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It’s a pretty straight forward approach. St. Francis lined up in the I-formation and ran power up the middle on about 80 percent of its offensive plays.
Nice if you can get away with it.
“It’s who we are,” St. Francis coach Greg Calcagno said. “We’ve got a lot of big dudes.”
The massive offensive line opened holes and tailback Viliami (JuJu) Teu took advantage. He carried 27 times for 283 yards and three second-half touchdowns Friday as St. Francis (5-0, 3-0) defeated Valley Christian 41-27 in a West Catholic Athletic League game at Ron Calcagno Stadium.
“It’s very special,” Teu said of his line. “I’m blessed. Every day I wake up excited to come to practice and run behind those guys.”
With Teu doing the lion’s share of the work, St. Francis piled up 330 yards on the ground. And with the run game working so well it allowed quarterback Josh Perry to have ample time when the occasion arose to put the ball in the air. Perry completed 7 of 8 passes for 115 yards
“Josh threw well and kept them from loading the box,” Calcagno said.
Valley Christian (4-2, 2-1) had a one-point lead on two occasions in the first half due to a missed extra point after St. Francis’ first touchdown. Perry’s 8-yard touchdown pass to Tim Netane 24 seconds before the end of the second quarter gave St. Francis a 20-14 lead at the break, a lead it would not relinquish.
Camilo Arquette scored two first-half touchdowns for the Lancers.
Jakson Berman, the WCAL 100-meter champion, ran for two touchdowns and passed for two for Valley Christian. He finished with 100 yards rushing and 185 passing. Jurrion Dickey had the bulk of Berman’s completions, coming up with 10 receptions for 133 yards and one touchdown.
St. Francis went 72 yards in 10 plays on its first possession of the third quarter. Teu carried the ball on eight of those 10 plays and capped the drive with a 3-yard TD run.
The Warriors drove inside the St. Francis 10 before turning the ball over on downs. This time it took only one play to score as Teu took a handoff up the middle 92 yards for a touchdown to extend the lead to 34-14.
“There was such a big hole anybody could’ve run through it,” Teu said.
Valley had to turn to the pass at that point and went on a 14-play, 80-yard drive with Berman passing to Dickey for a touchdown that made it 34-20 with 7:13 left.
The Lancers responded by going 58 yards in seven plays, all on the ground, with Teu scoring on a 16-yard run.
