Mater Dei Offense Comes Alive in 48-21 Victory

Mater Dei High School, a team with a sluggish offense the past three weeks, awoke with a vengeance Friday night at St. John Bosco. The Monarchs rolled up 658 yards in total offense and beat the Braves, 48-21, in front of a standing-room only crowd of 8,000.

The victory salvaged a turbulent season for the Monarchs, who would have missed the Southern Section playoffs had they lost. As it is, Mater Dei finished second in the Angelus League behind Bishop Amat, which won its eighth consecutive league title.

But the Monarchs and their coach, Bruce Rollinson, will gladly take second after the nose dive of the past two weeks.

Mater Dei (5-5, 3-1 in league) appeared to be ready to challenge for the league title three weeks ago after upseting Loyola, 3-0. However, the Monarchs followed up that victory with losses to Paramount and Bishop Amat, which knocked them out of first place.

In those games, the Monarchs scored only 18 points.

“I was concerned about our offense the way we’d been going the last few weeks,” Rollinson said. “We have have a complicated system and it’s taken time for the kids to learn it. We put things together tonight, though.”

The Monarchs scored on eight of their 10 possessions and punted only once. They had 356 yards rushing, including 169 by Derek Sparks.

Sparks, who transfered to Mater Dei two weeks into the season, had 140 yards rushing in the first half, including runs of 27 and 34 yards to set up touchdowns. Sparks might have had more yards, but he left the game early in the fourth quarter with a bruised back.

By then, however, every thing had long since been decided.

“I thought Derek ran harder tonight than he has in the last few games,” Rollinson said, “but he had better blocking tonight.”

Quarterback Billy Blanton also benefited from the work of Mater Dei’s offensive line. Blanton, a junior, completed 15 of 21 passes for 302 yards and three touchdowns.

“I’ve had some problems getting the offense straight,” Blanton said, “but I think it came together tonight. The line blocked well and my receivers made some great catches.”

Ricky Ellis was the most productive of the six receivers who caught Blanton’s passes.

Ellis, who transferred from St. John Bosco two years ago, caught six passes for 174 yards. He had three receptions of 35 yards or more in the second half, including a 35-yard touchdown catch in the back of the end zone.

“Beating them is like a second homecoming for me,” Ellis said. “As the game went on, we knew we could take them deep any time we wanted.”