WESTMINSTER — Sone Aupiu was nearly unstoppable again for St. Anthony, which wrapped the nonleague portion of its first season under Raul Lara with its third successive victory.
The Saints’ 43-27 triumph Friday night over Marina at Westminster High was not without problems — too many dropped passes, far too many penalties, a defensive effort that displeased Lara — but none of them mattered, ultimately, because their extraordinary running back can do special things. And he was, again, special.
One week after running for 356 yards and scoring four touchdowns in a victory at St. Pius X-St. Matthias, Aupiu blistered the Vikings’ defense for 268 yards and four more scores on the ground, plus two receptions for a game-best 54 yards.
He made the key plays in the Saints’ opening drive, which set a tone for the game, and — more important — as Marina was taking command at the start of the second half, driving for a tying touchdown and coming close to going ahead after a nice return on a short punt set them up just outside the red zone.
St. Anthony (3-3) dodged that one, applied heavy pressure on Vikings quarterback Brock Beaver and strong coverage on receiver Aidan O’Callaghan, who still came close to making miraculous end-zone catches on first, second and fourth down.
Then Aupiu, a bruising back with good speed and deceptively devastating moves — much of it product of an extensive rugby background — was off and gone, breaking tackles and gliding into open space on an 85-yard sprint that restored the Saints’ lead and killed whatever momentum the home team had built. He added two more fourth-quarter touchdowns, and that was that.
“Sone is the guy,” Lara said afterward. “When it becomes crunch time, I’m pretty sure I’m going with Sone for awhile and get everything else settled down.”
There’s still much to be settled as the Saints, No. 10 in the Press-Telegram rankings, look ahead to next week’s Del Rey League opener against La Salle. Lara, who as head coach won five CIF Southern Section championships at Long Beach Poly, didn’t take over until July, not enough time to create a foundation that would enable his small, in many places inexperienced roster to flourish.
There has been significant improvement each week as confidence grows, but Aupiu’s heroics only mask the shortcomings. The passing game remains hit and miss — at least a half-dozen catchable balls fell to the turf, “and if we catch them balls, it’s a different game,” Lara said — and he was not pleased with his defense’s consistency, calling it “one of the poorest defensive performances we’ve had.”
St. Anthony was flagged 14 times for 140 yards, including three personal fouls, pass interference on both sides of the ball, a face mask and three holding calls, two of those costing Aupiu an additional 24 yards. Marina’s touchdown right before halftime, a 32-yard Beaver-to-Bo Green that narrow its deficit to eight points, was aided by pass-interference and roughing-the-passer penalties. And the Vikings closed within nine points midway through the fourth quarter, on a 18-yard Dominic Harvery reception, after a face-mask call provided a first down after a third-and-12 sack.
“The penalties, the personal stuff, that’s killing us,” Lara said. “That’s the stuff we’ve got to clean up, especially if you play a much better-disciplined team. We’ve got a ways to go.
“I’m just glad that we got the win, preseason is over for us, .500 — not bad for the first year — and now here we got in league, and we’ll see what the league is all about. I think we’re as ready as we can be for the time that I’ve had with them.”
Marina (1-4), which has surrendered at least 43 points in three of its losses, was effective in spurts behind Beaver and running back Anthony Fabian. Fabian ran for 101 yards on 16 carries, most of it on a 56-yard touchdown spurt on the Vikings’ second offensive play, and Beaver (13 of 24 for 150 yards and three TDs) completed his first six second-half throws for 69 yards and an O’Callaghan touchdown (plus a 2-point pass to Fabian that made it 21-21 four minutes out of halftime.
The Vikings had no answer for Aupiu, who ran for double digits on eight of his 24 carries — including an easy-as-can-be 20-yard score in the second quarter (three plays after a Tyler Henry interception) and a 40-yard burst on the following drive, which led to Conor Hochberg’s 18-yard TD pass to Darius Davis for a 21-7 lead. Aupiu repeatedly broke multiple tackles and extended plays.
