Bryce Young lifts No. 2 Mater Dei to late win over No. 5 IMG Academy

MaxPreps football editor Zack Poff captures game action from Mater Dei's thrilling victory.

In a game full of players with multiple recruiting stars, Bryce Young shined the brightest when it counted most in a multitude of ways.

The junior five-star quarterback from Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) finished off a nearly perfect 9 play, 75-yard drive by scampering for a 5-yard touchdown run with 1 minute, 9 seconds remaining, lifting the Monarchs to a hearty 28-24 victory Friday over IMG Academy (Bradenton, Fla.) before more than 10,000 fans jammed into the Santa Ana Bowl. 

In a contest tabbed "Game of the Century," Young went 6-for-6 passing on the game-winning drive, before faking an inside handoff, sprinting left and diving into the end zone. After the second-ranked Monarchs (4-1) held on downs, they celebrated the 3-hour and 20-minute game in raucous fashion. They snapped fifth-ranked IMG's 40-game win streak a year after breaking a 55-game win streak by Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas) on the very same field.

Burdened with the label defending national champions, Mater Dei has now earned the moniker "streak busters." 

The Monarchs, particularly coach Bruce Rollinson, enjoyed this one a lot. Not only because his staff called two very timely trick plays for touchdowns, but also that his team beat a team equal or superior in talent. That hasn't happened for a while. They had to rally from behind for the first time since 2016.

"That was high school football at its best," Rollinson told Fox Sports West. "We had to pull a couple plays out that we haven't used since the summer. It was a total team effort."

They did it against a team with 26 players with FBS offers, including the ultra-talented running back combo of Trey Sanders (13 carries, 181 yards) and Noah Cain (21, 130). Each scored a touchdown.

But IMG couldn't overcome 14 penalties and they certainly couldn't rattle Young, an elusive 6-foot-1, 180-pounder, who completed 21 of 30 for 303 yards and two scores.

IMG (3-1) rode its talented running tandem down field to take a 24-21 lead on a 35-yard field goal by Cameron Gillis with 3:36 remaining, but Young, confident and unafraid, zoomed the Monarchs right back, hitting four different receivers with pinpoint short and intermediate passes.

"The kid just makes plays," Rollinson said. "He never gets too high or too low. He was great on that final drive, but so was the line, the receivers, everyone." 

The game featured close to 50 players with FBS offers between their junior and senior classes. But when the game counted most, Young calmly made every correct read, throw and finally run after a great play fake.

"I knew when (Gillis) hit the field goal, we'd put a drive together," Young told the Fox Sports West. "We practice that and work on our drills. I have faith in my guys." The game was as good as advertised from a competitive side. No one led by more than seven and IMG finished with 413 total yards to 405 for Mater Dei. There were ups and downs on both ends. The hits were extremely hard. There was lots of jawing too and play was marred by penalties.

IMG had 14 flags for 138 yards and had two players ejected. Mater Dei had 16 penalties for 155 yards.

Both teams were flagged nine times during a largely uneventful first half, As the flags slowed, the game sped up, gained momentum and with Mater Dei's trickery, was thoroughly entertaining the second half.

A bad snap pushed IMG back to its own one and after a short punt, Mater Dei took its first lead of the game following a 44-yard flea flicker pass from Young to a wide open Sean Dollars. A two-point conversion toss to Mike Martinez made it 14-7 with 10:08 left in the third.

It took just two plays for Sanders, the top-rated senior running back in the country, to tie things at 14-14 with an 86-yard sprint. The swift and strong 6-foot-2, 215-pound senior had a 75-yard punt return nullified by penalty  in the first half. Not this time. Mater Dei used more trickery when Young looked like he was running right on a keeper, but instead lateraled the ball overhanded to 6-3, 280-pound junior tackle Myles Murao, who rambled 14 yards untouched for a touchdown, making it 21-14 midway through the third.

"Myles is a great athlete," Rollinson said. "He made a nice catch on the ball and he showed his speed."

Right back came IMG, with David Baldwin throwing.a perfect pass to Michael Redding, who made a circus 24-yard touchdown catch in the right corner of the end zone, to tie the game at 21-21 with three minutes left in the third.

Both defenses stiffened the next four possessions, before IMG seemed to wear down with a 60-yard scoring drive all on the ground. But Mater Dei's defense tightened, forcing a field goal instead of a touchdown. That took some of the pressure of Young.  

The game was very intense, hard-hitting but sloppy in the first half due to 18 combined penalties, nine on each team.

IMG's penalties were bigger, especially one that wiped out a 75-yard punt return for touchdowns by Sanders.  Rollinson said before the game he was "petrified" of Sanders and running mate Cain, who ripped off runs of 15 and 8 yards, before powering over from the 1, to give IMG Academy a 7-0 lead with 11:14 left in the second quarter. 

The Monarchs responded immediately thanks in part to a fourth-down personal foul on IMG that extended a 58-yard drive that was capped off with a 20-yard touchdown pass from Young to Bru McCoy to cut the lead to 7-6 with 8:56 left in the half. The extra point try was blocked.

There was no more scoring for the half, but lots of penalties, finished off with a personal foul after the final play that was accessed on the second half kickoff.

From there, the game turned more fluid and offensive. It ended at 10:50 p.m., which was close to 2 a.m. Florida time.

In 2016, IMG pulled out a 50-49 win over Southern California power Centennial (Corona) in a game that ended even later. The Ascenders showed great heart in that one as well and were rewarded with a hard-earned win. This time they came up just a play or two short.

"I think the fans got their money's worth," Young said. "That was a great team we just beat. They pushed us to the limit. That was a fun game to be a part of."