On the South end of the Aloha Stadium field, defensive lineman Breiden Fehoko, with one-two rhythm, pounded a padded board before going through an agility drill.

“Full circle,” said Fehoko, who used to beat the drums while his father, Vili “The Warrior” Fehoko, riled Hawaii football fans with his clapping, chest pounding and chee-hu yells.

More than a week after winning a national title with LSU, Fehoko was back at Aloha Stadium as a member of the Hula Bowl’s Kai team.

“It’s always a pleasure to be back home,” said Fehoko, a Farrington graduate. “I missed the people. I missed the food. I missed the weather. I can’t trade it for anything else.”

The last two weeks have been a series of chicken-skin scenarios for Fehoko. After UH’s 12-0 season in 2007, Fehoko, his three brothers and Vili the Warrior performed on the sideline for the Rainbow Warriors during the 2008 Sugar Bowl in New Orleans’ Superdome.

Twelve years later, LSU and Clemson would play for the national title in the same facility. The Tigers stayed in the New Orleans Marriott, where the Warriors also resided ahead of the Sugar Bowl.

Days before the championship game, a bellman stopped Vili, saying his face was oh-too-familiar. Vili said he was the father of an LSU player. No, that was not it, the bellman said. Vili then mentioned he was there with the UH football team more than a decade earlier. In an a-ha reaction, the bellman said he had carried Vili’s drums into the van before the Sugar Bowl. Several workers who had remembered Vili were summoned for a reunion picture. They then asked Vili about the “littlest” guy. He pointed to 6-foot-2, 291-pound Breiden.

“I was so emotional,” said Linda Fehoko, Breiden’s mother and Vili’s wife. “God has his way of showing everything is aligned.”

It seemed Breiden — who debuted at 23 inches and 10 pounds — was destined for big things. “We weren’t supposed to have any other kids,” Linda said, “and then he came.”

Breiden was named after his sister, Britney, who died two years before he was born, and the “Mortal Kombat” character Raiden, the eternal god of thunder. “Not only will he carry her name, he’ll carry the name of the infinite being,” Linda said.

Breiden, like his three older brothers, grew up chasing academic and athletic dreams. Each morning, Vili and his four sons would run up the hill leading to Tripler Hospital. At Keehi Lagoon, they would push cars. Industrial-sized tires were strength-building tools.

“Without that stuff, I wouldn’t be the player I am today,” Breiden said. “I was blessed I was able to take part in that stuff at an early age.”

Breiden maintained that work ethic when he played at Texas Tech, and then after transferring to LSU. Vili said he sometimes reminded his son: “There’s a kid in Alabama running who has the same kind of dream as you have.”

“I did sacrifice,” said Breiden, who earned his degree. “You have to. If you want to sign up for this sport and you want to play the game, there are a lot of things you have to give up: Social life, going out with your friends, party stuff. You have to sacrifice all that stuff if you want to play this game for a long time. I’m glad I did it. It’s paying off for me.”