“It’s all up to my linemen,” said Aupiu, who has topped 100 yards four tines and has 1,021 this season after gaining 624 on successive Friday nights. “I’ve been thankful for them. They’ve been pounding the opposing teams, and it keeps working….. It’s the little things that happen on the field, and it’s unexpected. I just try to stay on my feet, and I do the rest.”
Said Lara: “If the offensive line does everything they’re supposed to, Sone gets out into that open field, and once he’s out in the open field, that rugby mentality comes in, where he’s hard to bring down.”
Marina coach Jeff Turley, who was Lara’s defensive coordinator during his 13-year tenure in charge at Poly, wasn’t happy with his team’s consistency on either side of the ball.
“I don’t know what’s going on.” he said. “It’s tough. It’s tough. I didn’t expect a season like this. We’ve still got {Big 4) league, we’ve still got time to wake up and get the job done, but we’re running out of time. I told the kids before: ‘You don’t block, you don’t tackle, you don’t win.’ And we didn’t do that tonight.”
The Vikings looked their best early in the second half, using a wildcat, with snaps to Fabian on six plays, the last a 28-yard run called back for holding, to set up four Beaver passes, the last three to O’Callaghan for 10, 22 and the 13-yard TD to tie the score. Three major penalties killed St. Anthony’s next drive, and Green returned Hochberg’s 18-yard punt 13 yards to the Saints 23. Marina was at the 10 three plays later, then the 15 after a delay-of-game penalty, but four missed passes ended that.
And then Aupiu went on his 85-yard run.
“He’s good,” said Turley, whose teams went 17-4 the previous two seasons, winning the Division 11 championship in 2019. “To stop their team, we had to stop him, and we didn’t do it.”
Hochberg finished 11 of 23 passes for 165 yards and two touchdowns, the first to Kweku Claybrook on the opening drive — all but two of his completions were before halftime — and the Saints amassed 468 total yards after gaining 553 against St. Pius X-St. Matthias.
Support our high school sports coverage by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribe now
COSTA MESA — There aren’t enough adjectives to describe the connection that Servite football’s Noah Fifita and Tetairoa McMillan have on the field, but elite should be near the top of the list.
The electrifying duo combined for three first-quarter touchdowns in the Friars’ 42-7 win over Helix of La Mesa in a nonleague game Friday night at LeBard Stadium.
The Arizona-committed Fifita passed for 317 yards and four touchdowns while his favorite target, the Oregon-committed McMillan, caught seven passes for 183 yards and three scores.
“We’re just so good offensively with the quarterback Noah Fifita,” Servite coach Troy Thomas said. “He puts us in great positions and he throws great balls, and obviously he’s got a great receiving corps and good offensive line, but he’s the guy that’s making that thing happen.”
The receiving group Thomas referred to includes Mikey Welsh, Wes Taylor and Keyan Burnett, but McMillan constantly made chunk plays against Helix (3-2).
Fifita opened the scoring by throwing a perfectly timed pass to a streaking McMillan for a 43-yard score to make it 7-0.
On the next Friars’ next possession Fifita hit McMillan on a 17-yard touchdown pass, a slant route that saw McMillan bust through a pair of Highlanders defenders and stretch for the goal line to make it 14-0.
Then with 1:46 still remaining in the opening quarter and facing third-and-20, the Fifita-McMillan connection struck again, this time for a 40-yard touchdown that beat double coverage.
Servite, which is 5-0 and ranked No. 2 in Orange County, continued to score in the second quarter, getting touchdowns from Houston Thomas (5-yard run), Taylor (7-yard catch) and Fifita (1-yard run).
The Friars defense, led by Jacob Manu, Mason Graham, Ace Eckenwiler and Tuna Talavou, nearly pitched a shutout except for one play that could serve as a valuable teaching moment in the weeks to come.
Helix quarterback Ryland Jessee found a wide open Quincy Herron for a 78-yard strike late in the first quarter, the only blemish on a solid defensive performance for Servite.
“They got underneath coverage, kinda got lost a little bit and they did a good job of executing a play,” Thomas explained. “We should’ve had a guy there but we didn’t, and that will be a good learning lesson.”
