Game blogging: No. 15 Mater Dei vs. Orange Lutheran

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With Santa Ana Mater Dei currently in rebuilding mode, Coach Bruce Rollinson captured the Monarchs’ 3-2 season in a nutshell when he recently told The Times’ Eric Sondheimer, ‘I never know what team is going to show up.’ It will be interesting which one we will see when the Monarchs play Trinity League rival Orange Lutheran tonight at 7:30 p.m. at Orange Coast College.

The Monarchs are still recovering from the graduation of Matt Barkley, who has since become USC’s starting quarterback with a 4-0 record as a starter with a 59% completion rate. That’s been good enough for 958 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions entering Saturday’s game against Notre Dame.

The Monarchs lost to Carson, narrowly defeated Cypress, defeated Corona Centennial but lost junior linebacker Miguel Sandoval (broken leg), edged Jordan and fell to Edison in double overtime.

Mater Dei has shown progress, though. Junior wide receiver Victor Blackwell has attracted an offer from Tennessee and has exceeded Sondheimer’s expectations. Then there’s senior offensive lineman Chris Ward, who is considered one of the area’s top linemen. He recently accepted an offer from UCLA.

Though Mater Dei has lost four consecutive games to Orange Lutheran, The Times’ Ben Bolch and Orange County Register’s Steve Fryer predict Mater Dei will defeat Orange Lutheran (2-3) tonight.

Lancers quarterback Bobby Wheatley missed last week’s game against Banning because of pneumonia. Running back Garrett Gilliland has appeared in only the first two games of the season because of an ankle injury.

Much to the chagrin of Mater Dei, kicker Parker Flynn could prove to be the difference if the game is close. Considered one of the top kickers in the Southland, Flynn’s 43-yard field goal with two seconds remaining gave the Lancers a 24-21 victory last season against Mater Dei.

Varsity Times Insider will be there tonight to chronicle all the action. So be sure to check back with score updates throughout the evening.

-- Mark Medina