The562’s coverage of football in 2024-25 is sponsored by The Terry Donahue Memorial California Showcase.
The562’s coverage of St. Anthony athletics is sponsored by Jane & B.I. Mais, Class of 1949.
After only scoring seven points in a low scoring football game last week, St. Anthony left plenty of questions to answer about their offense—Josiah Lolesio-Pua was the answer.
Lolesio-Pua took the opening kickoff 95 yards for his first of four touchdowns against visiting Harvard Westlake on Friday, and finished the game with 148 yards of offense in the Saints 42-7 win.
“He’s just so versatile,” coach Jeff Magdaleno said about Lolesio-Pua. “Pound-for-pound he’s the strongest guy on the team, to go with his versatility, change of direction, and speed. He’s the one guy on the team that can turn a play into a big one. Team’s key is on him, but he just has that ability to take it at any time.”
“I was just locked in. My senior season is about to come to an end with two more guaranteed games left, so I knew I just had to focus,” Lolesio-Pua said. “Give props to (my teammate) Jeramiah Taufi too. He and I helped get the team locked in and I think it helped us a lot.”
After former Saints coach Raul Lara left St. Anthony for Mater Dei this season, Lolesio-Pua was to be without his older brother Elijah after he graduated while a handful of other players made the decision to transfer. Alongside his friend and teammate Taufi, Lolesio-Pua made the decision to stay under first year coach Jeff Magdaleno and has continued to shine as the Saints number one option.
“Everyone has their own route, and I don’t blame anyone for the decision they make. For me, I think I created a good bond with the team,” he said. “(Taufi) stayed and me and him were together on that decision to stay. My parents are also big on me staying true to the team I started with so it’s been big for me to continue to play here.”
After his kickoff return for a touchdown, Lolesio-Pua scored three more touchdowns for the Saints and had all their points into the third quarter. Two of the three offensive touchdowns came on carries of 10+ yards, and he even had two 50-yard touchdowns called back on holding penalties. His longest of the night was an impressive 52-yard scamper in the third quarter.
Alongside Lolesio-Pua, WR Andres Mendoza put together a nice performance with four catches for 120 yards in an offense that put up 35 more points than they did a week ago.
“I think it was really just our practice all week,” said Mendoza of his team’s offensive output. “We were really locked in all practice this week and even though we’re a small group, we locked in at practice, watched film, and eliminated a lot of our mistakes. Next week we want to come in even better than this week.”
The Saints added a touchdown in the fourth quarter on a nifty connection between QB Noah Furlow and his brother Jack on a 33-yard completion in the endzone.
The win for the Saints clinches them a spot in the CIF-SS playoffs, and they’ll have a chance at first place in the DelRay league depending on the results of next week. Despite the impressive performance, Magdaleno said that his team still has some work to do if they want to be able to compete at a high level in the postseason.
“We just have to clean it up. One of our core values is being disciplined and unselfish and we had some penalties that were selfish penalties which we can’t have,” he said. The Saints committed seven penalties that cost them 75 yards. “It’s just execution. This (performance) will beat some teams but it won’t beat all of them especially in the playoffs.”
Harvard Westlake found their only touchdown on a score from QB Aaryan Mehdi Williams to Ellis Robinson for a 68-yard touchdown. Robinson finished the game with three catches for 120 receiving yards.
The Saints will go on to host their senior night next week against Crespi.
