Courtesy of Keion Ashjaee-Marshall

During the 2024 fall season, Ashjaee-Marshall (left) and Pahulu (right) stand side-by-side on the football field.

Plowing through the turf under the bright lights with layers of gear on, seniors Keion Ashajee-Marshall and Tevita Pahulu were key contributors to the success of the Falcon team in their four years. Now, the sport has taken them further than ever — to two respected college football teams. 

As a Falcon, Ashjaee-Marshall played running back on offense and linebacker on defense while Pahulu’s main position was defensive tackle. In college, Ashjaee-Marshall plans to play running back and Pahulu plans on playing defensive end. 

In February, Ashjaee-Marshall committed to a 2-year Foothill College program majoring in business administration while Pahulu committed to a 2-year program at the College of San Matteo (CSM). They will both be playing in the California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) division for football. 

 Having gone on an official visit in January to meet both the coach and team at Foothill, Ashjaee-Marshall fell in love with the inclusive course programs, close location to home, enthusiastic coaches and the passion-driven team. 

“I loved it, my mom loved it. With the team, the [courses] and the pathways that they have in their school, for me, it just felt like a no-brainer [to commit],” Ashjaee-Marshall said. 

Foothill’s coaches were just as excited about having Ashjaee-Marshall on the team, and all of them personally texted him to congratulate his commitment.

For Pahulu, the recruitment process was a bit more unorthodox, as he committed before visiting CSM. Sitting down at the dinner table with his and another family, CSM’s coach called his phone with the news.

“[When I got the call], we just all looked at each other in shock. Honestly, I had no clue I was getting offered that day, but I just accepted it because they have really good programs.” 

Impressed by the college’s noteworthy achievements on the field — including winning the 2022 Junior College National Championships and state championships in following years — Pahulu felt no hesitation to commit there. In the future, Pahulu hopes to pursue football as far as it takes while majoring in psychology. 

Aside from CSM’s football program, Pahulu appreciates the beautiful mountainside location, as well as the large Polynesian student body he hopes to connect with as a Polynesian himself. 

Although attending separate schools, both athletes’ college football careers will begin before graduating from SHS. As part of a dual-enrollment program, they will be able to participate in “spring ball,” which is essentially a 2-3 week period where students athletes — especially incoming freshmen — get accustomed to the team, marking the start of the official season. As the name suggests, “spring ball” takes place in the spring season before the seniors actually graduate. 

Through college football, both athletes are excited to be able to further their football careers and set themselves up for the future. 

“I want to take over the league, and that’s the mentality I have here at Saratoga as well,” Ashjaee-Marshall said. “It showed in my play, whether it’s how angry I ran through people or the intellect and the IQ that I have on the field. I want people to know my presence, and I want to be great. My goal is to make it to the NFL, and I feel like there’s no way for me to stop.”

Ashjaee-Marshall’s own football career started early. Through the influence of his football-loving father, he started with flag football at six years old and played tackle football starting at 12 years old. 

Since then, Ashjaee-Marshall has been playing football with the SHS team and even had a private coach. As a star player on the team, Ashjaee-Marshall frequently attended out-of-state camps and games to improve, especially during the off-season. While it was difficult to manage both his schoolwork and athletics, he said every experience with football helped him get better.

“It’s a lot of traveling, a lot of work, and knowing that when you get off that plane after having a week long of camps you have five straight days of camps the next day because you have to get better. So after that, you go get in the ice or Epsom salt bath. It becomes your entire lifestyle,” Ashjaee-Marshall said.

On the other hand, Pahulu started playing football only when he entered high school and had to quickly learn and improve his skills on the field. Unlike Ashjaee-Marshall, he trained mostly on his own during his high school football career but still loved the team environment and spirit above all. In his senior year, he was selected to be part of the First Team All League by coaches.

According to athletic director Richard Ellis, SHS usually has one or two student football athletes committing to play at the junior college level each year.

Ellis believes that going to play at junior college is the right choice for them, even though that’s not necessarily the norm at SHS. He says that both the student athletes have a very good shot at being successful at the junior college level and beyond if they keep their options open. 

“Tevita has a tremendous amount of natural talent,” Ellis said. “He passes the eye test for sure. He’s big, he’s strong, he’s physical and he’s a force to be reckoned with on the football field. Similarly, Keion is a good-sized kid. He’s a tremendously hard worker. He’s got one of the best work ethics I know since I’ve coached here. He’s football 24/7.”

While football involves incredible discipline and hard work, Pahulu stressed that the most important thing is to just show up. 

“That’s really it,” he said. “Just show up.”

For years upon years, football has been deeply integrated into the lives of these two seniors. Now, they are one step closer to their goals, whether on or off the field.