FROSTBURG — When Ryan Patterson first met Uma Pua’auli at a practice, the seventh-grader did a backflip
The Mountain Ridge head coach was predictably wowed, but that display of athleticism pales in comparison to what Pua’auli showed Patterson, and the rest of the area, this past season.
Pua’auli’s senior campaign was one of the greatest individual performances in Maryland football history, as the Mountain Ridge quarterback became the first in MPSSAA history to throw for at least 25 touchdowns and rush for 20 more in one season.
He was the sixth ever, regardless of class, to factor in at least 50 touchdowns, and his 30 passing scores are the most in one season in area history.
With Pua’auli’s individual success and that of his team, which notched its first undefeated regular season in school history and finished second in Class 1A, the quarterback was the runaway pick to win Player of the Year by the area’s head coaches.
Pua’auli is the second Mountain Ridge player to capture the area’s top award and first since his cousin, Sefa Pua’auli, shared it with Fort Hill’s Carter Swann in 2018.
The last player to win it outright from that side of Allegany County was Beall’s Mahlon Harper in 2003.
“I think area coaches eventually found out how good Uma was,” Patterson said. “Uma has been a special player and a special kid since I’ve met him. He’s passionate about what we do, a very talented, very athletic kid. Checks all the boxes. Super student.
“I’m just so blessed to be able to coach a young man who worked as hard as he did and was as talented as he was. He never said a whole lot, but boy, he was the leader on the field.”
Pua’auli received seven votes for Player of the Year, Fort Hill’s Tavin Willis tallied two and the Sentinels’ Carter Hess garnered one.
There was chatter before the 2022 season that the Miners would regress after losing key starters on offense, and that discussion started with reigning Offensive Player of the Year Bryce Snyder’s graduation.
Pua’auli had big shoes to fill, and he filled them and then some.
The 6-foot-1 Pua’auli completed 138 of 222 passes (62.2%) for 1,908 yards and threw for 30 touchdowns and was intercepted just four times.
With his legs, Pua’auli rushed for 1,203 yards and 21 scores on 127 attempts.
Pua’auli had shown off his arm strength as Mountain Ridge’s starting shortstop over the past two seasons, but his aerial exploits on the gridiron will go down in history.
His 30 passing touchdowns are one more than the previous single-season area record of 29 thrown by Snyder (2021), who is now at Frostburg State, and Moorefield’s Will Fisher (1996).
“You won’t find a quarterback who has better touch on the ball,” Patterson said. “Even when he was smaller as a freshman as our JV quarterback. … Man he just knew where his receivers were and could just put that touch on the ball and lay it into any spot.
“As he grew in size and strength, he got the arm strength to go along with it.”
Pua’auli made his athleticism known in 2021 as a slot receiver, accounting for 15 total touchdowns.
Despite being behind Snyder on the quarterback depth chart, Pua’auli waited his time. It all paid off in the end.
“That just also speaks to our program, just how lucky and fortunate we are to have Bryce before him, and Uma waited his time and then has a record-breaking season,” Patterson said. “Not once did Uma complain about playing time as a junior, and not once did he say, ‘I wanna be quarterback.’”
Patterson said at one point during his junior season, someone came up to Pua’auli and told him that he should be starting. Pua’auli responded, “This is Bryce’s team.”
“That just speaks to his character, what a team player he always was,” Patterson said.
Mountain Ridge’s offense made a splash across the state for its gaudy numbers, scoring 577 points in 13 games (44.4 per contest), but perhaps its most impressive statistic is what it didn’t do.
The Miners fumbled just five times all year, losing three, and Pua’auli only tossed four interceptions.
For all his physical attributes, Pua’auli had a mastery of the offense and was quick to learn from Patterson and offensive coordinator Sefa Pua’auli, his father, in his first varsity season under center.
“He was very willing to listen to what we had to say and a very coachable kid on top of that,” Patterson said. “You don’t always get that with somebody as talented as Uma.”
His eye-popping numbers at quarterback were enough to garner him the area’s top football award, but he impacted the game in more ways than one starting in the secondary and as the Miners’ punter.
Pua’auli tallied 17 tackles, three pass breakups, one sack, one interception and a forced fumble.
“Uma could cover,” Pattersons said. “We ended up playing a lot of man-to-man, and Uma was a great cover corner too. His length, the more he grew and the more he got to use his strength, he got to use his size on defense too.”
The Mountain Ridge senior was also one of the area’s top punters, launching his 33 punts for 1,129 yards (34.2 average) with a long of 68.
“He really pulled us out of some spots,” Patterson said. “In our win over Fort Hill, he started the game with a big punt, we were backed up and he got us out of a hole and pinned them deep.
“And this just speaks to his talent, he can punt left-footed almost as well as he can right-footed.”
Pua’auli is still looking for a place to continue his football career, Patterson said, and may bet on himself and attend a prep school.
If he does end up playing Division I football, he’ll join his cousin and past Player of the Year, Sefa Pua’auli, at that level, as the former Mountain Ridge standout is entering his senior campaign at Western Illinois.