An early Christmas present came to the Anahu-Ambrosio family in South Kona when their son, Konawaena standout Hezekiah, signed with Division I University of Nevada, securing his space among Big Island athletes that have made it to the ranks.
Hezekiah Anahu-Ambrosio graduated early this winter from Konawaena High School after completing all of his credits and will be heading to Nevada in the spring on a full ride football scholarship.
“His goal as a freshman, he wanted to start his credits and leave early as a senior to be enrolled in a college where he could have a head start being there for spring ball,” said his father Heze.
Back in 2020, both Hezekiah and his brother Zedekiah received offers from BYU while playing in Utah. The boys moved there to be able to play when Hawaii suspended all interscholastic sports during the pandemic, and they didn’t want to lose a year of play.
In addition, Hezekiah had offers from the University of Hawaii, Utah State and UNLV.
Ambrosio had coached his sons from an early age with the Leeward Steelers Pop Warner Football team. He told his son that the best chance he had to go to college was to work hard and train hard.
“We’re from Hawaii. We can’t afford to pay for his college, so from an early age we let him know this was his way. We sacrificed a lot. I handled the football end and his mom handled the academic part. We always stressed education is first and sports second, but with football, you have another way to get into college,” said Ambrosio.
At a young age his father already knew his son was going to be a linebacker and gave him the skills to pursue it.
“He chose Nevada because he knew that would be the best place for him educationally and to take him to the next step,” said the elder Ambrosio.
The rising star is going to pursue a degree in kinesiology.
“Hezekiah is the first player in recent memory to do an early signing and have multiple Division 1 offers,” said Konawaena head coach Brad Uemoto. “We were so fortunate to have him complete his high school career at Konawaena that we can all claim as not only a Wildcat but also a BIIF player.”
Ambrosio said his three sons are Hawaii boys who love to hunt, fish and dive, but he has instilled in them that it is train first, then go have fun.
“Everything they have, they have worked hard for,” said Ambrisio.
Email Laura Ruminski at lruminski@westhawaiitoday.com.