The place card on the third row table fronting Mililani High running back Vavae Malepeai listed his name, high school and denoted his expected college choice with the trademark Oregon “O.”

A row below, USC-bound Saint Louis School linebacker Jordan Iosefa glanced back anxiously at his friend.

“I was a little worried,” Iosefa said.

Only when Malepeai hoisted and then donned a cardinal and gold USC cap at Wednesday morning’s Pacific Island Athletic Alliance National Letter of Intent ceremonies, signifying his signing of a binding commitment with the Trojans, did Iosefa permit himself a sigh of relief.

Malepeai’s down-to-the-wire choice after a year-long commitment to the Ducks was the surprise of signing day locally, prompting a chorus of “oohs” in a Sheraton Waikiki ballroom before shouts of “Fight On!” broke out.

Malepeai said he had hoped to be able to do it low-key and it was not his intention to “grab so much attention.” But, then, the spotlight isn’t as easy to avoid as would-be tacklers when you are a high school All-American and the holder of state records for career rushing yards (4,631) and touchdowns (73).

If USC coaches were “stoked” at the turn of events, as Malepeai said they had told him, then Iosefa was effervescent.

“We were trying to recruit each other — him trying to get me to go to Oregon and me trying to get him to USC — for the past year ever since we got the offers,” Iosefa said.

Iosefa said he encouraged the USC coaches to be unrelenting in their pursuit of Malepeai, even after his friend had originally turned down opportunities to visit the Trojans’ campus. “I had kind of been blocking them out,” Malepeai said.

Iosefa maintained that Malepeai could be won over even in the face of considerable family ties to Oregon, where uncles, Silila and Tasi and another relative, Pulou, played.

“They really wanted him and I told them, ‘you’ve got to get this guy. He’s the real deal (and) the best player in Hawaii,’” Iosefa said.

“And, I told him to just look at all the opportunities that come with USC. I never lied to him. I just pointed out that USC’s offense fits him perfectly and they have a great network of graduates. I told him, ‘hey, bro, it is USC, you know.’”

Malepeai finally agreed to visit USC over this past weekend and liked what he saw. Then, Iosefa said he received a text saying, “I’m coming, bro.”

Still, Malepeai said “I wavered all the way to last night.” Iosefa said he sent a reassuring text (because) “I was afraid he might be hesitating this morning.”

Ultimately, Malepeai said, “I know I’m gonna have to really work hard wherever I go. I know the opportunity is what you make of it. After I prayed on it and thought about it, I just felt that, in my heart, it (USC) was the right place for me.”

With that, Malepeai became the only scholarship running back the Trojans have recruited from Hawaii since Mosi Tatupu (1973) and John Kamana (1980).

Said Iosefa afterward with a smile, “I guess I won the debate.”

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.