Santa Margarita’s Fifita makes his presence felt

It happens almost every time Dash Fifita is on the football field.

- By Eric SONDHEIMER

SANTA MARGARITA'S Dash Fifita may be undersized, but his impact is big.

(CRAIG WESTON For The Times)

Somehow, some way he outmaneuvers 300-pound offensive linemen to make the tackle. It’s as if he has a magic power to make himself invisible and suddenly show up to confront the player with the ball.“It comes with the territory being an undersized linebacker, you have to know the game inside and out,” he said.

No one in Southern California has been a better role model for breaking the mold to be a success in football than the 5-foot-9, 195-pound All-Southern Section linebacker for Santa Margarita High. He has his own role model in brother Noah, who has proved at Arizona you can be a college quarterback at 5-10 and 186 pounds.

Troy Thomas knows the family well. He coached Noah at Servite when the Friars made it to the Southern Section Division 1 championship game in 2021 and has seen Dash continue the family tradition of being fearless and tough.