Chavez Catches On as Mater Dei Stops Huntington Beach, 19-14

The biggest difference in this year’s Mater Dei High School football team has been the absence of wide receiver Tony Pena.

Last season, Pena caught 64 passes for 1,093 yards and eight touchdowns. But Pena graduated and the void has been noticeable. A group of Monarch receivers have performed well, but none with the consistency of Pena.

Until Thursday night, that is, when senior Tino Chavez became a presence. He caught six passes for 163 yards as the Monarchs defeated Huntington Beach, 19-14, in front of 3,000 at Orange Coast College.

It wasn’t just that Chavez made big plays, it was the manner and the timing in which he pulled them off. He scored the Monarchs’ first touchdown on a fourth-down play and set up their second with a 56-yard reception.

He slipped under defenders and went over them. All of which left Mater Dei Coach Bruce Rollinson pleased, and relieved.

“We knew Tino had the speed and the talent to be a great receiver,” Rollinson said. “He just hadn’t put it together yet.”

Chavez began putting things together in the second quarter.

Mater Dei trailed, 7-0, and faced a fourth-and-14 play from the Huntington Beach 28-yard line. Quarterback Danny O’Neil lobbed the ball up at the goal line, but Oiler defensive back Jacob Kulikoff appeared to have a bead on it.

However, at the last possible moment, Chavez slipped under Kulikoff and grabbed the ball for the touchdown. It cut the Huntington Beach lead to 7-6 and seemed to put some life into Mater Dei.

“They were bringing their linebackers up, trying to stop the run,” Rollinson said. “That left Tino in one-on-one coverage. That plays right into his hands.”

O’Neil, who completed 17 of 25 passes for 271 yards, appeared to gain confidence in Chavez after the reception. He looked for him whenever the Monarchs (2-3) needed a big play.

In the third quarter, with the Monarchs leading, 9-7, O’Neil threw deep to Chavez on a second-and-nine play. The ball came down short and hit Huntington Beach defensive back Joe Contreras in the back.

Chavez, who is 6-foot-2, reached over the 5-8 Contreras and snared the ball. He broke free of Contreras’ grasp and ended up with a 56-yard reception.

Only Doug Cunningham prevented the touchdown, dragging Chavez down at the six. Two plays later, O’Neil flipped a nine-yard touchdown pass to Ricky Ellis.

Chavez’s conversion gave the Monarchs a 16-7 lead.

Defense kept the Oilers (4-1) in the game most of the evening. Huntington Beach bent a lot, but most of the evening was able to turn the Monarchs away by blitzing its linebackers.

O’Neil was sacked six times, three by Hossein Mahdavi.

The Monarchs also got a pair of field goals by Cliff Roberts, from 41 and 35 yards.

The Oilers scored on their first play as Jeff Gibson threw a 41-yard touchdown pass to Don Berger.