Sone Aupiu makes sure St. Anthony football gets past Marina

WESTMINSTER — Sone Aupiu was astir unstoppable again for St. Anthony, which wrapped the nonleague information of its archetypal play nether Raul Lara with its 3rd successive victory.

The Saints’ 43-27 triumph Friday nighttime implicit Marina astatine Westminster High was not without problems — excessively galore dropped passes, acold excessively galore penalties, a antiaircraft effort that displeased Lara — but nary of them mattered, ultimately, due to the fact that their bonzer moving backmost tin bash peculiar things. And helium was, again, special.

One week aft moving for 356 yards and scoring 4 touchdowns successful a triumph astatine St. Pius X-St. Matthias, Aupiu blistered the Vikings’ defence for 268 yards and 4 much scores connected the ground, positive 2 receptions for a game-best 54 yards.

He made the cardinal plays successful the Saints’ opening drive, which acceptable a code for the game, and — much important — arsenic Marina was taking bid astatine the commencement of the 2nd half, driving for a tying touchdown and coming adjacent to going up aft a bully instrumentality connected a abbreviated punt acceptable them up conscionable extracurricular the reddish zone.

St. Anthony (3-3) dodged that one, applied dense unit connected Vikings backmost Brock Beaver and beardown sum connected receiver Aidan O’Callaghan, who inactive came adjacent to making miraculous end-zone catches connected first, 2nd and 4th down.

Then Aupiu, a bruising backmost with bully velocity and deceptively devastating moves — overmuch of it merchandise of an extended rugby inheritance — was disconnected and gone, breaking tackles and gliding into unfastened abstraction connected an 85-yard sprint that restored the Saints’ pb and killed immoderate momentum the location squad had built. He added 2 much fourth-quarter touchdowns, and that was that.

“Sone is the guy,” Lara said afterward. “When it becomes crunch time, I’m beauteous definite I’m going with Sone for awhile and get everything other settled down.”

There’s inactive overmuch to beryllium settled arsenic the Saints, No. 10 successful the Press-Telegram rankings, look up to adjacent week’s Del Rey League opener against La Salle. Lara, who arsenic caput manager won 5 CIF Southern Section championships astatine Long Beach Poly, didn’t instrumentality implicit until July, not capable clip to make a instauration that would alteration his small, successful galore places inexperienced roster to flourish.

There has been important betterment each week arsenic assurance grows, but Aupiu’s heroics lone disguise the shortcomings. The passing crippled remains deed and miss — astatine slightest a half-dozen catchable balls fell to the turf, “and if we drawback them balls, it’s a antithetic game,” Lara said — and helium was not pleased with his defense’s consistency, calling it “one of the poorest antiaircraft performances we’ve had.”

St. Anthony was flagged 14 times for 140 yards, including 3 idiosyncratic fouls, walk interference connected some sides of the ball, a look disguise and 3 holding calls, 2 of those costing Aupiu an further 24 yards. Marina’s touchdown close earlier halftime, a 32-yard Beaver-to-Bo Green that constrictive its shortage to 8 points, was aided by pass-interference and roughing-the-passer penalties. And the Vikings closed wrong 9 points midway done the 4th quarter, connected a 18-yard Dominic Harvery reception, aft a face-mask telephone provided a archetypal down aft a third-and-12 sack.

“The penalties, the idiosyncratic stuff, that’s sidesplitting us,” Lara said. “That’s the worldly we’ve got to cleanable up, particularly if you play a overmuch better-disciplined team. We’ve got a ways to go.

“I’m conscionable gladsome that we got the win, preseason is implicit for us, .500 — not atrocious for the archetypal twelvemonth — and present present we got successful league, and we’ll spot what the league is each about. I deliberation we’re arsenic acceptable arsenic we tin beryllium for the clip that I’ve had with them.”

Marina (1-4), which has surrendered astatine slightest 43 points successful 3 of its losses, was effectual successful spurts down Beaver and moving backmost Anthony Fabian. Fabian ran for 101 yards connected 16 carries, astir of it connected a 56-yard touchdown spurt connected the Vikings’ 2nd violative play, and Beaver (13 of 24 for 150 yards and 3 TDs) completed his archetypal six second-half throws for 69 yards and an O’Callaghan touchdown (plus a 2-point walk to Fabian that made it 21-21 4 minutes retired of halftime.

The Vikings had nary reply for Aupiu, who ran for treble digits connected 8 of his 24 carries — including an easy-as-can-be 20-yard people successful the 2nd 4th (three plays aft a Tyler Henry interception) and a 40-yard burst connected the pursuing drive, which led to Conor Hochberg’s 18-yard TD walk to Darius Davis for a 21-7 lead. Aupiu repeatedly broke aggregate tackles and extended plays.

“It’s each up to my linemen,” said Aupiu, who has topped 100 yards 4 tines and has 1,021 this play aft gaining 624 connected successive Friday nights. “I’ve been thankful for them. They’ve been pounding the opposing teams, and it keeps working….. It’s the small things that hap connected the field, and it’s unexpected. I conscionable effort to enactment connected my feet, and I bash the rest.”

Said Lara: “If the violative enactment does everything they’re expected to, Sone gets retired into that unfastened field, and erstwhile he’s retired successful the unfastened field, that rugby mentality comes in, wherever he’s hard to bring down.”

Marina manager Jeff Turley, who was Lara’s antiaircraft coordinator during his 13-year tenure successful complaint astatine Poly, wasn’t blessed with his team’s consistency connected either broadside of the ball.

“I don’t cognize what’s going on.” helium said. “It’s tough. It’s tough. I didn’t expect a play similar this. We’ve inactive got {Big 4) league, we’ve inactive got clip to aftermath up and get the occupation done, but we’re moving retired of time. I told the kids before: ‘You don’t block, you don’t tackle, you don’t win.’ And we didn’t bash that tonight.”

The Vikings looked their champion aboriginal successful the 2nd half, utilizing a wildcat, with snaps to Fabian connected six plays, the past a 28-yard tally called backmost for holding, to acceptable up 4 Beaver passes, the past 3 to O’Callaghan for 10, 22 and the 13-yard TD to necktie the score. Three large penalties killed St. Anthony’s adjacent drive, and Green returned Hochberg’s 18-yard punt 13 yards to the Saints 23. Marina was astatine the 10 3 plays later, past the 15 aft a delay-of-game penalty, but 4 missed passes ended that.

And past Aupiu went connected his 85-yard run.

“He’s good,” said Turley, whose teams went 17-4 the erstwhile 2 seasons, winning the Division 11 title successful 2019. “To halt their team, we had to halt him, and we didn’t bash it.”

Hochberg finished 11 of 23 passes for 165 yards and 2 touchdowns, the archetypal to Kweku Claybrook connected the opening thrust — each but 2 of his completions were earlier halftime — and the Saints amassed 468 full yards aft gaining 553 against St. Pius X-St. Matthias.