PREP FOOTBALL : Angelus League : Bishop Amat Air Blitz Picks Apart Mater Dei

Speed kills.

Just ask Mater Dei High School Coach Chuck Gallo, who had a no-nonsense solution for why his team suffered a 28-14 loss Friday night to Bishop Amat in La Puente in the teams’ Angelus League opener.

“They had fast guys,” Gallo said. “They had guys that were faster than the cornerbacks we had to cover them. It wasn’t anything scientific.”

It also wasn’t pretty. Mater Dei had gone into the locker room at halftime with a 7-0 lead. But that was before Bishop Amat quarterback Brian Harmon dismantled the Monarch secondary with a second-half aerial blitz that netted 4 touchdowns.

During that half, Harmon, a senior left-hander, completed 7 passes in a row and stunned Mater Dei when he:

--Lofted a 22-yard spiral that flanker Pat Sullivan caught in the right corner of the end zone.

--Threw an 8-yard strike to tight end Jason Green, wide open in the middle of the end zone.

--Rolled out and threw another scoring pass from 12 yards to Green.

--Hit Green, who was loping across the middle, with a 45-yard, fourth-quarter bomb that broke Mater Dei’s back.

Harmon finished the evening with 275 yards on 19-of-28 passing. Flanker Jeremy Smith had 10 catches for 115 yards, and Sullivan and Green each had 4 catches for 87 and 70 yards, respectively.

Bishop Amat is 5-1.

Harmon’s big evening spoiled fine performances for Mater Dei’s Kealii Clifford and Tony Pena. Clifford, a junior running back, gained 119 tough yards and a touchdown in 20 carries. And Pena added to his county-high receiving totals with 8 catches for 99 yards and a touchdown.

Mater Dei (2-4) scored its 2 touchdowns on a 2-yard plunge by Clifford and a 22-yard pass from Danny O’Neil to Pena that climaxed a 44-second fourth-quarter drive.