All-Star Game Is Special to These Friends : Football: It will be the first and probably the last time Tuato, Tuioti and Satele will play on the same team.

Summer football practice, even for an event such as the North-South All-Star game, can be drudgery. There has to be other things to do besides tugging on several pounds of football gear that will make the sizzling midday sun seem even hotter, and slamming into bodies that weigh 250 pounds or more.

But Ape Tuato, Tony Tuioti and Niu Satele aren’t complaining. This is the first time--and probably the last--the good friends have played on the same team, in this case the South all-stars. They plan to enjoy every moment of Friday’s game at Orange Coast College.

They have been good friends since high school. Even now, you can find them playing video games at one another’s house--John Madden Football, naturally--or lifting weights together. They are not related, but feel as close as brothers. Football brought them together, although Tuato and Satele, who went to Los Amigos, and Tuioti--first at Santa Ana Valley and then Foothill--never played against each other.

What makes the game special for them is all three had to overcome some obstacle to get here.

Tuato and Satele didn’t play football until high school. In fact Satele didn’t try on pads until his junior year.

Tuioti, 18, a 270-pound defensive end who was a Times first-team all-county pick, was beset by weight and motivation problems at Santa Ana Valley.

“I was a good friend of the snack bar people,” he said. “And my first two years at Santa Ana Valley, there didn’t seem to be any team unity; I went there because my brother [and quarterback] Aaron played.”

After his sophomore year, Tuioti wanted to transfer, and said he heard good things about the football program at Foothill under Tom Meiss. So Tuioti decided to go there, even though Foothill was at least a half-hour from his home.

“It was a hard change but it worked out well,” Tuioti said. “Coach Meiss, in some ways, made me the player I am, but I was also motivated by my teammates. Everyone worked hard in the program and I wanted to make sure I fit in.”

Meiss said Tuioti--who had 46 solo tackles, 37 assisted tackles, 8 1/2 sacks and three forced fumbles--did more than just fit in.

“He never really had a bad game,” Meiss said. “But his senior year he really emerged. The maturity and experience came together.”

Satele, 18, who played rugby in Samoa--”our national sport,” he said--excelled at tight end and defensive end. He’ll play both positions in the all-star game.

“I was surprised to be asked to play in the game,” Satele said. “I wanted to, but because I hadn’t played that long I thought they might choose other people.”

Tuato, 17, was destined to be a quarterback the moment the Los Amigos coaching staff saw him throw the ball 50 yards as a freshman. It took him two years to learn how to play quarterback and defensive back. After a terrific senior year, Tuato was named to The Times all-county first team as a defensive back.

“It’s a great honor,” he said. “I went to the 1990 game, when my cousin Lloyd Ape [from Santa Ana Valley] played. I also went to the 1993 game. I never thought I’d play in it, though I had dreams of playing.”

All three have considerable skills to provide the South team.

Last season Tuato passed for 1,604 yards and 11 touchdowns and rushed for 376 yards. As a strong safety, he had 31 solo tackles, 20 assists, two sacks and broke up five passes.

“We needed two-way players at Los Amigos because we were a small school,” Tuato said. “I prefer defense; I’d rather give the hit than take it. As a quarterback, you don’t always see the hit but you always feel it.”

Although this was his first year catching passes, Satele became one of Tuato’s favorite receivers. He gained 365 yards in 20 receptions and had four touchdowns. His longest reception was for 60 yards.

“They are both great competitors and gifted athletes,” Los Amigos Coach Roger Takahashi said. “Besides football, Niu played volleyball and was the [Garden Grove] league shotput champion. Every season [including the playoffs] Ape threw for at least 1,400 yards. He set the school single-season record, passing for 1,679 yards as a junior.”

It is not that rare to see Samoan football players in the All-Star game. The 1993 South squad, for example, had three South Pacific representatives, including then Ohio State-bound Nick Sualua.

But the Samoan population here is not large. “There were only two [Samoans] at my school, some at Los Amigos,” Tuioti said. “One in Capistrano Valley. That’s why it’s good to have three of us here.”

They plan to stay in touch even though they will separate after the game. Tuioti recently accepted a scholarship to the University of Hawaii. Tuato will head to Orange Coast College. Satele will postpone college, going back to Samoa first to complete a religious mission.

“That’s one reason I wanted to play,” Satele said. “It will be my last game for a while.”