Mater Dei routs archrival Servite, 42-10

There’s never a shortage of story lines when it comes to one of Southern California’s best football rivalries when Santa Ana Mater Dei matches up against Anaheim Servite.

The feature stories in the 55th meeting between the schools Friday were how a couple newcomers were going to fair in their first go-round.

Servite brought in a new coach before the season, Scott Meyer, who was getting his first taste of the bad blood on the sidelines.

Mater Dei rolled out talented freshman quarterback J.T. Daniels, who came into Friday night drawing comparisons to former Monarchs great Matt Barkley with his 21-to-1 touchdown to interception ratio.

After all the dust cleared and Mater Dei won the Trinity League contest, 42-10, at Angel Stadium, Monarchs Coach Bruce Rollinson was glad to see two things: First, the win, and second, a total team effort.

“We knew it was a big game,” Rollinson said. “I’m happy for my kids and I’m happy for the coaches. We had a great week of preparation and when it’s all said and done, hard work pays off.”

Mater Dei (7-1, 2-1) fell into an early 3-0 hole after Servite kicker Asa Fuller connected on a 30-yard field goal that was set up by an interception of Daniels.

But Daniels and the Monarchs bounced back soon after as Daniels found Osiris St. Brown for a 19-yard touchdown on a back-shoulder fade route, helping Mater Dei take a 7-3 lead over Servite (3-5, 1-2) after one quarter of play.

Mater Dei used the second quarter to blow things wide open.

Roman Kafentzis intercepted a pass by Servite’s Aaron Simpson and returned it 62 yards for a touchdown.

Monarchs linebacker Jed Smith then forced a Servite fumble on the Friars’ next possession, recovering the loose ball and returning it 42 yards before running back Brandon LaMarche punched in another score from six yards out.

Daniels capped off the 21-point second period with a seven-yard touchdown run off a read-option play, giving Mater Dei a sizable 28-3 lead at the half.

“I thought J.T. did a solid job,” Rollinson said. “They gave him multiple looks and he’s got one of these under his belt. It’s a whole different gig when you go into this big stadium and he handled it well.”

Daniels completed 13 of his 22 passes for 170 yards and three touchdowns, while LaMarche handled things on the ground, rushing for 161 yards in 22 carries.

Servite’s lone touchdown came on a 97-yard kick return from Keyon Riley to begin the second half.