Mater Dei’s Bru McCoy holds the CIF championship trophy as Coach Bruce Rollinson celebrates. (Photos: Fernando M. Donado, For OC Sports Zone)
Mater Dei’s football team put the icing on another special season Saturday night, defeating De La Salle 35-21 in the CIF State Open Division Championship game in front of 4,823 fans at Cerritos College.
To see the slide show, please click on the first photo.
The title comes two weeks after Mater Dei won the CIF Division 1 title. It’s the second state title for Mater Dei, which defeated De La Salle last year in the title game 52-21.
“It’s been a challenging year,” said Mater Dei Coach Bruce Rollinson, who was able to celebrate his 300th career victory. “This team is young and what they’ve done since the St. John Bosco first loss down at the bowl is amazing to me. They pulled it together, they refocused and then they started marching and started believing in each other.
“We come off a big win two weeks ago and I commend De La Salle, they gave us everything we could handle. Offensively, I thought we were a little inconsistent yet we made big plays.”
Rollinson raved about the defense which was particularly effective against the De La Salle running game. Shamar Garrett was the leading rusher with 45 yards on 18 carries.
“The consistency was the great defense we’ve been playing since then and I can’t say enough out the defense tonight,” Rollinson said. “They just shut it down.”
Quarterback Bryce Young led Mater Dei (13-2) passing for 296 yards and two touchdowns. He also rushed for 49 yards on seven carries.
“This was a great game and for us to finish like this for our seniors is amazing,” said Young. “It’s what we were working for all year. It’s a blessing; it’s really a gift from God. I’m ecstatic and this is what we wanted and we got it, I’m so grateful.”
“The line was making it super easy and the receivers made amazing plays. The defense did a great job of getting us the ball back.”
Mater Dei had what looked to be a comfortable 28-7 lead after three quarters but De La Salle battled back, cutting the lead to 28-21 on a 1-yard TD run by James Coby with 6:09 left in the contest and the momentum appeared to be swinging.
But Mater Dei responded with a seven play, 85-yard drive led by Young and capped by a 15-yard TD run by Harper which helped sealed the victory.
“It feels amazing, back to back (state titles) and most likely back to back national championships,” Harper said. “With the group we had to do it with this year, it makes it even more special with all the stuff we’ve been through all year.”
Harper’s TD runs turned out to be the difference. He rushed for 122 yards on 22 carries.
“I had fun doing it,” Harper said. “I got great blocking from the line and the receivers and that was able to spring me on the runs,” he said.
Mater Dei took an early 7-0 lead when Young connected with Cameron Gardner on a 27-yard TD in the first quarter. In the second quarter, Young hooked up with McCoy on a 37-yard TD pass to put the Monarchs ahead 14-0.
But De La Salle (12-1) trimmed the lead to 14-7 when quarterback Dorian Hale threw a 9-yard TD pass to Grant Daley late in the first half.
It looked like the Spartans might make an amazing fourth quarter comeback before Mater Dei sealed the win.
“Bryce Young took over in that last drive,” Rollinson said. “We’re going to take what they’re giving us and that’s what (the pass) they were giving us plus I wanted to get the ball in the playmaker’s hands. I thought we spread it good tonight. If Harper isn’t one of the MVPs of this game, I don’t know who is.
“But it all starts up front; our offensive line and our defensive line, I challenged them all week, I challenged them before we came out and they dominated both sides of the line of scrimmage. That’s where our success came from.”
The Monarchs (13-2) had a 28-14 lead after Harper scored the second of two touchdowns but De La Salle came charging back.
McCoy had seven catches for 116 yards and Michael Martinez had six catches for 87 yards and place-kicker Nicholas Lopez made all five of his extra point attempts.
Hale completed 10 of 19 passes for 254 yards and two touchdowns for De La Salle.
De La Salle lost the ball three times on fumbles.
Mater Dei played without one of its top defensive players, junior Elias Ricks. Rollinson had no comment about why he was not in the lineup citing student confidentiality rules.
STATS
De La Salle 0 7 0 14 – 21
Mater Dei 7 7 14 7 – 35
PASSING: DLS Hale 10-19-0, 254 yards, 2 TDs; MD Young 18-25-0, 296 yards, 2 TDs
RUSHING: DLS Garrett 18-45, Coby 8-12; MD Harper 22-122; Young 7-30.
RECEIVING: DLS Hearns 3-110, Coby 2-100; MD McCoy 7-116, Martinez 6-87.
-Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com
PRE-GAME PICTURES FROM MATER DEI-DE LA SALLE
More Stories
Trabuco Hills baseball coach Michael Burns resigns after 17 seasons
PHOTOS: Trinity and Sunset players meet in finale of Ryan Lemmon Showcase
PHOTOS: Sea View-South Coast finishes strong for win over PCL in Ryan Lemmon Showcase