Long Beach Poly (Calif.) vs. Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.)
Mater Dei's defense will face a resurgent Long Beach Poly squad in a Pac-5 final that conjures up memories of Mater Dei-Poly battles in the past.
Photo by David Hood
Cynics could argue that the trophy for the Pac-5 championship should already belong to Los Angeles City Section finalist Narbonne (Harbor City) – because it beat Poly (56-0) and Mater Dei (18-17) during the regular season – but the real championship hardware will be awarded to winner of this clash of traditional SoCal titans Saturday night at Angel Stadium. Schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District compete in their own section in the postseason.
Poly and Mater Dei met only twice in the last decade, with the teams splitting a pair of playoff games in 2006 and 2010. But the real history in this rivalry was written in the late 1990s. Three consecutive meetings with the CIF-Southern Section Division I title at stake resulted in one win apiece for each program (Poly in '97 and Mater Dei in '98) and a rather anti-climatic 21-21 tie in '99.
View the MaxPreps California football playoff bracketsA win would give Poly its first CIF title since 2008 and continue one of the most remarkable turnarounds in all of prep football this season. The Jackrabbits started off 1-3 before they won their next nine games – including back-to-back victories over then-nationally ranked Mission Viejo and St. John Bosco (Bellflower) in the Pac-5 playoffs. A much improved defense that allowed 131 points in the first four games has allowed opponents to score just 88 points in the last nine games.
Mater Dei has won nine CIF titles in its rich history, but hasn't taken home a championship since it split the title with Poly in 1999. In three playoff wins so far, the Monarchs (11-2) have shown the ability to prevail in a shootout or also win with great defense. A week after outgunning Alemany (Mission Hills), 53-42, they shut out (21-0) a St. Bonaventure (Ventura) team that was averaging more than 37 points per game.
Mitch Stephens: Mater Dei 17, Poly 14
Steve Montoya: Poly 21, Mater Dei 14
Stephen Spiewak: Mater Dei 21, Poly 7
Kevin Askeland: Mater Dei 28, Poly 21
Leland Gordon: Mater Dei 35, Poly 16
Jamie DeMoney: Mater Dei 23, Poly 17
