter to the editor: letters@smdailyjournal.com