Top-ranked Mater Dei beats De La Salle for second straight CIF title

Video: De La Salle-Mater Dei preview
MaxPreps football editor Zack Poff and host Myckena Guerrero break down CIF Open title game.

For the second straight year, the Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) football team downed De La Salle (Concord, Calif.)
for the CIF Open Division Bowl championship on Saturday, this time at Cerritos College.

This one played out a lot different.

De La Salle still made a bushel full of mistakes — losing three fumbles and a bad punt snap led to four touchdowns — but the Spartans made a game of it.

The Monarchs finished them off, winning 35-21. 

Mater Dei (13-2) got 122 yards rushing and three touchdown from Shakobe Harper and big passing plays from USC-bound quarterback Bryce Young and five-star receiver Bru McCoy, but it was its defensive front seven that controlled play and led the nation's top-ranked team to a probable second straight national championship.

In beating the eight-ranked Spartans (12-1), Mater Dei defeated its seventh different team that at one time was ranked in the national Top 25 ranking. The Monarchs also gave Mater Dei coach Bruce Rollinson his 300th victory.

"They came through in the clutch," Rollinson said. "It was one of those years they just battled and battled and battled. They dialed it in tonight. It's been a great run. I don't know about the 300 stuff. I just do this for the kids." This one looked over when Monarchs took a 28-7 lead with 4:52 left in the third quarter on Harper's second touchdown run, a 1-yard walk into the end zone.

But De La Salle sophomore quarterback Dorian Hale (254 yards passing, two touchdowns) fired a 67-yard TD pass to Lu Hearns on the second play of the fourth quarter. After a blocked punt, the Spartans went 32 yards capped by a 1-yard TD run by James Coby, to cut the lead to 28-21 with 6:10 left.

That's when the Monarchs put a bow on the win and their season. Deep in their own territory, Young converted a third-down pass to McCoy, who then made his second spectacular one-hand catch of the night, this one of 25 yards.

Harper then put it away with a 15-yard touchdown run around the left side. 

"We just put an emphasis on finishing drives," Harper said. "We came out and finished. This is sweet to win it back-to-back. I love it."

This one looked very much like last year early, as two very bad mistakes, led Mater Dei to a 14-0 lead.

A bad punt snap led to a 28-yard loss and a 17-yard field for the Monarchs, who immediately cashed in. Following a holding penalty, Young (18-of-25, 296 yards) fired a perfect 27-yard touchdown pass to Cameron Gardner, making it 7-0 with 5:02 left in the first quarter.

De La Salle marched down field, keyed by a 44-yard pass from Hale to Hearns. But on the following play, Hale fumbled, Mater Dei recovered and seven plays and 74 yards later, the Monarchs were in the end zone again, on another perfect strike, Young to five-star athlete McCoy (6 catches, 115 yards) for a 37-yard score, making it 14-0 on the first play of the second quarter.

Last season in the same game, De La Salle fumbled eight times, lost five and gave up a pick 6 in a 52-21 loss.

Instead of folding, the Spartans gained some much needed momentum, when Hale evaded a big rush in his own end zone and flung the ball to Coby, who rambled 84 yards to the Mater Dei 7.

After a couple of losses, Hale threw another strong strike, this one a 9-yard touchdown to Grant Daley, cutting the lead to 14-7 with 9:06 left in the half.

From there, both defenses did a little bending, but eventually held. Rollinson wasn’t very happy with a couple of calls that went against the Monarchs, including an offensive pass interference called on McCoy on a 40-yard completion. “I’m very pleased with our defense,” he told a TV audience at halftime. "It’s going to be a great second half. This is what a state championship is all about, but let the kids play. The best team is going to win no matter what.”

He was right.

The Monarchs took the second half kickoff and marched 67 yards, capped with a 15-yard touchdown run by Harper, making it 21-7 with 8:55 left in the third.

De La Salle ripped off a couple of first downs, but another Hale fumble was recovered by Mater Dei and the offense responded. Young threaded the needle with a 38-yard reception to Sean Dollars and two plays later, Harper walked into the end zone, making it 28-7.

That's when De La Salle made its run.

"Those turnovers just killed us and it's too bad," De La Salle coach Justin Alumbaugh said. "Don't get me wrong. Those guys are great. The beat IMG (Academy). They beat St. John Bosco. I just wished we had played a little cleaner.

"We pulled out all the stops. We came with everything we had. There was no quit in us, but thinking about some of those plays, the fumbles. They weren't on the veer. There were just some strange plays. It's too bad."

It was all good for the Monarchs, who piled up more than 400 yards against one of the best defenses in De La Salle history.

"It was all a blessing," said Young, who transferred last spring into the school. "I really wasn't expecting all of this to happen so soon. It feels awesome. I couldn't be prouder of all my guys."