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Mater Dei makes short work of Cypress
Mater Dei makes short work of Cypress
Barkley surpasses 7,000 career passing yards in a 49-7 victory.
SANTA ANA- It was a short night for Mater Dei quarterback Matt Barkley, but it was still one that moved him up the county list for career passing yards.
He didn't play in the second half of the second-ranked Monarchs' 49-7 nonleague home victory over Cypress on Thursday night at Santa Ana Stadium. He completed 13 of 17 passes for 231 yards and two touchdowns in the first half for Mater Dei (2-0).
Barkley entered the game 120 yards short of the 7,000-yard plateau in county history.
It didn't take him long to become the fifth county quarterback to eclipse that mark when he connected on a 41-yard pass to Derek Campbell late in the first quarter.
Barkley is in fourth place all-time with 7,111 yards.
Sophomores Max Wittek, Jack Doll and junior Nick Connor shared the second-half quarterback duties for the Monarchs.
"As a group, we were focused," Barkley said. "I went through my reads, I was calm and controlled, and we executed our plays."
Barkley got the Monarchs on the board in the first quarter with a 51-yard touchdown pass to Ario Winston with 4:24 remaining in the first quarter.
His second touchdown was a 45-yard pass to Victor Blackwell in the second quarter.
The Monarchs also received a productive night out of the running game. Jaron Hytche rushed for 49 yards but scored four touchdowns.
Hytche scored on runs of 8, 25, 1 and 4 yards. David Owens scored the other touchdown, a 1-yard run in the second quarter.
"I'm glad Hytche got on track," Coach Bruce Rollinson said. "That pleased me to have him running the ball a little bit. His ankle looked good. He's been playing on a bad ankle, so I thought that was good."
It was a tough beginning to the new season for the defending CIF-SS Southern Division champion Cypress.
The Centurions, who are now playing in the Southwest Division, struggled to maintain any offensive consistency throughout the game.
Cypress finished with minus-18 yards rushing on 33 carries. Quarterback Max Reza completed five of 15 passes for 25 yards.
Cypress finally reached the end zone thanks to a 42-yard interception return for a touchdown by Shawn Hansen.
"I told the kids to be confident but not overconfident," Rollinson said. "We took care of business. The good news is that nobody's hurt and we're going to need everything we've got, every possible thing we've got for the next game (Sept. 19 vs. Centennial of Corona)."
Contact the writer: dcalhoun@ocregister.com
