ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. >> Best friends will be best foes in Saturday’s Mountain West football game at Dreamstyle Stadium.

The starting quarterbacks — Hawaii’s Cole McDonald and New Mexico’s Tevaka Salanoa-Tuioti — were teammates in the summers before their junior and senior years of high school.

“We’re still buddies,” McDonald said. “He’s a funny dude, a character, a good guy to be around. He has a great family. He’s a great person.”

It was in 2014 when McDonald and Salanoa-Tuioti played together as part of Elite Athletes, a 7-on-7 program based in Los Angeles county.

“It was a great time,” Salanoa-Tuioti said. “It was great learning from each other, and being under a great coaching staff. Those coaches really helped mold us to the players we are now.”

Elite Athletes had two squads, but both players often were on the same side. “We were both quarterbacks,” McDonald said. “We rotated. It was fun. We had a blast.”

McDonald and Salanoa-Tuioti lived in the same Southern California area, but played for separate high school teams that competed in different leagues. This will be the first time they will face each other in an organized game. This meeting, McDonald said, will be “just for pride.”

Both quarterbacks have remained friends through the years. When their schedules are in sync, they both train together under quarterback guru Steve Calhoun.

“Sometimes when we go on break, we’ll get a workout in or two,” Salanoa-Tuioti said.

McDonald said: “We work out all the time. … We didn’t go to the same high school, but we’re still buddies. I’ll drop in if I see something he posts on Instagram. I’ll see what’s up, how he’s doing.”

There had been hope both would be teammates at UH. Salanoa-Tuioti and UH nickelback Eugene Ford, also a member of that Elite Athletes team, were on the same recruiting trip to Hawaii in 2016. Ford committed to UH as a grayshirt, delaying his enrollment until January 2017. Salanoa-Tuioti wrestled with his options before choosing New Mexico.

“I really love Hawaii,” Salanoa-Tuioti said. “I have a lot of family over there. My parents thought it was too far. It was hard. I wanted my friends and family to come see my games in person.”

McDonald said: “Whatever works. If you want to be in New Mexico, kudos to you. It would have been fun to have him play ball out (in Hawaii).”

McDonald signed with UH in February 2016. A season later, Ford enrolled at UH. “When I first got here, my first night here, I met up with Cole, and he showed me around,” Ford said.

Ford was a receiver with Elite Athletics, and caught passes from McDonald and Salanoa-Tuioti. “I’m on the other side of the ball now,” Ford said.

Ford said he is close with McDonald, and keeps in contact regularly with Salanoa-Tuioti.

Ford marveled at how the three former pass-league teammates are fulfilling their football dreams.

“It was exciting back then,” Ford said of playing for Elite Athletes. “And now to see us at the Division I level — which we were training for back then — it’s a blessing.”