Mater Dei stuffs Santa Margarita in Trinity League football tussle

MISSION VIEJO, Calif. -- Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) coach Bruce Rollinson has experienced the bitter and sweet extremes of the quarterback injury spectrum. In Friday's Trinity League tussle at Saddleback College against Santa Margarita (Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.), it was as sweet as candy.

Rollinson's Monarchs rolled to a 24-7 triumph over the Eagles in front of a spirited Orange County crowd, providing what looks like a blueprint for stopping the Santa Margarita offense now that injured Nebraska commit Johnny Stanton is no longer running the show at quarterback. Stop the running game, and make the new guy beat you.

"We played a base defense, then once we had them chasing points, we started bringing it," said Rollinson, whose team handed the Eagles their only loss last season in a state-title campaign. "It was a heck of a night for the Monarchs. What we wanted to do was stop the run, put them in pass situations, then get after them."

Mater Dei (ranked 34th in the Freeman Rankings) harassed sophomore Kyle Sweet all night and held him for the most part, yielding 164 pass yards on 13-for-23 passing and 10 yards on 14 runs.

But it was the effort the defense displayed against running back Ryan Wolpin that was the story of the night. The normally dependable senior mustered only 43 yards on 12 carries despite coming in averaging 132 per game. Stopping Wolpin put the pressure on Sweet, and the sophomore was mostly ineffective.

You can blame a lot of that on J.C. Genova, the Mater Dei middle linebacker who posted three sacks Friday after 2.5 the previous week.

"We knew if we could stop the run we could stop the pass," said Genova, who also scored the game's first touchdown. "Once we started attacking the pass, we felt we were on top of it. We were attacking even more."

Though it is early, and St. John Bosco has yet to get its chance to prove itself, Mater Dei has seized the role of favorite in the Trinity League. The Monarchs are certainly making their 4-6 record last year look like a fluke. And Santa Margarita, which came in ranked No. 9 in the Xcellent 25 and No. 3 in the Freeman Rankings, is looking like the Stanton injury will kill its state title repeat aspirations.

As mentioned earlier, the Monarchs wanted to get a lead and then attack. They got that lead right from the get-go, marching 89 yards on the opening drive and capping it off with Genova's 3-yard run up the middle to make it 7-0. It stayed that way until Mater Dei's first drive of the second half, which was capped off with a 28-yard field goal from Tim Strader.

Genova knocked the ball out of Sweet's hands on the next drive, and the fumble ended up being recovered by the Eagles 20 yards behind where it was snapped. On fourth-and-27 on the next play, Sweet tossed his best pass of the night, a beautiful fade that Connor O'Brien hauled in for a touchdown to make it 10-7.

The Monarchs retorted on the ensuing drive when rising recruit Thomas Duarte turned a hitch-and-go into an easy 29-yard touchdown.

"Our offensive coordinator is great about talking to us and puts the responsibility on us to be coaches on the field and give him feedback," said Duarte, who caught four passes for 79 yards and noticed the cornerback jumping the slant route earlier. "We knew that coming in, in passing league this summer they were doing the same thing."

The Eagles' first play from scrimmage after that was the nail in the coffin. Ben Humphreys jumped from his outside linebacker/defensive end spot and took a Sweet interception 20 yards for the final score.

View the Qwixcore game log

"We were too beat-up and they were playing too well," said a crestfallen Eagles coach Harry Welch. "Mater Dei was playing very, very well and confident and intense. I thought they were terrific."

Mater Dei got 63 yards from Justin Allen to lead a rushing attack that netted 123 yards compared to 54 for the Eagles. Monarchs quarterback Ryan McMahon also didn't light the stat sheet afire for Mater Dei, going 9-for-16 with 135 yards.

Stanton's absence isn't something Rollinson wanted to comment about after the game. But he did empathize with Welch's plight, serving a reminder that he too lost a star quarterback and suffered a setback because of it.

"I've been in his shoes. It's tough to stay on top," said Rollinson, whose team now has a legitimate argument to make it into the Xcellent 25. "I lost Matt Barkley in the quarterfinals (in 2005) and it cost us a championship."

See below for game stats



GAME STATS

Passing
Mater Dei: McMahon 9-for-16, 135 yards, 1 TD.
Santa Margarita: Sweet 13-23-164-1 TD, 1 INT; Josh Canty 0-3.

Rushing
Mater Dei: Allen 16-63; Genova 8-46-1 TD; Treavon Coley 4-8; Ronald Nickerson 2-6.
Santa Margarita: Wolpin 12-43; Sweet 14-10; Duncan Hume 1-1.

Receiving
Mater Dei: Duarte 4-79-1 TD; Jameson Field 2-26; Nicholas Little 2-15; Coley 1-15.
Santa Margarita: O'Brien 8-114-1 TD; River Cracraft 2-36; Alec McNiff 2-11; Hume 1-3.