Mater Dei Just Kept Believing : Monarchs: Comebacks last season had players certain they could do it again against Los Alamitos.

Mater Dei lineman Matt Motherway was convinced. Quarterback John Flynn never flinched. Fullback Joey Trampush kept the faith.

“I’m convinced God wanted us to play a dramatic game,” Trampush said. “I just knew we would win. You couldn’t ask for a better finish.”

There were so many things that went wrong for Mater Dei, and to pull one out after trailing by 10 points with less than five minutes remaining, well, the Monarchs were convinced there was some divine intervention.

After all, Mater Dei had four turnovers, two in the fourth quarter. With the Monarchs trailing, 24-14, running back Steve Bodnar, who rushed for 178 yards, fumbled at the Los Alamitos eight with 10 minutes 11 seconds remaining, and Griffin free safety Brad Melsby recovered.

After a defensive stand, the Monarchs took over with 5:50 left. Then Trampush ran over and through the Griffins for 72 yards, only to have the ball stripped by Los Alamitos’ Damon Houston, and Tom Carbajal recovered at the one for the Griffins.

Did anyone waver?

“We just stayed positive on offense,” Motherway said. “We had worked too hard all season to let this one slip away.

“We told ourselves that we could come from behind. We did it three times last season including one in the playoffs. Some started calling us the comeback kids last season . . . we kept on believing.”

Bodnar made the dream more believable, scoring on a two-yard run with 3:44 remaining.

Then the Monarchs recovered an on-side kick.

Los Alamitos linebacker Mike Kahn tried to single-handedly stop the Monarchs, making three tackles on Bodnar in the final two minutes. The last one left the Monarchs with a third and nine at the Los Alamitos 11 with 50 seconds left.

After a timeout, Flynn flipped a middle-screen pass to Casey Rouintree, and he rambled 11-yards through a tackle by Carbajal for a touchdown, and the Monarch fans were in, well . . .

It was sweet redemption for Flynn, who completed seven of 15 passes for only 82 yards. And two interceptions were turned into 14 points by the Griffins.

Fate was also kind to David Castleton. Early in the third quarter, he beat Carbajal on a post pattern, and Flynn delivered the ball right on the money. It could have been a 57-yard touchdown, but it slipped through Castleton’s fingers.

But he got a second chance, and he didn’t let it go after the Monarchs took a 28-24 lead. With the Griffins hoping for a miracle and only 12 seconds remaining, Castleton intercepted Kevin Feterik’s high pass, intended for Tony Hartley, and the Monarchs had earned a return trip to Anaheim Stadium next Saturday.

So, did Monarch Coach Bruce Rollinson ever worry?

“I never doubted our team,” Rollinson said. “We were always staying positive.”

So the turnovers never even had the Monarchs sweating?

“This week, the one thing we didn’t even talk about in practice: turnovers,” Rollinson said. “That’s a negative thing. It was never even mentioned.”

Flynn had only one other thing to mention about the Monarchs’ comeback victory.

“We knew about how good Los Al was and their 47-game unbeaten streak,” Flynn said. “I guess we made a little history.”