Hawaii Tribune-Herald: Mokiao will play football for Pioneers

Wednesday, Jul 28, 2004

Mokiao will play football for Pioneers

By JOHN BURNETT
Blake Mokiao is as close to being unassuming as someone 6-feet tall and 270 pounds can be. Without pretense or fanfare, he built an impressive resume as a standout athlete in his four years at Hilo High School, a first-team All-BIIF offensive lineman in football, seventh in the state in the shot put, and coming within a whisper of winning the state wrestling title in the 275-pound division, losing a 3-2 heartbreaker in overtime to Iolani's Riley Martin.

"You would never know that Blake was such an outstanding athlete by just observing him around campus," said Leroy Simms, Hilo High's athletic director. "He is very quiet and humble. He's friendly but he's not a talker. He's well liked and very well respected. He's an excellent student and was a peer counselor here at Hilo High School and in his church, too."

Mokiao, the son of Deborah Vares and Bruce Mokiao, will go to MidAmerica Nazarene University in Olathe, Kan., on a football scholarship. The Pioneers, under coach Mike Cochran, are one of the premier small-college programs in the nation. The two-time defending Heart of America Conference champs went 12-1 last season and finished eighth in the final NAIA standings.

Although it has the sound of a "Grapes of Wrath" dust bowl town, Olathe is actually a Kansas City suburb of 92,000. And MidAmerica Nazarene may be in the beginning stages of setting up a recruiting pipeline for local prep gridders, as Mokiao's former Viking teammate, Kauhane Hanson, is a sophomore offensive lineman on the Pioneer squad.

"Kauhane told me that he likes it there and I'm looking forward to going," said Mokiao, who added that he would also participate in track and field throwing the shot put and discus.

Mokiao was also pursued by several small schools on the West Coast and also considered walking on at Wisconsin.

"I think that MidAmerica Nazarene is a great fit for Blake," Simms said. "It's an excellent school with an outstanding football program and he has Kauhane there to help get him situated both on the team and in school.

"I'm really happy for him."

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