Sone Aupiu’s ‘incredible’ 356 yards on the ground power St. Anthony football past St. Pius X-St. Matthias

[Editor’s note: The story and headline have been updated with the correct spelling of Sone Aupiu’s last name.]

DOWNEY — Sone Aupiu was virtually unstoppable for St. Anthony on Friday night, amassing 400 yards — 356 of them on the ground — and leading a staunch defensive effort as the Saints gave Raul Lara a signpost victory over an unbeaten foe.

Aupiu scored four touchdowns, two of them in the third quarter when St. Anthony took control of a tight clash en route to a 43-25 triumph at St. Pius X-St. Matthias (4-1).

The Saints (2-3) piled up 553 yards in total offense, most of them coming from their senior running back/linebacker, who rarely stepped off the field while tearing apart PMA’s defense and slowing down an offense that had scored 176 points in the Warriors’ first four games.

“Me coming in, that was all I heard, is Sone this, Sone that,” said Lara, the Long Beach Poly legend who took charge of St. Anthony’s program in July, too late to lay the foundation he’d have liked to build upon in year one. “Obviously, I knew he is an athlete and a very good football player. But 356? That’s pretty incredible.”

Aupiu had 91 yards before the first quarter was done — most of them on a 55-yard sprint that ended badly, a fumble PMA collected at its 5 — and 170 at halftime. He then pushed past 200 with a 53-yard touchdown run on the third play of the second half and beyond 300 with a 63-yard gallop on the Saints’ first fourth-quarter snap.

That one set up his fourth TD, a 7-yard push that gave the Saints a 24-point edge.

“That dude’s special,” Warriors coach Devah Thomas said. “That 24 can play some football, man.”

Aupiu also scored on a 23-yard run in the third quarter and on a 36-yard screen pass from Conor Hochberg about midway through the third quarter. The latter was set up by Kweku Claybrook’s 59-yard kickoff return, and the score gave the Saints command of the encounter.

He and his cousin Anakin “A.K.” Aupiu, who ran for 46 yards on eight carries, scored twice on 2-point conversions, were pivotal in the defensive effort, assigned to “spy” star PMA quarterback Dieter Barr, who finished 23 of 40 passes for 251 yards and two touchdowns while constantly chased in his backfield by linemen Raymond Gomez and Eric Sam Suluai.

Jordan Shaw had five receptions for 128 yards (plus kickoff returns covering 40 and 53 yards) and was huge defensively, too), and Geoffrey Brown six receptions for 57 yards and two TDs

Dejour Menefee, who ran for 426 yards, had 300 yards receiving and scored nine touchdowns in the Warriors’ first four games, was limited to 33 yards on 10 carries — most of that in the fourth quarter — and caught five passes for just 1 yard. The Saints limited PMA to 39 yards on the ground.

It was close into the second half, the Saints going ahead (with Ryan Norried catching a 4-yard, fourth-down TD pass from Hochberg and Aupiu’s first TD run) and PMA answering (on two Menefee runs).

St. Anthony scored on four of its first five second-half drives to pull away, none more than four plays nor lasting longer than a minute.

The biggest negative for the Saints was 111 yards on 11 penalties, with 89 coming in the first half, including three 15-yard calls in a six-play, second-quarter stretch that fueled a PMA march into the red zone that led to nothing.

For Sone Aupiu, it was his fumble, on St. Anthony’s second possession, with Shaw chasing him down, stripping the ball and collecting it.

“That fumble kept me driving during the game,” said Aupiu, who gained 284 yards on 22 carries afterward. “I can’t make that mistake again, and I proved to the linemen I won’t do it again.”