No. 1 Mater Dei holds off No. 2 Bishop Gorman 35-21, snaps 55-game win streak

Video: Mater Dei-Bishop Gorman highlights
Monarchs make a statement with win over defending national champions.

SANTA ANA, Calif. – Lathered in sweat from a record-breaking heat wave and a three-hour, 10-minute game pitting the nation's top two teams, Mater Dei (Santa Ana) coach Bruce Rollinson, in his 29th season, admitted he was reeling a little.

And yes, his top-ranked team prevailed 35-21 over No. 2 Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas, Nev.), snapping the Gaels' 55-game win streak.

"Look, I'm hot and I'm old," Rollinson said. "But at the same time that was a great win for us. A great win for the program, so don't get me wrong I'm pleased. Especially because it was a total team effort."

Considered perhaps the most talented squad in the long and storied history of the program, the experienced Monarchs (2-0) didn't do a ton of celebrating afterward.

They never trailed. The took control with a pair of two-touchdown flurries — one in the first half and one starting the second — to hold off a program that was recognized as national champions by at least one media outlet in each of the past three seasons.

They got a balanced performance, led by J.T. Daniels, the nation's top-rated junior quarterback. He completed 19 of 32 for 302 yards and two touchdowns. Running back Shakobe Harper rushed 17 times for 115 yards and two scores. And the defense was superb and active, highlighted by a 36-yard pick-six by sophomore cornerback Darion Green-Warren.

It all added up to  Gorman's first loss since Oct. 4, 2013. The win streak was the second longest currently in all of high school football.

"Oh, that's a big deal," said Mater Dei 6-foot-7, 321-pound Alabama-bound tackle Tommy Brown. "And it was a pretty nice win, for sure. But we have a long season to go."

Said Mater Dei senior receiver Chris Parks: "Gorman is a great team and we have a ton of respect for them and coaching staff. But this was still just a nonleague game. We have a lot of things we want to accomplish."

Namely, get to a CIF State Bowl game, remarkably something the Monarchs haven't done since the inception of the games in 2006. They were in control of this one despite not having five-star receiver  Amon-Ra St. Brown (finger injury) and Parks, another Division I prospect, still hobbled. He had just one catch for four yards.

No big. Rollinson simply punched in Bru McCoy (seven catches, 137 yards) and Nikko Remigio (6-114, two touchdowns).

"That's what I'm talking about," Rollinson said "This team is so deep and they don't panic. They believe in one another."

Mater Dei put the first 14 points on the board. Harper ran in from eight yards out in the first quarter and Daniels connected with Remigio for a 20-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter.

But with less than a minute to go in the first half, Gorman climbed back into things with a huge play. Struggling mightily to that point, quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson hit Cedric Tillman on an 85-yard touchdown pass to pull within a touchdown.

"That stung a little," Rollinson said. "But I told them at halftime that they had them on the ropes. They just had to go for the knockout."

Daniels – committed to USC – delivered the first hay-maker, hitting  Remigio again on a 26-yard scoring strike just 32 seconds into the third quarter.

On the ensuing drive, Green-Warren picked off UCLA-bound Thompson-Robinson and returned it 36 yards for a touchdown. That extended the lead to 28-7.

But Gorman, the eight-time defending Nevada state champs, didn't go away. Not nearly.

It mounted a comeback with two touchdowns early in the fourth quarter — a 5-yard run by Amod Cianelli and a 41-yard TD pass from Thompson-Robinson to preseason All-American tight end Brevin Jordan.

But Daniels helped Mater Dei regain the momentum with six minutes to go, hitting McCoy for a 44-yard gain. Harper scored on the next play from 12 yards out to give the Monarchs a two-touchdown cushion and essentially the game.

In just his second start, UCLA commitment Thompson-Robinson shook off a slow start to throw for 331 yards and two touchdown passes. Tillman was on the receiving end for 180 of those yards.