Mater Dei Makes Santa Ana Valley Sorry About the Schedule

Somewhere, far away from Santa Ana Stadium where Mater Dei was playing overmatched Santa Ana Valley on Thursday night, former Falcon Coach Scott Orloff might have been smirking. Or maybe wincing.

Mater Dei defeated Santa Ana Valley, 56-0, in a nonleague game that Orloff set up before leaving for Dana Hills after last season and taking one of his best players, Larry Page, with him.

“Everybody is kind of blaming everybody,” said first-year Falcon Coach Eddie Steward about the scheduling contract he inherited with Mater Dei.

The two-year contract was arranged after Mater Dei’s usual opening opponent, Servite, rescheduled for later in the season.

Perhaps the biggest travesty was that Mater Dei (1-0) did not get a debut befitting such a highly-touted team.

“They are everything they are cracked up to be,” Steward said. “We won’t be the only ones on this side of the score. And we got them early--I hate to see what they’re going to be like four or five games down the road.”

Despite the lopsided score, there were several bright spots.

Most notably, wide receiver Rod Perry played his first game in a Mater Dei uniform since a season-ending knee injury in last season’s third game.

Perry’s first reception was a six-yard pass play from Nick Stremick. Two plays later, Perry scored on a 23-yard reception. He finished with three catches for 42 yards in front of about 5,000.

“It felt great,” Perry said. “It’s what I have been waiting for for 11 months, just playing in front of everybody.”

For Santa Ana Valley (0-1), there were few bright spots.

James Farley received the first kickoff for Mater Dei and returned it 90 yards for a touchdown. On the Falcons’ next possession, Mike McNair sacked quarterback Mike Silvas for a seven-yard loss to bring up fourth and 14 and the Falcons were forced to punt.

After Perry scored on the Monarchs’ next possession, Brian Fort returned the kickoff 44 yards to the Mater Dei 47-yard line. But the Monarchs held the Falcons to six yards on the next three plays and the Falcons punted from the 41.

It was the farthest into Mater Dei territory Santa Ana Valley got all night.