An addition from Mater Dei's Trinity League rival
St. John Bosco (Bellflower), junior running back
Corey Hinton Jr., rushed 19 times for 210 yards and two touchdowns, leading the Gaels to a resounding 25-8 victory Friday at Santa Ana Stadium.
Gorman (4-1) had lost all five previous games to Mater Dei (4-1) in the meeting of national powers, including by scores of 27-24 and 31-15 over the last two seasons.
On a night marked by fierce defense and a lot of yellow flags, Corey Hinton Jr. was the offensive star in his team's win over Mater Dei. (PHOTO: Rene Morales)
But Hinton, who scored the go-ahead touchdown in a 38-28 win over St. John Bosco in August, was a one-man wrecking crew, scoring the game's first and final touchdowns on 1-yard jaunts.
Remarkably, it was the first loss against out-of-state teams for Mater Dei in 28 tries, a streak that began with a win over
'Iolani (Honolulu, Hawaii) in 1991.
The first half for Mater Dei very much resembled the first 24 minutes of last week's 10-9 win over
Centennial (Corona). But frankly, it was a little worse.
The Monarchs had 19 more yards in penalties (55) than total yards (36) and managed only one first down. A scramble by backup quarterback
Russell Sekona, who scored the game-winning touchdown last week for Mater Dei, followed by a circus 40-yard completion to
Gavin Honore inside the Gorman 10 was wiped out by an illegal man down field call.
That set the tone for Mater Dei's frustrating first half.
Four penalties on Gorman's first drive set up a 1-yard touchdown run by Hinton with 7:38 left in the first, making it 6-0 after a missed extra point. Hinton was pressed into action because of an injury to starter
Noah Cole on the first series. The 5-foot-11, 190-pound ball carrier, entered the game as the team's third-leading rusher with 23 carries for 108 yards.
Mater Dei's freshman quarterback
Paytyn Guess had a third-down pass sail and senior safety
Darian Abella picked it off and returned it 40 yards.
Like its defense did last week, the Monarchs held, limiting
Cason Clark to a 28-yard field goal and giving Gorman a 9-0 lead with 3:27 left in the first quarter.
Clark made it 12-0 with a 30-yard field goal just before the half after driving 74 yards, 38 of it coming on the first play of the 12-play drive on a scamper by Hinton.
Corey Hinton Jr. gets a lift after his second touchdown of the night. (PHOTO: Rene Morales)
Like last week, Mater Dei felt very fortunate being down only 9-0 even though it was thoroughly outplayed. The defense kept it in the game and eventually one of three forced turnovers led to a short field and game-winning touchdown in the final three minutes.
That wasn't going to happen Friday.
Gorman not only didn't commit a turnover, but it immediately converted a short punt after a bad punt snap. Hinton sprinted 23 yards to the 1 and on the next play
Ace Amina ran it home, making it 18-0 midway through the third quarter.
After a perfect Guess bomb was dropped for what looked like a sure touchdown, Gorman was on the verge of putting things away as Hinton broke loose for 28 yards in a drive that went down to the Mater Dei 11. But a fourth-down sack from
Sosene Schuster gave the Monarchs the ball back and they immediately drove down and got a 9-yard touchdown pass from Guess to
Asir Nembhard with 4:30 left to play.
That made it 18-8.
But Hinton put an exclamation point on this one with his second 1-yard touchdown run with 1:01 remaining, giving Gorman its first win over Mater Dei and second this season against a Trinity League team.
For the second straight week, Mater Dei was held under 200 total yards, finishing with 197 to 287 for the Gaels. The teams combined for 26 penalties and 225 yards in penalty yardage.
