The stage is set for Servite to perform like a star
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So Servite is playing for first place tonight against Mater Dei. Not second place. Certainly not third. Yet it was I who mentioned to Coach Troy Thomas that the Trinity League opener against Santa Margarita was for third place in the league. And a week later, when Servite upset Orange Lutheran, linebacker Anthony Hannon made a point of mentioning that the newspaper wrote off the Friars and said they were playing for third place.
Well, now they’re not.
But back then, they were. And if they needed Mr. Newspaperman to get them fired up, then they owe their coaches an apology.
Two teams could not have been more different this season, the Servite squad that began the year with D.J. Shoemate, No. 3 pictured above, in the slot and trying to get him the ball when they could, and the one in which Shoemate lines up every play in the backfield.
The team that lost Game 5 to Sherman Oaks Notre Dame, 17-9, doesn’t exist anymore.
‘All of a sudden, instead of Shoemate touching the ball six times, he’s touching it 40 times,’ said Jim Kunau, whose Lutheran squad lost to Servite, then spanked Mater Dei last week, 31-12, when the Monarchs were No. 1 in the state. ‘He’s running behind an outstanding offensive line with the No. 1 offensive lineman recruit in America. It will set itself up to be quite a finale.’
Left tackle Matt Kalil is the No. 6 recruit in the country, according to Rivals.com. Shoemate, the No. 22 recruit in the country when he was simply listed as ‘athlete,’ now has a defined purpose. Frankly, his stock has risen in the last four weeks. Both have committed to USC.
The beauty of moving Shoemate to running back to coincide with the beginning of league play -- besides allowing him enough time to get back to 100% after a foot injury that wiped out his junior season -- is that it caught everyone off guard. Poor old Santa Margarita had no relevant film to study and never saw what hit them. Lutheran, which I had proclaimed two weeks earlier as a favorite (along with Mater Dei) to play for the Pac-5 title, was probably a sitting duck once Mr. Newspaperman opened his mouth.
And now, Servite has a chance to beat Mater Dei for the first time since Bruce Rollinson took over the MD program in 1989. With the Trinity League title on the line. At Angel Stadium. In front of an anticipated crowd of more than 20,000. On regional TV. On the night that Mater Dei salutes the U.S. Marine Corps.
This is what it’s all about.
To get you in the mood, here’s a rough clip of Lee Greenwood’s ‘God Bless the USA’ during a USO tour in Pakistan during Operation Enduring Freedom in 2003.
-- Martin Henderson
-- Image by Christina House for The Times