Oh brother, where art thou? Across the line

SAN DIEGO >> The relationship of brothers — especially those close in age — can switch from heated competition to empathy very quickly.

So it was for the Lakalaka brothers at Qualcomm Stadium on Saturday, as Ronley and his San Diego State teammates pounded visiting Hawaii 55-0.

It was almost inevitable that Steven Lakalaka, a senior who started at running back for the Rainbow Warriors, would make contact with Ronley, a sophomore who started at linebacker for the Aztecs.

Ronley was credited with four tackles. Three of them came on runs by Steven — two after short gains, one on no gain.

“Yeah, I was definitely looking forward to it,” Ronley said. “It took a lot of pressure off of me after I got that first tackle. I got more and more confident that I could get in there and make plays.”

The biggest one for him came at around the midway point of the second quarter, when he intercepted Dru Brown’s pass for his second career pick, and returned it 11 yards to the Hawaii 48.

“We had a field blitz along with a zone,” Ronley said, noting that a bust on the same play earlier resulted in a Hawaii completion. “(Linebackers) coach (Zach) Arnett did a great job telling us what we needed to do to see that.”

A face-mask penalty moved the ball to the UH 33, and six plays later John Baron’s 30-yard field goal extended SDSU’s lead to 24-0.

There wasn’t much to be happy about for any of the Rainbow Warriors immediately after the game, but Steven smiled when asked if playing against his brother brought back memories of playing in the yard as kids or as teammates at Punahou.

“In the beginning it was fun. But as the game went on he was just another player,” Steven said. “And he did a pretty good job. That’s my brother, and I love him.”

Ronley said he had some mixed feelings about beating his sibling’s team in a blowout.

“Of course. It’s always a soft moment when you’re playing against your brother, but at the same time we’re two competitive people that want to get after each other, so it was nice being able to do so,” he said.

About 60 family members, many from Hawaii, came to watch the brothers play, Ronley said.

“I had to get a lot of tickets, which was very difficult to do with it being homecoming.”

Steven, who led UH with 40 rushing yards on 14 carries, complimented the Aztecs but said the Warriors (4-6, 3-3 Mountain West) did not play up to their abilities.

“They played great football out there. Credit to them,” he said. “And we made a lot of mistakes.”

Ronley said the Aztecs remain hungry at 8-1 and 5-0.

“We’re playing very well right now, but we’re not satisfied. We have a great defense because we feed off each other and game after game we get better.”