Redland’s Dragna Scores Five Times in 39-29 Victory Over Mater Dei

Anyone interested in what the Mater Dei High School football team was about in 1989 need look no further than its first-round Division I playoff game against Redlands.

In a season of big plays, both for and against the Monarchs, Friday’s game at the University of Redlands proved a perfect Mater Dei microcosm--if not a desired effect.

Redlands won the game, 39-29, and won it with big plays.

Redlands’ running back Mike Dragna, a 5-foot-7, 145-pounder who looks as if his shoulder pads are too large for him, rushed for 196 yards and five touchdowns, including runs of 72 and 49 yards.

To put that in perspective, consider that Dragna had rushed for all of 236 yards during the regular season and scored scored six touchdowns.

But against Mater Dei, Dragna seemed practically unstoppable.

After Mater Dei scored the game’s first touchdown on a seven-yard run by Kealii Clifford, Redlands took over on its own 20.

On a third-and-two situation, Dragna went straight into the Mater Dei line, busted through untouched and was into the secondary so fast that Mater Dei defensive backs barely had a chance to react.

All that was left for Dragna was to run straight for 72 yards and the touchdown.

Dragna would score again, five minutes later, on a two-yard run which capped a 58-yard Redlands’ drive that was set up by a Mater Dei fumble. It was one of three fumbles the Monarchs lost.

Mater Dei came back to tie on a 17-yard pass from quarterback Danny O’Neil to Tino Chavez early in the second quarter. Chavez’ conversion kick tied the score at 14-14.

But Redlands came right back with an 89-yard drive that ended with Dragna’s 18-yard touchdown run. The key play of the drive was a 45-yard pass from quarterback Julian Burrola to Marcus Rogers.

A Redlands’ field goal put the Terriers ahead, 23-14, but Mater Dei, on an eight-yard pass from O’Neil to Dan Fleming, scored a touchdown to pull to within 23-21 by halftime.

Dragna’s 49-yard run early in the third quarter put Redlands up 29-21.

Mater Dei tied the score at 29 with little more than a minute left in the quarter on Clifford’s one-yard run, and a two-point conversion pass from O’Neil to Jonathon Packard.

The track meet quality of the game continued as Redlands drove from its own 39 to the Mater Dei nine. The drive stalled and Julio Ocana kicked his second field goal, this one from 26-yards.

Dragna, of course, put the finishing touches on this one, scoring on a three-yard run that ended a 46-yard drive set up by a Mater Dei fumble.

Mater Dei’s last gasp ended with about two minutes left, when O’Neil’s fourth-down pass to Clifford at the Redlands’ 17 fell incomplete.