Hamilton Anoa'i tore his ACL the last time he played Archbishop Mitty last season. He had a much better memory following his team's 31-7 victory on Saturday.
File photo by Douglas Stringer
senior
Hamilton Anoa'i has received seven college football offers, but frankly, he's waiting to hear from some Pacific-12 conference schools.
Judging from his breakout performance Saturday, he won't be waiting much longer.
Matthew Fa'aita, Serra
File photo by Charlie Kaine
The rangy and fleet 6-foot-2, 225-pound receiver and strong safety hauled in three touchdown passes and added an interception, proving to be the difference in Serra's 31-7 West Catholic Athletic League home victory over previously unbeaten
Archbishop Mitty (San Jose) (9-1, 6-1).
The victory for Serra (8-2, 6-1), the seventh-ranked team in Northern California
according to MaxPreps, clinched a tie with No. 3 Mitty for the WCAL title and the automatic bid into the Central Coast Section playoffs next week.
Anoa'i, who tore his ACL against Mitty last year, turned short 5-yard crossing routes into touchdowns of 18 and 24 yards to give Serra a 14-0 lead.
Then he capped the scoring with 69-yard TD pass from
Matthew Fa'aita (8 of 11, 156 yards, 3 TDs) after he grabbed the ball near midfield and outraced Mitty's secondary.
"I don't know how long I've been saying it, but this guy (Anoa'i) can play at a lot of places," Serra coach Patrick Walsh. "A lot of places in the country and a lot of places on the field. He was the difference today. It was good to see because when he got hurt last year it broke my heart on a lot of levels."
He broke the backs of Mitty, which never got anything going offensively other than a pretty 66-yard touchdown pass from
Trent Scharrenberg to tight end
Tommy Hudson on the last play of the first quarter to cut Serra's lead to 14-7.
That accounted for more than 30 percent of Mitty's offense, which mustered just 211 yards. Only one Mitty running play surpassed eight yards, a 14-yarder by its leading rusher
Kyle Evans (9 carries, 48 yards).
Serra's secondary was superb, intercepting Scharrenberg three times, the others by
Kavapele Maka and
Vince Camp, who each returned theirs for touchdowns though they were called back by penalties. The Padres also got a 5-yard touchdown run by
Kevin McGee and a game-high 75 yards rushing on 16 carries by
Kava Cassidy.
Anoa'i, whose offers include San Jose State, Nevada and Idaho, said it was his team's best defensive effort and the best he's had personally.
Easop Winston,
Tyson Terreros and
Erik Westerman also had stellar defensive games for the Padres.
"Coach Walsh approached me early in the week and said I needed to be a leader," Anoa'i said. "I told him to count on me."
It was the fourth title for Serra since Walsh arrived 13 years ago and he expects to see Mitty again in the CCS playoffs. He believes the Monarchs will rally like Serra did four weeks ago after its only WCAL loss to St. Francis.
"It's hard to win every game in this league," he said. "I think there's no better league in California. We felt the pain from our loss and have gotten better. We're right where we want to be."
