UW Commit Tunuufi a Dominant Force, Puts HS Team into Utah Semis

The future Husky defensive tackle was at his postseason best with 13 tackles, including two sacks, to bring his East High team within a game of a Utah championship berth.

Voi Tunuufi, a University of Washington commit from Salt Lake City, collected two sacks among his 13 tackles in a dominating performance on Friday night to lead his East High School team into the Utah state semifinals. 

A mobile defensive tackle, Tunuufi helped East to a 35-18 victory over American Fork, reversing a 69-49 loss to the same team two months earlier during the regular season.

"It feels good," Tunuufi said. 

In the previous meeting, the two teams scored early and often but Tunuufi and East were unable to keep pace with American Fork's Maddux "Mad Dog" Madsen, a junior quarterback who threw for 628 yards and 9 touchdowns in the game.

This time, Tunuufi harrassed the American Fork ace while his team used a power run game to keep the ball out of Madsen's hands. East rushed for a whopping 454 yards on 54 carries. 

Tunuufi had his third consecutive game with 13 tackles, bringing his season total to 124 tackles, among them 14 sacks from his defensive interior position.

East faces top-ranked and unbeaten Corner Canyon next Thursday for the right to play in the state championship game.