PREP FOOTBALL : Mater Dei Runs Away With Victory : Ground Game Keys 26-14 Win Over Fountain Valley

When Todd Marinovich transferred from Mater Dei High School to Capistrano Valley after starting at quarterback for the Monarchs for the last two seasons, some observers felt that this would ground the Monarchs.

In a sense, it did.

Friday night at Orange Coast College’s LeBard Stadium, Mater Dei defeated Fountain Valley in a nonleague game, 26-14, behind a ground attack that apparently will help make up for the absence of Marinovich.

Junior tailback Matt Spence rushed for 225 yards in 23 carries, including touchdown runs of 70 and 11 yards, to lead the Monarchs to the hard-fought win.

Spence opened and closed the game the same way--with long runs on sweeps in which he simply turned the corner on the Baron defense and then outran the pursuit.

On the Monarchs’ first play from scrimmage, Spence turned the left corner and sprinted 70 yards for the score, giving them the early 7-0 lead.

Late in the game, with the Monarchs on their own 13-yard line and nursing a 19-14 lead with two minutes to play, Spence did almost the exact same thing.

Spence turned the left corner again and raced up the sideline, only to be knocked out of bounds at the Fountain Valley nine-yard line. That 78-yard run took the Monarchs out of bad field position and all but sealed the Barons’ fate.

Three plays later, Pat Leborio, subbing at tailback for the understandably weary Spence, rushed three yards for the final touchdown of the game.

Mater Dei Coach Chuck Gallo was impressed with a ground attack, but he also cautioned against the thought that the Monarchs had radically changed their offensive philosophy following the transfer of Marinovich.

“We did show a little more balance tonight,” Gallo said, “but we’re still Air Monarch. I thought Mike Curtius played a great game for us out there.”

Curtius, a 6-foot 2-inch, 175 pound senior, was making his first varsity start at quarterback for the Monarchs and completed 10 of 19 passes for 114 yards and 1 touchdown.

That touchdown pass, a 16-yard toss to wide receiver Jim O’Brien, put the Monarchs into the lead for good with 1:39 to play in the first quarter. Behind at that point, 7-6, Curtius found O’Brien open on a crossing pattern on a third-and-goal situation from the 16-yard line.

Mater Dei took that 12-7 lead into halftime and stretched it to 19-7 behind an 11-yard touchdown run by Spence.

Fountain Valley, however, got right back into the game with a touchdown on the ensuing kickoff when Mike Maga returned the ball 89 yards for the score, making it 19-14.

The Barons threatened to take the lead with five minutes left in the game when they drove to the Monarchs’ 10-yard line, but a fumble turned the ball over and, behind the running of Spence, Mater Dei drove the other way down the field for the score and the victory.