Servite begins Trinity League play next week against Orange Lutheran, which is also off to a 5-0 start.
“We’re excited to play Orange Lutheran,” Thomas said. “Two 5-0 teams, someone is not going to win, hopefully it’s not us.”
Support our high school sports coverage by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribe now
NEWPORT BEACH – JSerra’s defense set the tone on Friday night.
The Lions recorded a safety, scored on an interception and sacked the quarterback four times en route to a 44-0 nonleague football victory over host Newport Harbor.
Thanks to Lions punter Chase Berry, Newport Harbor started possessions on its 1-yard line on two occasions, and that led to a safety for the Lions on the Sailors’ first drive of the game.
“I have to give it all up to the defensive line,” JSerra safety Jared Referente said. “They have showed up every week and carried the intensity to the back of the defense.”
JSerra’s defense wasn’t done following the safety by Hugo Hart. The Lions (3-2) sacked Newport Harbor quarterback Nick Kim four times, two of those by Jose Frutos
The Lions defense added a score with Luke Berry’s 24-yard interception for a touchdown.
JSerra’s defensive line also gave the Sailors running game a hard time, Payton Irving was held to 7 yards rushing.
“The defensive line has been one of our strengths all year,” Berry said. “Especially the front six. We were able to execute our game plan to the best of our abilities. That is what led us to ultimately be successful tonight.”
Jared Referente led the Lions with 85 yards rushing on only five carries and two scores, and quarterback Dylan Mills completed 5 of 10 passes for 50 yards and two touchdowns (one each to Frutos and Josh Jornadal).
Chase Berry punted the ball to the 1-yard line again in the second half, which was played with a running clock due to the Lion’ 44-0 lead at halftime.
“We have a Division I punter,” JSerra coach Scott McKnight said. “He doesn’t just punt for distance, but he’s great at pinning their guys down. He did that twice tonight and it started the night off with a safety by pinning the ball down at the 1-yard line. Chase Berry is a big time player.”
AJ Guitron-Moore was 4 of 11 passing for 38 yards for Newport Harbor (1-4), while Kashton Henjum caught five passes for 37 yards.
Zander Singh was 4 of 8 passing for 53 yards for JSerra in the second half.
Newport Harbor starts Sunset League play on Thursday Sept. 30 on the road against Edison. JSerra will kick off Trinity League play at home on Friday Oct. 1 against Santa Margarita.
“We are going to have to play at a high level in all phases,” McKnight said. “We played great defense, we played great special teams. Offensively, we had some opportunities against some quality opponents like Sierra Canyon or Corona Centennial. We need to do a better job in the red zone against teams like that and teams like Santa Margarita.”
Support our high school sports coverage by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribe now
MISSION VIEJO — Mission Viejo’s football team put forth a dominant effort in a 55-14 win against Leuzinger on Friday in front of a homecoming crowd at Mission Viejo High.
The Diablos defense held Leuzinger to 178 yards of total offense and just one offensive touchdown. Jack Higgins, Ruben Lopez, Daniel Dominguez and Trey Tolmaire led the defense for Mission Viejo (4-1).
The game started out the worst way possible for Leuzinger (2-3). On the first play from scrimmage, Tolmaire grabbed the ball out of a Leuzinger player’s hands and returned it 16 yards for a touchdown.
Shortly after, Mikey Matthews returned a punt 44 yards for a score to give Mission Viejo a 14-0 lead before its offense even took the field.
Tolmaire intercepted a pass on the ensuing Leuzinger possession and Matthews followed it up with a rushing touchdown to give the Diablos a 21-0 lead.
Kenny Manassero rushed for a touchdown early in the second quarter to extend Mission Viejo’s lead to 28.
Leuzinger made it a competitive game in the second quarter. Michigan commit Kevonte Fatutoa Henry ran for a 23-yard touchdown to put the Olympians on the scoreboard.
At the end of the first half, Jacob Lewis intercepted a Mission Viejo pass and returned it 85 yards for a touchdown to cut the lead to 28-14.
