Notre Dame Gets Defensive on Servite

By Mitch Stephens

MaxPreps.com

SHERMAN OAKS, Calif. - The official final score was 17-9 but Notre Dame-Sherman Oaks defensive coordinator Joe McNab was more inclined to make it 90-54.

Either way, host Notre Dame prevailed over previously unbeaten Servite-Anaheim in a nonleague battle of Southern Section powers Friday night.

McNab, in his 27th season as defensive coordinator under head coach Kevin Rooney, gave his defense a 54 percent score following last week's 38-35 nonleague win over Saugus.

It was the most points one of McNab's defenses gave up since 1989.

"We looked at the film and saw we missed 23 tackles," McNab said. "We tackled real well tonight. Last week's game woke us up and little and the guys stepped up."

Asked what score he'd give the Knights' defense on Friday and McNab said: "Off the top, I'd say a 90."

Led by big efforts from one of Southern California's top linebacker cores, University of Notre Dame-bound Anthony McDonald (6-foot-3, 230 pounds), senior Hayden Hunter (6-1, 210) and junior Jordan Barrett (6-3, 225) along with USC-bound tackle Wes Horton (6-6, 240), the Knights gave up just 227 yards to Servite (4-1), which came in ranked 11th in the state by MaxPreps.

Notre Dame (4-1), which entered 19th, held the Friars scoreless the second half until punter Brandon Lluis took a safety with 10.4 seconds left.

Servite's other score, a 47-yard pass from Johnny McEntee to D.J. Shoemate midway through the second quarter came on a blown coverage.

McEntee hit only half of his 30 attempts and Notre Dame held Servite's rushing attack to a mere 36 yards on 19 carries.

Horton had two of his team's four sacks with Hunter and McDonald added the others.

Servite was coming off its biggest offensive explosion of the year, a 47-28 win over Brea-Olinda.

"All the extra work this week at practice paid off," McDonald said.

Said Hunter: "We definitely tackled better tonight. There wasn't anything we did particularly different scheme wise. We just played harder and faster."

McNab did insert a pair of sophomores into the starting lineup, defensive back Wayne Swinson and lineman Ben Gottschalk.

"We needed to change things up a little and those two guys really earned the spot," McNab said.

Horton, who along with teammates McDonald and quarterback Dayne Crist, and Servite's Shoemate were honored after the game for being selected to the January U.S. Army All-Star game in San Antonio, said his team had more incentive than just last week's defensive breakdowns.

Friday's game was telecast live on Fox Sports in Southern California.

The last time Notre Dame was on live TV it dropped its only game, 28-21 to nationally ranked Birmingham-Lake Balboa on ESPNU.

"I think we lost a lot of respect around Southern California for losing that game," Horton said. "Hopefully this will help gain a little respect back. That's a very good team we beat."

Indeed Servite, which played its second straight game without arguably the state's top and most dominating lineman, USC-bound Matthew Kalil (6-8, 282), out with burn injury suffered in an ATV accident, held the Knights in check, especially during a scoreless second half.

Notre Dame managed just 43 of its 273 yards after intermission when it was forced into punting formation six times.

"We got it going in the first half and let our defense do the rest," said Horton, who also started at offensive tackle. "Our goal was to get our running game going and we did the first half."

That's when Thaddeus Brown rushed for 42 of his game-high 76 yards and scored both Notre Dame touchdowns on runs of 4 and 17 yards.

Crist, who has verbally committed to Notre Dame, was also effective in the first half going 9-for-14 for 139 yards. The strong but nimble-footed 6-5, 225-pound quarterback also had back-to-back 13-yard runs that set up Brown's second touchdown.

The second half, under plenty of harrassment from defensive linemen Tyler Sinclair, Nathaniel Stava and Moises Gonzalez, Crist was often hurried and was just 3 of 6 for 57 yards, finishing 10 of 21 for 196 yards.

"Our defense has been doing well all season and tonight was no different," said Servite coach Troy Thomas, who coached and starred at nearby Crespi, making this somewhat of a homecoming for him. "I though offensively it was a little more of our ineffectiveness rather than what they did. We certainly had our chances."

The biggest came on the next-to-last play of the third quarter when a bad punt snap led to a 21-yard loss for Notre Dame, giving Servite the ball at the Knights' 17.

But three runs gained only eight yards and Michael Loftus' boot had plenty of leg from 27-yards out but it was wide right.

Servite reached Notre Dame territory on its next three possession and came as close to scoring without doing so with 1:45 left when McEntee completed a pass to Ryan Pulver for nine yards.

Just as he was going to make it 10 yards and cross the goal line, Pulver was popped and the ball squirted into the end zone where Horton recovered for a touchback.

Three short runs and a pair of delay penalties pushed the ball back to the 15 when Lluis took the safety with 10.4 seconds left. Following a 29-yard return by Shoemate, McEntee's Hail Mary pass from the Notre Dame 41 was knocked away in the end zone to end it.

Shoemate (6-2, 220) finished with seven catches for 118 yards. He's ranked the country's 44th top recruit by CSTV's Tom Lemming. (Crist, by the way, is No. 13 and Kalil No. 50).

"We had lots of opportunities but we were just out of synch all night," Shoemate said. "Give (Notre Dame) credit, but we weren't making very good reads either."

It looked like Notre Dame might race up and down the field all night when it scored on its first two possessions.

The Knights went 78 yards on their first drive, capped by a 37-yard field goal from Michael Salveson with 6:23 left in the first quarter.

Crist was at his best, completing three passes to three receivers for 40 yards and scrambling for a 12-yard gain, to set up the score.

After Servite punted, it took Notre Dame just six plays to go 70 yards, finished off with a 4-yard TD run up the middle by Brown. A 44-yard completion from Crist to Chris McNeill set up the score which made it 10-0 with 5.4 seconds left in the first quarter.

Shoemate's TD came after a nice pump fake by McEntee who found the speedy and strong receiver all alone roaming down the left sideline. That made it 10-7 with 6:05 left in the second quarter.

"Someone went the wrong way on our coverage but it wasn't one of our sophomores," McNab said.

The Knights came right back, going 80 yards in 10 plays, finished off with a nifty 17-yard run up the middle by Brown, who broke several tackles.

"(Brown) really ran hard tonight," Horton said. "He made us all look good."

So did punter Lluis, who twice had to avoid a heavy Servite rush by sliding out of the pocket before delivering solid kicks. 

"That could have been disastrous," Hunter said. "But (Lluis) works on the move at practice. He's also a real good athlete. It paid off for us today."

Thomas had noted in films that Lluis was adept at avoiding big rushes and warned his players. In this case, it didn't help.

Thomas hopes it will help next time, if there is one. The two teams could face off in the Southern Section playoffs.

"You always like to get a second chance," Thomas said.

Just ask Notre Dame's defense. This week felt a lot better than last and it can be even better still, said Barrett. 

"We're shooting for 100 percent score," he said. "There's no reason why we can't do it."

E-mail Mitch Stephens at mstephens@maxpreps.com. Look for Mitch's game report from Saturday's De La Salle-Concord at Mission Viejo.