SANTA ANA – It was supposed to be a heavyweight bout – Centennial of Corona’s high-flying offense against Mater Dei’s lockdown defense – but an unheralded unit stole the spotlight Friday night at Santa Ana Stadium.
The same Centennial defense that gave up 64 points to Serra last week withstood Mater Dei’s would-be go-ahead drive late in the fourth quarter and the Huskies escaped Orange County with a 27-24 victory in the second round of the CIF-SS Pac-5 playoffs.
Centennial will face Bishop Amat in the semifinals next week.
The final blows came on back-to-back Mater Dei passing plays with just more than two minutes remaining.
The first was what seemed to be a 28-yard touchdown pass from Mater Dei quarterback Jack Lowary to Ben Humphreys. The ball was literally on Humphreys’ fingertips, but second and third efforts from Centennial defensive back Camryn Bynum knocked the bobbled ball to the turf. The second pass fell to the ground when a Mater Dei receiver slipped in the Centennial secondary, forcing a turnover on downs with 2:12 remaining.
The Centennial defense also gave the Huskies (10-2) a 10-point cushion at halftime by limiting the Monarchs (9-3) to only three points and 62 total yards in the first half.
“They were phenomenal,” Centennial coach Matt Logan said. “We made some mistakes (on offense) in the first half and they played phenomenal all night. They didn’t get down after a few scores and still made the plays when they needed to.”
A 13-3 Centennial lead at halftime vanished in the third quarter, when the Monarchs scored 21 consecutive points in the period, on a 35-yard touchdown run by Brandon LaMarche, a 30-yard touchdown pass from Lowary to Humphreys and a 24-yard run for a score by Adrian Contreras, who finished with a game-high 126 yards rushing on 23 carries.
With Mater Dei now up 24-13, the Centennial offense, which could get only two first downs in the third quarter, awakened.
Right before the third ended, Centennial QB Anthony Catalano found Javon McKinley for a 73-yard pass. Running back Sammonte Bonner ran into the end zone from 2 yards out on the first play of the fourth to cut the Mater Dei lead to 24-20.
The Huskies finally got into their comfort zone with their hurry-up offense and went ahead for good on a 1-yard run by Catalano, with 5:25 remaining, capping an 11-play, 66-yard scoring drive. All but one of the plays were on the ground, against a Mater Dei defense that held Centennial to 34 yards rushing in the first half.
“It was nice to run the ball finally and wear them out a little bit,” Logan said. “I was thinking ‘We’re throwing too much, we’re not going to wear them out’ but maybe them chasing the quarterback was enough.”
Catalano and quarterback counterpart Nate Ketteringham combined for 300 yards on 10 of 26 passing and the Huskies thrived three big completions of 80, 73 and 48 yards.
Mater Dei coach Bruce Rollinson emphasized the first half after the game and equated it to the Monarchs’ previous two losses to St. John Bosco and JSerra, which were both by single digits.
“To me, the landslide started in the first half,” Mater Dei coach Bruce Rollinson said. “We had no offense in the first half and we had opportunities.”
The Mater Dei defense largely did its part, outside of the three big Centennial pass plays. The Monarchs forced five Centennial punts, intercepted a pass and forced a turnover on downs, but outside of the third quarter, the Mater Dei offense could not keep up.
“Our defense – you get an opportunity to coach a defense like that every so often,” Rollinson said. “”We had a great defense, but when it’s all said and done, we couldn’t match it offensively.”
Contact the writer: jbalan@ocregister.com
