Meet me after St. Louis

Steve Guiremand

Wednesday, Sept. 22, 1999 | 10:03 a.m.

While starring at perennial prep powerhouse St. Louis High School in Honolulu, UNLV middle linebacker James Sunia rarely got a chance to lay a hard hit on his good buddy, Darnell Arceneaux.

"A lot of times in practice, I felt like I could sack him," Sunia recalled. "But you weren't allowed to do that in practice."

Arceneaux, who helped quarterback St. Louis to three state titles and was the 1995 Hawaii Athlete of the Year, and Sunia will finally line up opposite each other in game conditions on Saturday night at Sam Boyd Stadium when Utah (2-0) faces UNLV (2-1) in both teams' Mountain West Conference opener.

Both players are looking forward to spending some quality time on and off the field this weekend.

"It's going to be good," Arceneaux, who is 8-0 in college starts, said. "We're real close friends and our families are good friends. (Sunia) will probably get a few shots at me. But that's the way it is."

"It's real exciting because Darnell and I are such good friends," Sunia, who ranks fourth in the Mountain West Conference with 30 tackles, said. "We were real close. We also played basketball together and Darnell kind of took me under his wing. I looked to him as our leader."

Sunia, who has not spoken with Arceneaux since before the summer, said he'd like to get together with his old buddy before the game, too. That shouldn't be too difficult since both teams will be staying at the Sunset Station hotel-casino on Friday night.

"I'm going to see if I can talk with him before the game," Sunia said. "I've got to ask my coaches about that."

"Las Vegas is like a mini-Hawaii," Arceneaux said. "There are so many people I know who live there. But I know with James it will be business first. Maybe after the game we can go get something to eat."

Another St. Louis High product, linebacker Wes Tufaga, starts at middle linebacker for Utah.

"We used to go to (Arceneaux's) house and spend the night," Sunia said. "Darnell's mom would always take good care of us. And Wes' mom would always bring food for us after our games.

"We all were real tight," Sunia continued. "That was the thing about St. Louis. Everybody bonded together and so did their families."

Sunia admits it will be "strange" trying to tackle Arceneaux on Saturday.

"But you've got to do what you've got to do," he said. "We're not on the same team anymore. But, we will always be good friends."