Narbonne stops Mater Dei in Southern California football thriller

HARBOR CITY, Calif. -- Here's a tip from MaxPreps: When thinking about the nation's best high school football teams, be sure to include Narbonne (Harbor City, Calif.).

Another important tip came in Friday night's marquee Southern California matchup, courtesy of Sidney Watkins.

Watkins got his hand on Ryan McMahon's fourth-and-6 pass with less than a minute remaining against visiting Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.), sending the attempted slant pass off-direction. That tip turned out to be perhaps the biggest play of the game, as it put an emphatic end to a Monarchs drive about 10 yards short of field goal range and saved an 18-17 victory for the Gauchos on their home field.

"The lineman got lower and I just stood there looking for the quarterback, and my coach always said if the quarterback got a three-step drop with the ball in his hand, jump up. It hit me right in the hand," said Watkins, 6-foot-1 and 200 pounds.

"He's a small defensive end but he's explosive and makes athletic plays. He was coming hard and definitely got the hand up," said Narbonne coach Manuel Douglas. "I was just hoping it didn't ricochet to another guy."

It didn't.

And once that ball hit the ground, it told of a lot more than just a one-point win for the team ranked nationally No. 14 in the Xcellent 25 and No. 5 in the Freeman Rankings. It told a story about a team that still has to answer the nagging question from outsiders about whether it's "for real" despite overwhelming proof that it is.

"That's the real deal right there. That's as good as it's gonna get," said Mater Dei coach Bruce Rollinson. "That's a hell of a football team."

Douglas obviously agreed.

"We're for real. We are a good team. That's just what it is."

The back story to the intersectional contest pitted Narbonne, a successful public school from the Los Angeles City Section, against a legendary private school from the Southern Section's Trinity League. City Section teams rarely battle Trinity League teams, and rarely beat them.

With Friday night's result and past history, there's no doubt about whether Mater Dei is a quality football team. So that must mean that Narbonne is legit.

"It's real special, especially with the teams they have in that league. It's great proving that a city team can play with a CIF (Southern Section) team," said Gauchos quarterback Troy Williams, a Washington commit.

Even though Narbonne had Williams behind center and Cal commit A.J. Richardson at wide receiver, the Gauchos didn't win the game with consistent offense. Defensive stands, a 92-yard punt return touchdown from Keishawn Bierria and two explosive plays led the way.

After Narbonne lost the ball on a tipped-ball interception on the game's opening drive, the defense supplied a sack on third down to bring about a 38-yard field goal from Tim Strader. Bierria's speedy return grabbed the lead soon after for Narbonne and Larry Seuga killed the next Mater Dei drive with a sack before Williams' horizontal pass to Richardson got sprung for a 65-yard score thanks to great blocking by a receiver.

Later in the second quarter Mater Dei took advantage of a short field after a poor punt and got within 12-10 when McMahon found Thomas Duarte on a play-action post pattern good for 29 yards.

The Monarchs marched 80 yards on the opening drive of the second half, capped off by a 7-yard jaunt from Justin Allen aided by a little shove from lineman Addison Ooms, and took back a 17-12 advantage.

The second explosive offensive play for Narbonne grabbed the lead back and provided the score that killed Mater Dei. Johnell Jackson hauled in a swing pass from his running back spot and zoomed 41 yards down the left sideline to make it 18-17.

One punt return for a score and two big offensive plays were the downfall of Mater Dei. And that's a testament to what was otherwise a great defensive night, Rollinson said. His team yielded just 25 rushing yards on 23 tries and gave up eight first downs.

"Our defense was spectacular. We gave them everything they could handle. A break here or there and we are celebrating," Rollinson said.

Douglas felt the same about his defensive group a week after beating Serra (Gardena, Calif.), 22-9. They gave up yards and first downs (17 to be exact), but came up big when needed.

"Our defense made huge plays and it's fitting they were on the field last with the play of the game," Douglas said. "For our kids to come back with another quality performance says a lot about who they are and what this program has instilled in them."

Williams was the player with the best stats on the night, finishing 11-for-18 with 187 yards. Mater Dei's Allen netted 81 rushing yards on 16 tries and Duarte hauled in seven catches for 117 yards.

View the Qwixcore game log

GAME STATS

PASSING
Narbonne
Williams: 11-for-18, 187 yards, 2 TDs, 1 INT

Mater Dei
McMahon: 11-for-18, 149 yards, 1 TD
Chase Forrest: 6-for-9, 34 yards

RUSHING
Narbonne
Tony Gates: 5-14
Richardson: 2-14
Jackson: 6-3
Williams: 10-(minus 6)

Mater Dei
Allen: 16-81, 1 TD
Forrest: 6-43
Treavon Coley: 7-26
Jonathan Lockett: 1-8
Ronald Nickerson: 2-7
London Iakopo: 1-1
J.C. Genova: 2-(minus 3)
McMahon: 5-(minus 22)

RECEIVING
Narbonne
Richardson: 2-71
Greg Clark: 3-32
Jackson: 1-41
Josh Collins: 2-22
Uchenna Nwosu: 1-6
Gates: 1-5

Mater Dei
Duarte: 7-117, 1 TD
Nicholas Little: 3-28
Jameson Field: 2-16
Coley: 1-9
Mychal Traylor: 2-5
Ben Humphreys: 1-5
Johnny Johnson: 1-3

First Downs
Narbonne: 8 (5 pass, 2 rush, 1 penalty)
Mater Dei: 17 (8 pass, 8 rush, 1 penalty)

Penalties
Narbonne: 8-55
Mater Dei: 8-72