Mater Dei flexes its offensive muscles in blowout

MISSION VIEJO - Santa Margarita trailed by a touchdown at halftime in its upset bid of No. 3 Mater Dei, but the Monarchs strong second half carried them to a 57-28 victory in Trinity League action Friday night at Saddleback College. (Full game stats.)

Mater Dei moved to 6-2 overall, 3-0 in league; the Eagles fell to 2-6 and 0-3.

"Santa Margarita battled back," Mater Dei coach Bruce Rollinson said. "I challenged my players at halftime to give me 24 minutes."

Christian Maldonado started it off with a 30-yard interception return shortly after the break and Mater Dei led, 35-21, with 10:32 to go in the third. The Eagles didn't score again until Ryan World found Logan Sweet for a 50-yard touchdown pass that made it 857-28.

Santa Margarita trailed, 14-0, 21-7 and 28-14, in the first half. Sweet ran a kickoff back 91 yards to cut it to 14-7. World hit Sean Willet for 83 yards to trim it to 821-14.

World then scored on a 15-yard keeper as time expired and the Eagles trailed, 28-21, at the half. The Eagles' three first-half scores took a combined 1:53.

"I think Christian's interception took the momentum away from them and gave it back to us," Rollinson said of the Monarchs start to the second half.

The Eagles couldn't slow Monarchs running back Jaron Hytche or quarterback Matt Barkley. Hytche finished with 227 rushing yards and four touchdowns.

Barkley ended with 228 passing yards and two touchdowns.

"I thought Jaron and (Jordan) Allan ran well," Rollinson said. "We were trying to mix it up. I thought the running game got the passing game going."

The Monarchs started the scoring with Barkley's 13-yard pass to Victor Blackwell and they led 7-0 at the end of the first.

Mater Dei went in front, 14-0, on a 5-yard scoring run from Hytche. Hytche added two more touchdown runs of 4 and 12 yards in the half. The latter gave the Monarchs a 28-14 lead with 1:15 to play in the half.

Maldonado scored his second touchdown on a 821-yard pass that put Mater Dei up, 42-21, with 6:13 in the third quarter. Hytche scored on 3-yard run to push it to 48-21.

• Click here for full game stats and links to season totals and team rosters.

Contact the writer: ctobolski@ocregister.com