ORANGE COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL / PREP EXTRA : DIVISION I : Mater Dei Barely Escapes St. John Bosco Rally

The king is still alive. Barely.

Defending Division I champion Mater Dei had more than its hands full with Bellflower St. John Bosco Friday night. It took everything the Monarchs had to outlast the Del Ray League’s second-place team, 28-26, in front of an estimated 8,000 at Santa Ana Stadium.

Mater Dei (10-1) will play Los Alamitos in the second round.

St. John Bosco (7-3-1) threw its entire playbook at Mater Dei, from successful on-side kicks to reverses on kickoffs. The Braves looked to be out of the game, trailing, 28-14, at halftime, but shut out the Monarchs in the second half and scored 12 points, the last two on a safety with 5 minutes 3 seconds to play.

But Mater Dei rose up defensively in the game’s waning moments, sacking Brave quarterback Todd Husak on consecutive plays. The second was a 16-yard loss pinned on him by defensive end Brad Williams, and it snuffed the Braves’ last gasp.

St. John Bosco Coach Jerry Person could only shake his head at the upset his team let slip away.

“We weren’t fabulous enough,” Person said. “We came out in the second half and dominated, but could not put enough points on the board. And they made the plays they had to at the right time.”

The game featured some terrific individual performances. Husak passed for 200 yards, of which 133 (and two touchdowns) went to receiver Jonathon Pittman.

Mater Dei countered with quarterback Nick Stremick, who passed for 141 yards and two touchdowns, both to Dave Castleton, who had four receptions for 54 yards. James Farley rushed for 103 yards and a touchdown.

“I felt defensively we made great adjustments,” Mater Dei Coach Bruce Rollinson said. “All week, we were selling the kids on dealing with adversity. And tonight St. John pulled out all the stops.”

On the game’s first play, Pittman slanted over the middle, got behind the Mater Dei secondary, caught Husak’s pass at the 45 and ran 55 yards untouched to complete an 80-yard touchdown play. The point-after kick was no good.

The Monarchs took most of the first quarter to recover, but took the lead on a 24-yard touchdown pass to Castleton from Stremick. Mike Fischbeck’s kick gave Mater Dei a 7-6 edge.

Ryon Holland’s interception of a Husak pass and 20-yard return for a touchdown gave Mater Dei a 14-6 lead. But St. John Bosco’s Shane Minton raced 65 yards with the ensuing kickoff, positioning the Braves at the Monarch 31. From there, Husak arched a perfect pass to Pittman in the end zone and followed with a two-point pass to Daniel Ulloa to tie the score, 14-14.

Stremick then led Mater Dei on a 47-yard drive, culminating with Farley’s 12-yard sweep around left end for a touchdown. And with 31 seconds left in the half, Stremick struck again on a 10-yard touchdown pass to Castleton.