Athletes of the Week: Sultana’s Jacob Higgs and Oak Hills’ Keonahi'ilani Solaita
Jacob Higgs
Sport: Football
School: Sultana
Grade: Sophomore
This week’s accomplishment: Higgs completed 19 passes for 426 yards and six touchdowns in a 40-7 victory over Victor Valley on Sept. 16. He connected with LaMason Waller for 185 and a touchdown on seven receptions and eight times with Corey Cabriales for 144 yards and three touchdowns.
What do you like most about your sport: I like the feeling of being a part of a family. The bond is just something special between me and my guys. … I want to shout out my o-line and receivers. I don't have the big games I have without them. We go by “LWG,” which means linemen win games. They do a great job holding it down, a lot of teams are sending heavy pressure at us and they have a lot on their plate. They’re really killing it right now. And my (receivers) are just amazing. All I do is put the ball in their hands, they make the plays after the catch and do the hard work! I believe we got the best group in the High Desert and the numbers are proving that.
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How long have you been playing your sport and how did you get started: I’ve been playing tackle football for 10 years now and I got started just out of my love for the game as a little kid.
Pregame ritual: My pregame ritual is just listening to some music and watching highlight tapes of guys I like to model my game after. My most watched highlight tape is Johnny Manziel in college forsure.
Most memorable sports moment: My most memorable sports moment was last year's game against Barstow. It was my first high school game ever, and I threw fivetouchdowns. It was a nice welcome to high school ball.
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If you could be someone else for a day, who would it be and why: I think I’d spend the day as someone really rich and famous. I don’t have a specific person in mind, though.
Something most people don’t know about you: Something most people don’t know about me is that I love to listen to podcasts and like conspiracy theories.
How would you spend $1 million: If I had $1 million, I’d probably buy a bunch of real estate and stocks.
Where would you go if you could travel anywhere in the world: I’d go somewhere with a really nice beach and warm weather. Somewhere like Hawaii.
If you had an extra hour every day, how would you spend it: I’d spend it sleeping.
What superpower do you wish you had: Teleportation would just make life easier.
Favorite sports team: Los Angeles Chargers.
Favorite athlete: Josh Allen.
Favorite superhero: Thor.
Favorite TV show: “The Office.”
Favorite movie: “American Psycho.”
Favorite song: “Love Yourz” by J. Cole.
Favorite meal: Two Double-Doubles from In-N-Out
Favorite local restaurant: In-N-Out Burger
Favorite app: TikTok
Keonahi'ilani Solaita
Sport: Volleyball
School: Oak Hills
Grade: Sophomore
This week’s accomplishment: Solaita led the Bulldogs to two victories last week as Mojave River League action started. In a victory over Apple Valley on Sept. 15, Solaita racked up 19 kills, four aces, 10 digs, and a block. On Sept. 13, Solaita paced the offense against Hesperia with 20 kills with 16 digs, and four aces.
What do you like most about your sport: The thing I like most about my sport is the people I meet and the friends I gain from it. Oh, and winning of course.
How long have you been playing your sport and how did you get started: This is going to be my fifth year playing. I grew up around volleyball, watching my sisters, who were the 2015 Pacific Games gold medalist for American Samoa. So I kind of just followed in their footsteps.
Pregame ritual: I drink Sprite every game. It's more of a luck thing that I believe in, then I put my headphones on, turn the volume all the way up and block out everyone.
Most memorable sports moment: Sweeping Hesperia in three sets because we had the best student section ever, and the energy our team had was amazing.
► Best of the Week: Oak Hills volleyball is off to a fast start in MRL action
If you could be someone else for a day, who would it be and why: I would be Krista Vansant when she played volleyball for the University of Washington. Her father, Robert Vansant was my coach last year, and she's the ultimate reason I would want to go to Washington. I feel like it would be an amazing experience seeing what she did on a daily basis.
Something most people don’t know about you: My name is Hawaiian but I am not Hawaiian. I'm Samoan and it has 50 characters.
How would you spend $1 million: I don't think I would spend it, maybe a little on clothes and shoes, but I think I would give some to my family and invest some of it.
Where would you go if you could travel anywhere in the world: Definitely the Bahamas.
If you had an extra hour every day, how would you spend it: I would spend an extra hour sleeping, reading, or listening to music. Right now, I don't have a lot of spare time so I would use it to do something I like.
What superpower do you wish you had: I wish I could fly. The amount of times I would just fly around at night would be insane.
Favorite sports team: I don't watch much volleyball so I'd say Boise State University. But in general the San Francisco 49ers.
Favorite athlete: Krista Vansant, but someone that is currently playing that I like to watch is Allison Casillas from Boise State University.
Favorite superhero: Wonder Woman.
Favorite TV show: “Stranger Things.”
Favorite movie: All the Harry Potter movies but specifically “The Half-Blood Prince.”
Favorite song: I have so many, so here are a few like “Golden Hour” by JVKE, “Glimpse of Us” by Joji, “Romantic Homicide” by d4vd, “Bound 2” by Kanye West, and “Little Freak” by Harry Styles.
Favorite meal: I really like Caesar salads.
Favorite local restaurant: Spring House Family Restaurant.
Favorite app: Instagram or TikTok.
Athletes of the Week are selected every Monday using stats from the previous week reported by coaches to the Daily Press. All local varsity scores and results are published in our “Best of the Week” roundup and can be reported by email to Daily Press reporter Jose Quintero at JQuintero@VVDailyPress.com. You can also follow him on Twitter at @DP_JoseQ to submit any results throughout the season.
This article originally appeared on Victorville Daily Press: High Desert Athletes of the Week: Jacob Higgs, Keonahi'ilani Solaita
