Oceanside Holds Off Mater Dei

Oceanside High School took a 36-7 lead midway through the second quarter and held on for an improbable 36-34 victory over Mater Dei Thursday at Santa Ana Stadium.

In the first half, Oceanside, ranked No. 3 in San Diego County, ran a fast-break offense with quarterback Jerry Garrett at the point and led, 36-13.

Garrett, a 15-year old junior, threw for 217 yards in the first half. Throwing and passing, Garrett accounted for 24 of Oceanside’s 36 points. He threw two passes for touchdowns and ran for another.

But Mater Dei ended up rallying, and with 18 seconds was a conversion pass away tying it.

Danny O’Neil, Mater Dei’s junior quarterback, threw three passes for touchdowns in the fourth quarter and his last, an 11-yarder to Dave Gonzalez, made the score 36-34.

On the two-point conversion attempt, O’Neil threw to Tony Pena in the end zone. Pena tipped the ball up once, then out to Mater Dei’s Chip Packard standing at about the 1 1/2. Packard got to about to the half-yard line before he was stopped.