Eisenhower Is Shocked by Mater Dei : Division I: Twenty points in the fourth quarter give Monarchs a 34-20 victory over division’s top-seeded team. They will face Quartz Hill in semifinals.

For two weeks, Eisenhower High School was at the top of the Southern Section Division I, but the Eagles came crashing down in the fourth quarter Friday night.

Mater Dei scored 20 points in a fourth-quarter blitz to knock off top-seeded Eisenhower, 34-20, in the quarterfinals of the Division I playoffs in front of 6,500 at Orange Coast College.

It was hardly expected.

Eisenhower came into the game with an 11-0 record and a No. 12 ranking in USA Today’s national poll. The Eagles had given up a grand total of 80 points in 11 games.

Mater Dei had won only one more game than it lost, but its offense began to click in recent games.

The Monarchs’ offense had proved nearly unstoppable once already in the playoffs. Last week, Mater Dei rolled to a 58-31 victory over Long Beach Poly, passing and running for impressive numbers.

Friday, Mater Dei trashed Eisenhower’s stingy defense. The offense carried Mater Dei (7-5) into next week’s semifinals against Quartz Hill, a 24-14 winner over Rubidoux.

Quarterback Billy Blanton completed 13 of 17 passes for 220 yards and three touchdowns. At one point, Blanton, a junior, completed six consecutive passes for a 21.5-yard average.

Running back Derek Sparks gained 188 yards and scored two touchdowns in 26 carries.

The big passing yardage might have been expected, what with Eisenhower coming from the run-oriented Citrus Belt League. But Sparks’ running was an added bonus.

“We knew we could throw,” Mater Dei Coach Bruce Rollinson said. “We wanted to keep them off balance.”

Most of the time it looked easy.

Blanton’s first pass was a step too long for receiver Ricky Ellis. Otherwise it would have gone for a 75-yard touchdown play.

Later, Ellis slipped behind Eisenhower’s defense for a 69-yard touchdown on a play that was nearly identical. This time, however, Ellis ran under the ball at the Eisenhower 30 and sprinted into the end zone.

Between, Blanton found Tom Martinez standing alone in the end zone for a 32-yard touchdown.

By the end of the first quarter, Mater Dei led, 14-0.

“We told our kids we can’t give up the turnovers or the big plays,” Rollinson said.

An interception set up Eisenhower’s first touchdown, a 12-yard pass from quarterback Jason Davis to Demond Thompkins. The Eagles’ second came on an 85-yard run by Marcus Collins.

” . . . and it was 14-14,” Rollinson said.

Davis hit Thompkins on a fade pattern with 4:49 left in the third quarter, but Robert Talley’s extra point hit the upright.

Sparks’ one-yard run and an extra point by Cliff Roberts gave Mater Dei a 21-20 lead with 11:57 left.

But the Monarchs turned the game into a runaway soon after.

First, the defense recovered a fumbled pitch by Davis at the Eisenhower 15, setting up a seven-yard touchdown pass from Blanton to David Gonzalez with 8:53 left.

Then, Mater Dei stopped Eisenhower on fourth and goal at the Monarch eight.

On the next play, Sparks blew through a huge hole and cut back three times to avoid defenders to complete a 92-yard touchdown run.

There was 3:57 left and Mater Dei held a firm, 34-20, lead.

“This is the greatest win,” Rollinson said.