No. 4 Edison no match for No. 1 Mater Dei

SANTA ANA- There is quite a chasm between the No. 1 and No. 4 football teams in the county, a point top-ranked Mater Dei hammered home with a 42-14 victory over Edison on Friday night in front of 7,000 at Santa Ana Stadium.

The Monarchs did it on both offense and defense. They scored on their first four possessions in the opening quarter to forge a 28-0 lead and the defense knocked UCLA-bound quarterback Nick Crissman out of the game with less than 90 seconds left in the opening quarter.

Mater Dei held Edison to minus-5 yards of offense in the first quarter.

"We brought it from every direction," Mater Dei coach Bruce Rollinson said. "When you have a quarterback like that (Crissman), he can keep you in the football game. We wanted to keep them off balance. We feel that our secondary can handle a bunch of different looks. But tonight we were physical and that pleases me. We're going to need that next week (against nationally-ranked Centennial of Corona) to have a shot at that one."

Mater Dei got Nebraska-bound linebacker Cameron Meredith back on defense, and linebacker Robert Mojica had a huge game for the Monarchs.

Mojica had a sack and delivered the bone-jarring hit that knocked Crissman out of the game. Crissman was on the ground for about five minutes before being helped off the field.

"We got some great pressure by our D-linemen," said Mojica, who also had a 51-yard punt return for a touchdown in the third quarter. "Our linebacker Mike Brown had him (Crissman) by the legs. He let go of the ball and right then his stomach was exposed and I nailed him right in the stomach. I think his head hit pretty hard (on the turf). I think he got a concussion."

Edison coach Dave White said Crissman had a bruised sternum. Crissman was sacked six times by Servite in a 7-0 loss last week. He was sacked twice and knocked down a couple of times before leaving the game after the Mojica hit.

"Every area of our team needs work right now," White said. "He (Crissman) is beat up like he's been every week. Luckily we have a bye (next week) and we can let him heal up. We'll see what we're made of as a team."

Mater Dei continued to ride the right arm of junior Matt Barkley, who had another impressive performance. Barkley completed 14 of 24 passes for 253 yards and three touchdowns. He was picked off twice.

Barkley's cousin, Robbie Boyer, was the recipient of a lot of those passes, finishing with five catches for 118 yards, including two touchdowns.

Monarchs tailback Jaron Hytche had nine carries for 75 yards and two touchdowns.

The Chargers scored both of their touchdowns in the fourth quarter against Mater Dei's reserves.

Trent Burns-Stickney got the Chargers on the scoreboard when he returned a fumble 54 yards for a touchdown at the start of the fourth quarter.

Matthew Viles, who replaced Crissman, connected with tight end Dylan Leener on a 5-yard scoring pass in the final minute as Edison's offense finally got into the end zone.

Mater Dei, which improved to 4-0, has scored at least 42 points in each of its first four games. Edison, which dropped to 3-2, has a bye next week before playing Los Alamitos in its Sunset League opener on Oct. 12 at Orange Coast College.

Contact the writer: carias@ocregister.com