Viks’ dynamic duo
Of all the skill positions on a football team, running back is Coeur d’Alene High coach Shawn Amos’ pet position.
Amos, after all, was a standout running back in his day. So consider the potentially difficult situation he encountered going into the 2004 season when he decided that Gabe Le, a returning all-league starter, would share carries with varsity newcomer Kevin Ah-Hi, a junior.
It wasn’t a decision Amos, for lack of a better phrase, rushed into. He carefully considered the possible ramifications. Amos knew it could either be the best decision he’s made in his eight years as head coach or it could backfire, pitting talented athletes against each other.
“Being a former running back, I knew it could be a tough situation,” Amos said. “How do you tell a first-team, all-league running back that you’re going to take half of his carries and give them to a junior? We would have been just fine with Gabe, but I’m very proud of how he handled it.”
The running backs have blossomed together. In so doing, the Vikings also have flourished. They snapped an 11-game losing streak to cross-town rival Lake City last week and will try to start a streak of their own when they play host to LC in a State 5A opener Friday.
The culturally mixed tandem of Le – he’s part Vietnamese – and Ah-Hi – he’s mostly Samoan – has proven to be the most prolific in Vikings history. They both rushed for more than 1,000 yards in the regular season.
Ah-Hi leads CdA with 1,230 yards and 16 touchdowns and Le has 1,091 yards and 15 TDs. Combined, they’ve averaged 9.2 yards per carry and 257 yards per game.
The Viks broke the single-game rushing record when Ah-Hi and Le combined for 421 yards and seven TDs in a 46-28 win at Meridian, a state playoff qualifier. The team season rushing record is within reach.
“To put up the numbers that they’ve put up is impressive,” LC coach Van Troxel said. “They’re really a counterbalance of each other. They both run hard. It makes it tough to defend them.”
Le is the power runner while Ah-Hi (pronounced “aw he”) is a slasher, cutback style runner. Both are speedy, too, and the majority of their TDs have come on runs longer than 20 yards.
Amos added a couple of new wrinkles to his offense to feature the backs at the same time – split-back sets and wishbone. It’s kept defenses from being able to key on either player.
“I talked to Kevin before the season and asked him to help me carry the team,” said Le, one of CdA’s respected leaders. “Even though he’s a junior, he understands the roles we had to play.”
Although they give their offensive line credit for opening most of the initial holes, the backs also have taken turns making key lead blocks for each other.
They’ve also used their pursuit of yards and TDs as a competition each week.
“We tease each other about our stats all the time,” Le said. “We’ve used it to push each other to play better.”
Amos said he appreciates the respect and the fun his backs have had with the competition.
“When one of them scores a couple of touchdowns the other will say ‘I need mine.’ It’s friendly competition,” Amos said.
“He can make something that looks like nothing into something,” Le said of Ah-Hi. “Next year it’s going to be the Kevin Ah-Hi Show.”
Ah-Hi is just beginning to hit his stride in the sport. Born in Wellington, New Zealand, he and his family moved to Coeur d’Alene in 1999. He hadn’t played football before turning out for Junior Tackle the following year. Rugby was to New Zealand youth what football is to American youth.
“At first I thought football was a wussy sport,” Ah-Hi said. “In rugby, you don’t wear all the pads and helmet. It took me a long time to get used to a helmet.”
Now, Ah-Hi realizes that football will likely be his ticket to college.
“He has a God-given talent,” Amos said. “To be at Kevin’s level, it’s something you’re born with. You can’t coach that.”
Ah-Hi knows he has another year at CdA. But he understands the urgency Le and the seniors are playing with as they try to achieve their goals.
“I look up to Gabe as a leader,” Ah-Hi said. “My goal is to get to a state championship game for Gabe and the seniors.”
That’s a goal that Le doesn’t mind sharing with Ah-Hi.