SOUTHERN SECTION FOOTBALL PLAYOFFS : Bad Match Burns Mater Dei Defense : Division I: Monarch defenders knew they were in trouble early against Rialto Eisenhower.

Mater Dei linebacker Peter Silvey knew he was in trouble.

Late in the second quarter, the 6-foot-1, 210-pound, senior found himself lined up in man-to-man coverage against speedy wide receiver R.J. Soward, who entered the game averaging more than 25 yards per reception.

Silvey was no match for Soward, who raced past the burly linebacker for a 63-yard touchdown reception from Glenn Thompkins to give Eisenhower a 32-point lead.

Eisenhower’s offense simply dominated the Monarchs during a 56-3 victory in Friday’s Southern Section Division I championship game at Anaheim Stadium.

The Eagles (14-0) scored on numerous big plays, but they weren’t pushing around patsies.

Mater Dei entered the final having allowed fewer than 10 points per game. Only one team, Esperanza, had scored more than two touchdowns against the Monarchs during a 33-7 victory in the second game of the season.

But Eisenhower scored 35 points against the Monarchs . . . in the first half. The Eagles rolled up 465 yards of total offense and averaged 11.7 yards per play .

“We showed that when we put our hearts and souls into it, nobody can keep us down,” Thompkins said.

Thompkins completed only four passes, but three were for touchdowns and a total of 174 yards.

Soward caught two passes for 109 yards, both for touchdowns. Marlon Farlow rushed for 200 yards and three touchdowns on 13 carries.

“We’d played teams that had one or two guys who were really good that we had to key on,” Silvey said. “But they had it all.

“They were all fast, their linemen were huge . . . but we gave it our best effort.”

On this night, it wasn’t enough.

Thompkins scrambled and found Soward behind the secondary for a 46-yard touchdown pass to give Eisenhower a 7-0 lead with 5 minutes 42 seconds remaining in the first quarter.

Turnovers gave the Eagles the ball back on its next two possessions, and Farlow finished both off with touchdown runs of three and 40 yards to give Eisenhower a 21-0 lead with nine seconds remaining in the first quarter.

“I don’t know what happened out there,” Mater Dei defensive lineman Brandon Gamboa said. “But from the beginning, we didn’t come out and play the way we had all season, with the defense dominating.”

Instead, the Eagles made all the big plays, on offense and defense.

Eisenhower defensive back Walter Ford returned an interception 72 yards for a touchdown to make it 28-0 with 9:01 left in the half.

After Soward’s 63-yard touchdown reception, the Eagles added a 72-yard touchdown run by Thompkins, a 93-yard scoring run by Farlow, and a 48-yard touchdown bomb from Thompkins to Julius McChristian.

“We found out early how fast they were,” Silvey said, “and we couldn’t keep up with them.”

Even Thompkins had a tough time believing the outburst.

“I think we all thought it was going to be a lot closer,” Thompkins said. “But I remember when we lost to Mater Dei in my sophomore year (35-14) in the title game, and this felt good.”