MOUNTAIN VIEW — Viliami Teu took a handoff and looked left, stopped, and pivoted a little to the right. The crease was all the St. Francis running back needed Friday night to break loose for a 54-yard touchdown run.
The senior was just warming up.
He ran for more than 200 yards in the first half, finishing with 238, as the Lancers cruised to a 33-0 victory over St. Ignatius to open their West Catholic Athletic League schedule.
In the first game since its historic victory over De La Salle two weeks ago, St. Francis showed no hint of a letdown. The Lancers, ranked second by the Bay Area News Group, improved to 3-0 on the season as their offensive line consistently blasted open holes for whoever had the ball.
Most of the time, it was the 5-foot-10, 185-pound Teu darting into open space for huge chunks of yardage. He needed only 22 carries — just four in the second half — for the 238 yards and scored three touchdowns.
The first touchdown was all patience and vision.
“I didn’t know where to go,” Teu said about the 54-yard run. “But once I saw it, I just went. I’d like to thank the line and the coaches for giving me this opportunity. But there’s a lot of improvement to make. I know I can definitely do better than I did tonight.”
Coach Greg Calcagno said he likes that Teu isn’t satisfied. But, the coach added, “He’s a pretty special back. … He’s got great vision. He’s pretty quick and then he’s going to get downhill.”
Camilo Arquette, a two-way standout for St. Francis, made the most of his two carries. He scored on an 11-yard run and nearly scored on a 41-yard burst through the middle of the field.
“We didn’t really have to run Camilo that much because (Teu) was good; he wasn’t that tired,” Calcagno said. “He was seeing the hole pretty good and he was getting downhill.”
St. Francis had two weeks to prepare since becoming the first team from the region to beat De La Salle in 30 years. Calcagno, naturally, said he was worried about a letdown.
“Our kids came out great,” he said. “But to be honest, we didn’t practice great. We weren’t super happy with how they executed (in practice). But they came out and turned it on a little bit against a team that’s played a very good schedule.”
No. 16 St. Ignatius, which lost to St. Mary’s-Stockton in its previous game, fell to 2-2, 0-1.
Teu’s 54-yard run started the scoring in the first quarter. Arquette stretched the lead to 13-0 with his 11-yard touchdown run.
After that TD, St. Ignatius drove from its 20 to inside St. Francis’ 10 but didn’t convert on fourth down.
On the next play, Teu charged through a hole on the right side for 71 yards to set up his 9-yard TD run that widened the advantage to 20-0.
Teu’s 1-yard run in the third quarter made it 27-0 and fullback Jeffrey Xu capped the scoring later in the quarter with a 1-yard plunge.
Matthew Dougherty Jr., who threw the winning touchdown pass against De La Salle, did not play because he was “a little banged up,” Calcagno said.
Senior Joshua Perry took all the snaps at quarterback until the reserves came on in the final quarter.
“We rode Josh and he played great,” Calcagno said. “We have a ton of confidence and a ton of faith in him.”
