Final thoughts on Mater Dei-Servite

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Servite Coach Troy Thomas said after the game that the score was not indicative of how the game was played. He’s right, Mater Dei’s margin of victory should have been greater.

Thomas, obviously, was hinting at the fact that the score should have been closer, but that argument held no merit with me. Mater Dei won, 38-13, and it could have easily scored 42 or 49 points.

I also wasn’t buying Friars QB Johnny McEntee’s claim that Mater Dei simply ‘big played’ Servite. The assumption in that phrase is that Mater Dei only had a couple of big plays and that without them, the game would have been closer or Servite might have even won.

‘I don’t know how he can say that,’ said Mater Dei’s Matt Barkley who passed for 348 yards and three touchdowns and ran for another. ‘We ran the ball, we completed short passes, so you can’t say that. And you can’t give up big plays like that, too.’

Yep, Servite gave up big plays; Mater Dei didn’t. The Monarchs did a terrific job containing D.J. Shoemate.

‘That’s team defense. We worked all week [on] alignment, read your key and be physical,’ said Mater Dei Coach Bruce Rollinson. ‘We knew he would get three-, four-, five-yards, and we told our kids, ‘It’s no big deal. They’re going to get first downs, just don’t give up the big one.’

They didn’t.

Mater Dei played loose and was clicking on all offensive and defensive cylinders. Pac-5 Division playoff opponents (except, perhaps, Orange Lutheran) should be afraid because the Monarchs are hungry to prove people that last week’s 31-12 loss to the Lancers was just a fluke. And they have the firepower to do just that.

‘All the pressure was on them. I did not feel like we were in a pressure situation,’ said Rollinson of coming into the game against Servite. ‘The only pressure we had was could we get our confidence back?’

The answer: a resounding yes.

-- Jaime Cardenas

-- Image from www.findamuralist.com