Kamehameha senior Ethanjames Ramos was easy to spot on the football field because he was usually scoring touchdowns.
However, the 6-foot, 200-pound three-year starter didn’t play on offense. He was an outside linebacker for the Warriors, the BIIF Division II runner-up.
Ramos recorded stellar stats: 47 tackles, including 15 for loss, seven sacks, five interceptions, and five forced fumbles.
Even better, he was a defensive TD machine with three pick-six scores and two fumble returns. Ramos was as productive as most running backs and wide receivers.
Ramos was named the BIIF Division II Defensive Player of the Year as selected by the Hawaii Tribune-Herald, West Hawaii Today, and the league’s coaches.
“It’s an honor. I’d like to thank my teammates, helping me get this reward,” he said. “They pushed me to do my best, especially my fellow linebackers.”
Ramos started as a sophomore and junior but went unrecognized the last two years. In his senior season, he secured POY honors, a jump he attributed to offseason work.
“I’ve got to say that hard work pays off,” he said. “It was training really hard in the offseason. It was me and brothers coming together as a team. They’re the ones who pushed me to do better. It’s not all me. It’s my brothers pushing me to do my best.
“Definitely, Noah Wengler, Kailikea Kekuawela, Brendan Figueroa, and Isaac Ysaguirre really had my back during the offseason.”
Ramos makes it a habit to credit others like his Pop Warner coaches: his dad Maui Ramos, Kawika Kekuawela, and Sergio Mamone, who runs Panawea Athletics Combined.
Mamone hooked up Ramos to play in the Diamond All-American Senior Bowl in South Carolina, where Ramos had a pair of safeties and a scoop-and-score on Saturday.
Ramos was also part of the Panaewa Alii Pop Warner team, coached by Mamone, that played in the Super Bowl in Florida in 2013.
“Other than my dad, coach Sergio is one of my biggest coaches and motivators,” Ramos said. “My mom (Jensie) was the one who kept us straight at home. One time I had Pop Warner practice, but she made me stay home because I didn’t finish my homework.
“I was never a talented kid, but I learned hard work and dedication from my dad. We’d train out in the garage and all the neighborhood kids would come.”
As a highlight, Ramos pointed to a team-bonding experience the night before the BIIF championship against Konawaena. It was an off-the-field moment, not the game or any of his pick-six TD scores.
“Before the game, we stayed in a condo, and we all got closer to each other,” he said. “It was just having that brotherhood and that experience at the condo. We built a bond stronger than we already had.
“Everything happens for a reason. The BIIF championship (27-23 loss) just wasn’t meant to be. Like our coaches said, we could have all played a perfect game and we did. But we came up short. That’s how life goes.”
With that philosophical outlook in mind, Ramos tipped his hat to Kamehameha coach Dan Lyons.
“Coach Lyons kept me mentally strong,” Ramos said. “He’d tell me to keep my head up. He really helped me to become a better person, not just so much as a football player but in life and off the field.”