Streak-smashing Week 7 full of drama

Servite 30, Mater Dei 20.

One more time …

Servite 30, Mater Dei 20.

The Men of Servite, past and present, and the Servite legions can exhale.

It’s over. Finally.

The last time Servite beat Mater Dei happened before this year’s Servite players were born. For the first time since 1988, Servite beat Mater Dei in a varsity football game. The Streak is dead.

Servite quarterback Cody Fajardo was the most valuable player of the game, with his 155 rushing yards and his two touchdown passes.

There was an MVP of another sort. MVP in this case stands for Most Valuable People, and that would be the Servite supporters – students, family and friends – who filled up the visiting side early, yelled like crazy and stuck around long after the game was over.

Horns blared along Civic Center Drive on the north side of Santa Ana Stadium for more than an hour after the game. Somebody even had their own fireworks display. On the other side of Flower Ave. Big Bang Friday, Servite style.

The game itself got a little rough around the edges in the fourth quarter. Personal foul penalties on both teams darkened the mood, and it looked like the postgame scene might be an unsportsmanlike one.

But two leaders set the tone. Mater Dei coach Bruce Rollinson and Servite coach Troy Thomas embraced at midfield. Both coaches spent time shaking hands with opposing players.

Rollinson then walked over to his family, seated in the Mater Dei section, and gave it a “hey, it had to happened some day” smile and a shrug of the shoulders that everyone could see. And everyone in the Mater Dei section watches Rollo’s every move, pregame, during the game and before the game. His sportsmanship Friday night was just another example of how Rollinson personifies Mater Dei’s “Honor-Glory-Love” motto.

Servite’s faculty leaders did a great job keeping their excited kids in check, too. Servite gave quiet respect to Mater Dei’s Pride Drill, and Mater Dei did the same for Servite’s Hut Drill.

I don’t know how it was in the parking lots or the nearby streets after the game, but what I saw on the field after this game was what I hoped to see – excellent sportsmanship by both schools. Congratulations, and thank you.

So Servite is 2-0 in the Trinity League. The Friars next week play JSerra, which gave Orange Lutheran a tussle for a while before losing, 23-14, then take on Lutheran.

Lutheran, also 2-0 in league, plays St. John Bosco next week. We could have Lutheran and Servite both at 3-0 in league when they meet Nov. 6 at Cerritos College.

Mater Dei is 0-2 in league – but hardly out of the playoff picture. The Monarchs have JSerra, Santa Margarita and Bosco left to play. All are very winnable games, so Mater Dei could go 3-2 in league and that’s good enough for third place and a playoff berth.

The Sunset League sure is interesting, too. Edison and Fountain Valley are on top, at 2-0 – and their famous Battle for the Bell is just two weeks away. In between, Edison has to play Los Alamitos, and Fountain Valley has Newport Harbor. Edison looks like the best team in the county, so far …

But Mission Viejo made another “don’t forget about us” statement. The Diablos went out for revenge and got it, and got lots of it. Having lost to Tesoro in 2007 and ’08, Mission trampled Tesoro, 60-14.

We all want to see Edison play Mission Viejo, which are Nos. 1 and 2 in Orange County, respectively … and also are ranked in that order in the CIF-Southern Section Pac-5 Division. That will have to wait until the playoffs.

Edison and Mission could go undefeated in their leagues. Tustin could do the same in the Century League.

With only 18 varsity players suited up, thanks to injuries and a smallish roster to begin with, Tustin still beat Villa Park, 35-20, on Thursday. The Tillers’ top challenger in the Century is El Dorado, which they play in two weeks.

Cypress won big again, 55-13 over Loara, with Akeelie Muhammad running for 288 yards and five touchdowns. The Centurions might go undefeated in the Empire League.

La Habra and Garden Grove likely will go undefeated in the Freeway and Garden Grove Leagues, too. Same with surging Laguna Hills in the Pacific Coast.

Trabuco Hills is the only 2-0 team in the Sea View League. Maybe the Mustangs have a 5-0 league record ahead of them.

The Orange Coast League is all about Costa Mesa and Laguna Beach at the moment, with both at 2-0; they meet in the final week of the regular season.

Western’s dominance in the Orange League ended Thursday, when Savanna beat the Pioneers. Savanna and Anaheim are on top of that league, at 2-0. They meet in the last week of the regular season.

There will be plenty of shifts in standings and rankings these next three weeks, the final weeks of the regular season.

What will be remembered beyond those weeks is that moment when the scoreboard clock at Santa Ana Stadium reached 0:00, and on one side of that clock was a “30” for Servite and a “20” for Mater Dei.

Servite 30, Mater Dei 20.

Finally.