Monarchs continue reign

ANAHEIM Matt Barkley just might be the best quarterback to come out of Mater Dei when his high school career is finished.

And there have been some incredible quarterbacks over the years at Mater Dei, including Heisman Trophy winner Matt Leinart.

People can point to Barkley’s performance against arch-rival Servite on Friday night as evidence.

The 6-4, 220-pound junior completed 16 of 26 passes for 348 yards and three touchdowns to help the No. 3 Monarchs knock off the top-ranked Friars, 38-13, in the Trinity League finale in front of at least 26,000 at Angel Stadium.

Mater Dei (8-1, 3-1) kept its unbeaten streak over the Friars alive with the triumph. The Monarchs have won every game against Servite since 1988 with the exception of a 0-0 tie in 1992.

The Mater Dei victory created a three-way tie for first place in the Trinity with Servite (7-2, 3-1) and Orange Lutheran (8-1, 3-1). Coin flips will decide the order of the league’s three representatives into the Pac-5 Division playoffs. The coin flips will be held today at 8 a.m. at St. John Bosco of Bellflower. Santa Margarita is eligible to petition for an at-large berth.

The Monarchs never trailed in this one applying the pressure early to take a 14-0 lead at the half.

“We never felt there was a lot of pressure on us in this game,” Mater Dei coach Bruce Rollinson said. “We felt the pressure was on them. We wanted to make them catch up to us.”

After a dismal first half on offense, the Friars came alive to start the second half with a 12-play, 66-yard scoring drive that took 5 minutes 29 seconds off the clock. The Friars traded off with D.J. Shoemate and Greg Portis pounding away on the ground and quarterback Johnny McEntee scrambling for more yards. McEntee scored on a 1-yard keeper to cap the drive and cut the lead to 14-7.

But the Monarchs responded immediately with Barkley throwing a beautiful 42-yard touchdown pass to his cousin, Robbie Boyer. Barkley was being pressured before he stepped up in the pocket and threw a perfect strike that hit Boyer in stride in the end zone.

Servite came back with another long drive. Shoemate scored on a 2-yard run on the first play of the fourth quarter to cut it to 21-13.

Mater Dei started its next possession at its 4 after a botched kick return. Monarchs running back almost got tackled in the end zone on first down. Barkley was incomplete on second down. It looked like Barkley was about to be sacked in the end zone by Matt Kalil on third-and-11 from the 3-yard line. Kalil had a hold of Barkley’s legs and was about to bring down the junior before Barkley got off a pass to Andrew Abbott. Abbott caught the pass and streaked 97 yards for the TD.

The Monarchs scored the final 17 points and sink their rivals.

Mater Dei dominated the first half of play, taking a 14-0 lead at the break. It could have been worse for the Friars, but Monarchs kicker Patrick Duffy barely missed a 46-yard field goal on Mater Dei’s opening drive.

Penalties killed most of Servite’s drives in the first half. Whenever the Friars got something going an ill-advised penalty pushed them back.

And Mater Dei didn’t allow Shoemate to break any big plays. Shoemate picked up 77 yards on 19 carries, but nothing for over 8 yards.

The Monarchs struck on their second series of the game. Barkley found Boyer on a post pattern that went for a 68-yard touchdown to give the Monarchs a 7-0 lead with 2:22 left in the opening quarter.

Barkley orchestrated another scoring drive in the closing minutes of the half, marching the Monarchs 68 yards in eight plays to push the lead to 14-0.

Contact the writer: carias@ocregister.com