Mission Viejo scored 27 consecutive points in the second half. Quarterback Kadin Semonza threw his lone touchdown pass of the game, a 34-yard strike to Matthews, to give the Diablos a 38-14 midway through the third quarter.
Semonza completed 16 of 26 passes for 231 yards. Matthews caught five passes for 74 yards and had three total touchdowns.
Manaserro ran for his second touchdown of the game early in the fourth quarter. Diablos kicker Ryan Ewing made two field goals in the second half, from 28 and 40 yards out, respectively.
Leuzinger quarterback Ashley Tucker Jr. ran for a team-high 13 carries for 58 yards. He threw for 80 yards on seven completions. Khyree Myles had a 34 yard catch in the first half for the Olympians and UNLV commit Aubrey Scott had a sack.
The Olympians have lost three consecutive games and open Ocean League play on the road against Morningside on Friday, Oct. 1.
Mission Viejo will host Sierra Canyon in a nonleague game next week. The two teams have played one common opponent this season, both suffering losses to Servite.
Support our high school sports coverage by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribe now
LA HABRA — La Habra football coach Frank Mazzotta wasn’t happy with the outcome of his team’s game against Ayala of Chino Hills on Thursday night, as the Bulldogs used long drives that resulted in touchdowns and a 31-21 victory over the Highlanders in a nonleague game at La Habra High School.
La Habra dropped to 0-5 as its heads into its Freeway League opener against Sunny Hills next week.
Mazzotta, who has led La Habra to seven CIF Southern Section championships, didn’t complain about the losing record after the game, but he did discuss the intangibles, such as the team not following directions.
“I’d like to see them do what they are told to do consistently,” Mazzotta said. “We’ve got some guys that try to do too much. Once you get into a position where you are not winning, guys try to force things.”
The Bulldogs (6-0) won the game by maintaining possession with time-consuming drives, especially in the second half.
During a 13-minute stretch in the second half, Ayala had possession for 12 minutes and ran 28 plays, compared to four plays for the Highlanders.
The Highlanders put themselves in an early hole by fumbling the opening kickoff. Ayala took over on the La Habra 33-yard line and then took a quick 3-0 lead on Chandler Carthan’s 30-yard field goal.
The Highlanders got a break of their own when linebacker Gabriel Medel forced a fumble on the Ayala 1 and recovered the ball in the end zone for a touchdown to give La Habra a 7-3 lead.
The Bulldogs took the lead right back when quarterback Bryan Wilson threw the first of his three touchdown passes, this one for 36-yards to Marquis Monroe.
Ayala extended its lead to 17-7 on Wilson’s 20-yard scoring pass to Dominic Alloway.
La Habra then put together its best drive of the game, going 59 yards in nine plays. Quarterback Justin Gil scored on a 2-yard run to get the Highlanders within three points.
Wilson’s 5-yard touchdown pass to Carthan in the fourth quarter capped a 64-yard, 17-play drive that took nearly nine minutes off the clock.
The score gave the Bulldogs a 10-point lead and left three minutes and 20 seconds on the clock.
Except for a 30-point loss to Bishop Amat, the Highlanders have been competitive in every game, Mazzotta said. Part of the problem has been the offense, but the Highlanders generated a season-high 21 points against Ayala.
La Habra has had losing records heading into league play in past years, Mazzotta said, but the losses were often against highly ranked teams.
Support our high school sports coverage by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribe now
GARDEN GROVE — Bolsa Grande’s football team was in search of a victory after a blowout loss to Saddleback last week.
The Matadors completed their assignment and used a stingy defense to hold off Godinez 13-7 Thursday night at Bolsa Grande High.
Bolsa Grande (3-2) won its first homecoming game in eight years, according to coach Michael Acosta, thanks to a defensive unit led by Anthony Escobar (three sacks) and touchdowns by Damion Beaudoin and Phu Nguyen.
Acosta was proud of his team for beating the Grizzlies (0-6) despite some backups having to play snaps in crucial moments because two key starters, Beaudoin and quarterback Samer Alqam, went down with injuries.
“Next man up,” Acosta said. “We make a point to develop lower level (players), second, third, fourth string. We don’t care, we don’t know when they’re gonna get in (the game), so that was the key thing.”
