Servite finally slays The Streak with 30-20 victory

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SANTA ANA — Servite exorcised over two decades of demons with a 30-20 triumph over Mater Dei in a Trinity League football game on Friday night in front of 10,000 at Santa Ana Stadium.

The No. 3 Friars (6-1, 2-0) were victorious over the No. 8 Monarchs (3-4, 0-2) for the first time since 1988.

"We just knew we were better than them," said senior defensive lineman/offensive lineman Kirifi Taula, who had two sacks. "Every other year they've been in our heads. This year we just all came out and said this is our year.

"It feels great. A lot of weight off our shoulders. We've been working hard for this ever since offseason, ever since last year after we lost. We were fired up.

The Friars did it behind the spectacular play of quarterback Cody Fajardo, who rushed for 131 yards and one touchdown and passed for 150 yards and two touchdowns.

Fajardo was proud to be a part of a team that broke the streak against the Monarchs, but he was already talking about next week's game.

"It's the Trinity League," Fajardo said. "It's a great win, but we gotta move on. We got Santa Margarita next week. We gotta win Trinity League outright."

Servite scored on its first three possessions of the game to jump out to a 20-0 lead, but Mater Dei put together a nine-play, 99-yard scoring drive to close out the half and keep its hopes of a comeback alive.

Servite was backed down to its own 15-yard line and was facing a third-and-28 on its first possession. Fajardo unloaded a 49-yard bomb to Rudy Guerrero just as he was about to get sandwiched to get the Friars going.

Three plays later, Fajardo faked a handoff to Sean DeRosa and jetted 36 yards for a touchdown.

Fajardo scrambled 17 yards on a key third-and-13 play on Servite's next possession to get the Friars to Mater Dei's 11. Two plays later, Fajardo managed to escape a sack and find Troy Niklas in the end zone for a 10-yard touchdown.

Fajardo had a 46-yard run to set up Jody Thomas' 4-yard touchdown run that gave the Friars a 20-0 lead with 7:31 left in the first half.

Max Wittek was 5 of 5 for 84 yards helping to set up Corbin Anderson's 1-yard touchdown run that capped a 99-yard drive in the final minute of the first half, cutting Servite's lead to 20-7.

Mater Dei's Victor Blackwell had seven catches for 103 yards, including a 43-yard touchdown catch in third quarter.

Mater Dei was able to close the gap to 30-20 on Wittek's 10-yard touchdown pass to A.J. Roth.

The Monarchs had the ball with 2:46 left and drove into Servite territory, but Michael Marcoux picked off Wittek with 1:23 left.

All Fajardo had to do was drop to his knee three times, and Mater Dei was helpless as the final seconds ticked off the clock. The Servite celebration was on in the stadium and beyond.