Would-be tacklers know Totino-Grace running back Kez Flomo is strong. They would be surprised to know the tender place from which Flomo draws his strength.

Tucked away in a drawer at home is a binder that preserves Flomo’s collection of football and wrestling awards. Amid them is a photograph of Flomo as a youngster, sitting on the lap of his mother, Angeline, back home in the African country of Liberia. The picture represents a simpler time, before Flomo, his grandparents and younger brother fled the country amid civil war in 2003.

Angeline remained in Liberia, and Flomo longs for a reunion 11 years in the making. Financial challenges are a big reason their relationship is sustained by monthly phone calls, never more than five minutes long. There are plans to meet next summer. Until then, Flomo tries to keep the conversations positive.

“I told her I play football and she told me to do my best and make her proud,” Flomo said. “That’s my motivation.”

More honors seem certain for Flomo, who has averaged almost 200 rushing yards per game this season, and leads the 4-0 Eagles into Friday’s showdown at fellow unbeaten Maple Grove.

“He’s carried us,” Totino-Grace coach Jeff Ferguson said.

Separation from his mother is not the only heartache in Flomo’s personal life. He is estranged from his father. And his grandfather and guardian, David, died in 2009. He and his brother, Gayflor, live with their grandmother.

As a kid, Flomo would fight anyone for teasing him about his broken English. Football and wrestling — he reached the state tournament last season — provide healthy outlets for a young man processing through difficult emotions.

“That’s how I get my anger out, by playing these sports,” Flomo said. “I’ve been mad all my life that it’s not fair that my mom’s not here and that my dad is not always with us. That anger inside of me sparks when I play, and that’s why I’m so physical.”

Measuring 5-11, 200 pounds, Flomo hits holes hard and cuts well. He’s averaging 7.7 yards per carry this season. He was at his best in one-point victories against Hopkins and Spring Lake Park, carrying a combined 50 times for 415 yards and six touchdowns.

Said Ferguson, “In those two close games we had, I told our offensive coordinator to just feed the beast.”

Flomo appreciated the trust.

“I work best in tight situations,” Flomo said. “I run behind my linemen as hard as I can because I want to give them my best.”

Flomo’s desire to “hit a guy so he remembers my name” is the closest he gets to self-promotion. He lives by the idea of putting others first, a lesson he learned from a youth football coach who didn’t fulfill Flomo’s request to play quarterback.

He is reminded of a bigger picture each day in school by his friend Rachel Woell, who has brain cancer. The duo was chosen homecoming king and queen, with Flomo pushing Woell’s wheelchair at the coronation.

Locked in a tight game at Spring Lake Park two weeks ago, Flomo told Woell on the sideline, ‘‘Don’t worry about it. We got you.’’

“This season is dedicated to her,” Flomo said.

It’s something of a new season for Flomo, whose relationships with classmates on and off the field have taught him something about his more challenging ones with his parents.

“Even with that anger, you’ve got to learn how to love,” Flomo said. “The love comes out when you’re around people. My job is to be the light in someone’s life.”

David La Vaque 612-673-7574