This week during practice, the message as been the same for coach Raul Lara and the St. Anthony football team — take it one game at a time.
It’s a simple message for a team that Lara took over in July and spent a majority of the offseason implementing a brand-new system.
That system is peaking at the right time as the Saints (8-4) head to Anaheim Friday night to take on Katella in the CIF Southern Division 10 quarterfinals. The game will be played at Glover Stadium.
Throughout the season, the Saints have looked to control the line of scrimmage with a bruising run attack led by senior Sone Aupiu.
In their 41-7 victory against Schurr last week, St. Anthony attacked through the air as quarterback Conor Hochberg passed for 348 yards and two touchdowns in their win.
“Going into every game at least the games I coach, we really emphasize controlling the line of scrimmage,” Lara said. “Katella does a pretty good job running the ball too. That’s going to be key for us. We can’t allow them to change the line of scrimmage if we’re on defense and on offense we obviously want to change the line of scrimmage.”
Katella has a powerful run game led by junior Gabriel Dawson who has rushed for 1,209 yards this season and scored 16 times on the ground.
St. Anthony will lean on Aupiu who’s been a workhorse for the Saints offense.
