Ike’s Atoe loves his football, music

When visiting with high school football players it’s often easy to tell the student-athletes who come from a military background, something that is very common in the Lawton-Fort Sill area.

Another group that is always fun to visit with are those with roots are in American Samoa. Put that combination together and it made Wednesday’s interview with Tenari Atoe at Eisenhower’s practice field enjoyable.

“You are right, we are a very welcoming people,” the 6-1, 215-pound senior said. “Whenever we meet others from the islands, we welcome them like family. That is why we know so many from the islands.”

This writer first met Sunny Puletasi, the former All-American defensive end at Lawton High School and the thing I remember from my visit with him years ago was his love of music.

Atoe is no different; he loves music just as well.

“I am in the orchestra and love music,” he said. “I play the double-base (guitar) and really enjoy doing that. I think many Samoans love music. I love reggae and enjoy playing that music as well.”

This week Atoe and the Eagles are awaiting a challenge against MacArthur Friday in the 2023 version of the “Gore War” at 8 p.m. at Cameron Stadium.

The senior is a defensive end and also spends time on the offensive line at tackle.

“Looking at the Mac offense, they love to run a hurry-up offense and we’ve been working to make sure we all have our reads and understand our calls,” he said. “We have to stop the run first and then adjust as needed depending on what they do.

“Offensively we must be consistent and not turn the ball over. I think we learned a good deal about our offense against Ardmore but we all know Mac is a better team and will be a good game for us.”

Samoan families love cooking over pits and there are favorite meals they all love.

“My favorite food is a Samoan dish called fanio poo poo which my mom Emeri makes for us,” he said. “She makes it every couple of months and when we get it at home it never lasts long.”

Mom is an Air Force veteran who grew up in the islands just like dad David who has been serving in the U.S. Army.

“They both came from the islands and met while they were in Killeen at Fort Hood,” he said. “Then we ended up here and we’ve been making our home here since.”

Atoe has his sights on college and took college sociology and biology last year and is currently enrolled in English Comp I.

“I really hope to go to college but beyond that I’m not sure about what career might interest me,” he said. “Right now I just want to get as far ahead as possible.”

The Eagles spent a great deal of the later part of Wednesday’s practice with conditioning work, something that was clearly going Ike’s way last week against Ardmore.

“Our coaches have done a great job working on conditioning and I think it was obvious we were in better shape than Ardmore,” he said. “One thing this team isn’t going to do is start talking about district. We are focused on one game and that’s the one Friday against MacArthur.”