Mater Dei Outkicks Westminster, 14-11

In a game dominated by kickers, Mater Dei High School evened its record at 2-2 as it defeated Westminster High School Friday night in Westminster Stadium, 14-11.

An overflow crowd of 3,500 saw Monarch kicker Gary Coston make a 39-yard field goal with 13 seconds left in the game to break an 11-11 tie. It was the first loss of the season for the Lions (3-1).

Coston was put in position for the winning kick as the Monarchs drove from their 20-yard line to the Westminster 22. Mater Dei took over with 4:18 left after Lion kicker Todd Weaver missed a 31-yard attempt wide to the left. Weaver was 3 for 3 before the miss.

On the winning drive, sophomore quarterback Todd Marinovich (13 of 25 for 132 yards) was 4 of 6 passing, good for 57 yards. He connected with junior wide receiver Tony Rocco three times for gains of 11, 19 and 7 yards. The Monarchs kicked the field goal on first down because they had no timeouts remaining.

Mater Dei Coach Chuck Gallo did not want to risk a sack or a completion inbounds with his team unable to stop the clock in time to set up for the kick. After a third-down run for two yards by Charles Anton (43 yards on 15 attempts) good for the first down, Gallo sent in his kicker. “Our kid can kick and we did not want to wait,” he said.

Said Coston: “I had missed two chances to win games last year, and I have been working really hard to be ready for another chance.”

He also kicked a 28-yard field goal in the first half for Mater Dei’s only score as it trailed, 8-3, at intermission.

The winning kick made up for some of the trouble the Monarch punting unit had in the first half. Coston, who also punts, had his first two attempts blocked after he had trouble with bad snaps. Lion Mike Colver blocked the first kick and teammate Ray Smith recovered the ball on the Mater Dei 22. Five plays later, Weaver kicked a field goal to put Westminster up early, 3-0.

Later in the first quarter, Coston had his second punt of the game blocked out of the end zone by Smith for a safety. He was punting from the back of the end zone after Mater Dei had lost 24 yards on three plays and was faced with a fourth-and-34 on its goal line. The safety gave the Lions a 5-0 first-quarter lead.

The only touchdown in the game was scored by Anton in the third quarter and gave the Monarchs an 11-8 lead. On fourth down, Anton carried the ball in from the Westminster 2. Mater Dei went for a two-point conversion as Anton took a pitch from Marinovich and then hit wide receiver Jeff Thies for the score.