SANTA ANA – All the offseason discussion about Mater Dei’s quarterback competition and wide receiver transfers stepped aside Friday for the Monarchs’ ground attack.
Brandon LaMarche rushed for 133 yards and three touchdowns – both career highs – behind an impressive offensive line as Orange County’s preseason top-ranked team rallied in the second half to defeat Bishop Amat of La Puente, 24-21, at Santa Ana Stadium.
Before an estimated crowd of about 7,000, the Monarchs’ defense also forced four turnovers and made some timely stops late in the showdown between Pac-5 Division contenders.
“Smash-mouth football, that’s what Mater Dei is all about,” said LaMarche, a senior who carried the ball 28 times and scored the game-winning score early in the fourth quarter.
Bishop Amat, ranked third in the Pac-5 Division led, 21-14, at halftime but the Monarchs’ used LaMarche, junior Raphael Jones and quarterback Matt McDonald’s legs in the second half to seize control.
Kicker Chase McGrath capped the Monarchs’ 19-play drive to open the third quarter with a 32-yard field goal. After a quick stop by Mater Dei’s defense, LaMarche gave the Monarchs the lead for good on a 4-yard TD run 1:15 into the fourth.
Behind the offensive line of seniors Frank Martin, Grant Crum and Zach Aguirre and sophomores Tommy Brown and Christopher Murray, the Monarchs held the ball 21 minutes, 3 seconds of the second half. Bishop Amat held the ball just 2:57.
Kapono Laguisan halted the last Bishop Amat drive by tackling quarterback Ryder Ruiz on a fourth-and-10 from the Lancers 40 with just under two minutes left in the fourth.
“You grew up fast tonight, boys,” Mater Dei coach Bruce Rollinson told his team afterward. “This is a good win for a young football team. You can’t substitute coming back from a touchdown down.”
There were other big plays on defense but the Monarchs’ signature moments came on their second half-opening drive. Mater Dei, ranked fifth in the Pac-5, drove 64 yards in 8:05 and rushed the ball 15 times and passed just three times before McGrath trimmed the Bishop Amat lead to 21-17.
“At halftime, I talked to them about two things,” Rollinson said. “One, turnovers because I knew we were playing good defense. … The other was I talked about the offensive line. And I just said, ‘It’s going to be on you.’ We’ve got be able to run the football.”
The Monarchs ran well. In his first varsity start, McDonald, a junior, ran seven times for 44 yards. And Jones, another junior, added 53 yards on 16 carries as the Monarchs finished with 229 yards on the ground.
McDonald threw for 95 yards in going the distance.
Even Rollinson showed his running skills by rushing inside the numbers to unsuccessfully plead for a clipping call on a first-half punt return by Bishop Amat.
“LaMarche was spectacular,” Rollinson said. “We were battling up front.”
Mater Dei’s defense also delivered the hits. Junior corner Jalen Cole provided a spark early in the second half as he crushed USC commit Trevon Sidney to break up a pass in the Lancers’ quick third-and-out possession after the 19-play drive.
Cole’s hit seemed to fuel the Monarchs’ next possession that covered 52 yards in 4:39 before LaMarche spun into the end zone for the go-ahead, 4-yard TD run. The drive featured 10 plays and like the 19-play trek, including a fourth-down conversion.
Down the stretch in the fourth, Mater Dei’s defense produced a near-sack from linebacker Fa’avae Fa’avae to force an incompletion and a punt. Later, Connor Rossow recovered a fumble on a dropped pitch at the Bishop Amat 42 with 3:18 left. Laguisan fittingly recorded the Monarchs’ final tackle, just missing his second sack. He finished with four tackles for losses.
Bishop Amat posted three consecutive scores to lead, 21-14, at halftime.
Cornerback Christian Gaston, a senior with an offer from Arizona State, supplied a go-ahead score by returning an interception 34 yards for a touchdown with 1:47 left in the opening half.
Gaston broke on a quick sideline pass intended for AJ Collins and raced to the end zone as Bishop Amat took its first lead, 21-14.
Bishop Amat also turned an interception by its linebacker, Matthew Terlizzi, into tying points early in the second half. The Lancers got the ball at the Mater Dei 48 and drove for a 13-yard touchdown run on third-and-1 by running back Torreahno Sweet with 6:30 left in the second quarter.
Sweet also zigzagged to a spectacular 47-yard touchdown run on the final play of the first quarter.
Mater Dei’s defense hauled in three interceptions in the first half as the teams combined for five overall. But the Monarchs’ only converted the first into points.
Safety Roman Kafentzis made a leaping interception at his 13 and return to his 46 with 4:14 left in the first period. LaMarche capped the ensuing scoring drive with a 1-yard TD run, his second of the game, as the Monarchs took a 14-0 lead with 2:05 left in the opening quarter.
McDonald sparked the drive by lofting a rain-maker to Collins, who made an over-the-shoulder grab at the 1.
LaMarche scored on a 7-yard TD for the first score, capping a drive energized by McDonald’s 25-yard run to the Bishop Amat 17.
Mater Dei receiver Osiris St. Brown, a transfer from Servite, didn’t play (toe) but expects to return this coming week against Tesoro.
Contact the writer: dalbano@ocregister.com