Beaudoin returned to the field to finish the game after being relieved by Ethan Nguyen and backup QB Abraham Canada stepped in for Alqam, who suffered an ankle injury early in the fourth quarter.
Bolsa Grande used up nearly nine minutes on its last drive of the game thanks to a couple of runs by Canada to pick up first downs and keep the chains and clock moving.
“Canada adds a different spark to the offense,” Acosta said. “He’s a gunslinger, but he will put his nose down to get that first down for us.”
The Matadors were clinging to a 13-7 advantage when Godinez took over on downs at their 17-yard line with 2:11 left in the game. The Grizzlies took advantage of a few penalties called on Bolsa Grande but Escobar wrapped by Godinez quarterback Juan Munoz on the last play of the game to seal the victory.
Godinez scored its only touchdown of the game on a 25-yard pass from Munoz to Jesse Church in the third quarter.
Bolsa Grande tried to extend its lead when Alqam found a streaking Joel Chavez for a 61-yard gain that gave the Matadors first-and-goal at the Godinez 10.
Beaudoin was injured on first down, and Bolsa Grande’s offense came up empty in the next three plays. Alqam was tackled short of the end zone on fourth-and-goal.
Godinez picked off Alqam twice with Steven Padilla and Izaiah Rosales each making an interception.
Phu Nguyen’s 50-yard punt return set up Beaudoin’s 19-yard score in the first quarter that made it 6-0. Bolsa Grande failed to score on the 2-point conversion.
Nguyen went on to catch a 12-yard scoring pass from Alqam in the second quarter and the Matadors took a 13-0 lead into halftime.
MISSION VIEJO — In the fourth quarter of Friday night’s game, Newport Harbor set up to kick a field goal to add to its lead, but Trabuco Hills’ Nick Perez had other plans.
The senior blocked the field goal attempt, scooped up the ball and returned it 88 yards for a touchdown that gave the Mustangs the lead for good in a 23-13 nonleague victory at Trabuco Hills High.
After being behind 13-0 in the first quarter, the Mustangs scored 23 consecutive points.
“It was a team effort,” Trabuco Hills running back Drew Barrett said. “We started off slow, but we were way more conditioned than they were. We just fired off at 100 percent. Up or down, we gave it 100 percent every play and it paid off and we got that W.”
Trabuco Hills (3-1) gambled at the start of the game by going for it on fourth down at its own 17-yard line. The Mustangs were stopped, had to give the ball over to the Sailors, who cashed in the opportunity with a 6-yard touchdown run by Payton Irving.
Newport Harbor (1-3) took advantage of a fumble recovery with a 9-yard touchdown pass from Nick Kim to Kashton Henjum, but that’s all the Sailors could muster.
“Our defense made great adjustments,” Trabuco Hills coach Mark Nolan said. “They played hard and competed. They did a really nice job, especially down the stretch. We held them in a shutout after we gifted them 13 points.”
Trabuco Hills got on the scoreboard in the second quarter with a 54-yard pass from Will Burns to Ben Holland.
Following a Holland field goal, Newport Harbor was on its way to adding a field goal but Perez rushed in for the block that resulted in an 88-yard return for a score.
“I was containing my side,” Perez said. “I saw the block and the ball in the air. I picked it up and ran. I saw a clear path and I took it.”
Barrett rushed for 139 yards on 27 carries with a touchdown, and Will Burns finished 6 of 19 passing for 119 yards with a touchdown. He also had 39 yards rushing on five carries.
Will Kim completed 18 of 29 passing for 199 yards and a touchdown, while Kashton Henjum caught nine passes for 121 yards and a score.
Carson de Avila rushed for 62 yards on seven carries and Robby Crowell had a game-high eight tackles for the Sailors.
Trabuco Hills will host Segerstrom on Friday, Sept. 24. Newport Harbor will host JSerra on the same night.
This is the place to find all of OCVarsity’s coverage of Friday’s high school football games, plus the stories, scores and photos from Thursday’s games.
(@DavidDelgado_OC) 
Current Shredding Specials