Monarchs Can’t Beat the Fleet

For 27 consecutive games, Mater Dei didn’t find a football situation it couldn’t handle. But it was a different story Saturday night against Long Beach Poly.

The Monarchs couldn’t tackle Jackrabbits back Herman Ho-Ching, could not sack quarterback Chris Lewis, could not keep up with the fleet receivers and could not keep Poly from winning the Division I championship, 28-25, in front of 14,121 at the Coliseum.

Ho-Ching, a senior, only rushed for 69 yards. But he caught two screen passes for 98 yards and two touchdowns, including a 32-yarder in the third quarter which gave Long Beach the lead for good.

After the Monarchs got as close as three points on Kevin Mitchell’s one-yard run and two-point conversion reception, Ho-Ching grabbed Mater Dei’s onside kick at the 48 and carried it back to the Monarch 3.

Poly (14-0) held the ball until there were only 14 seconds to play, then batted away two final Mater Dei pass attempts for the win.

Mater Dei (13-1) led, 17-14, at the half. It was the Monarchs’ first loss since the 1995 semifinals against Los Alamitos.

“I wanted Mater Dei real bad,” Ho-Ching said. “I wanted to show McNair who was the real Division I back.”

Replied McNair, who rushed for 151 yards and two touchdowns on 31 carries, “I did the best I could. That’s all I can say.”

Lewis was the other Poly star. The 6-4 junior completed nine of 15 passes for 254 yards and three touchdowns, the last one 76 yards to Andre Cyrus with 8:28 in the third quarter.

Poly is the second public school to win the Division I championship in this decade. The other was Rialto Eisenhower, which beat Mater Dei in 1993.

“Obviously we are elated with what transpired,” Long Beach Coach Jerry Jaso said. “They are a great football team that gave us everything we could handle. But we made some plays in the second half that were crucial.”

“I commend Poly,” Mater Dei Coach Bruce Rollinson said. “They deserved it. They made plays in the second half and we didn’t.

“We’ll go lick our wounds, put the race car away and go rest up. But we will be back.”

Poly took control of the line of scrimmage in the second half. Ho-Ching made Mater Dei defenders miss tackles repeatedly.

Rollinson had fretted how to counter the Jackrabbits’ speed advantage on offense. Rollinson and staff decided to play man-to-man defense and disrupt Long Beach with calculated blitzes and stunts.

“I didn’t think we’d go into the center ring, so to speak, and go toe-to-toe with them,” Rollinson said. “We didn’t have that physical ability. We had to win the war of strategy.”

Rollinson also said the Monarchs needed a big game out of quarterback John Leonard. But Leonard completed only eight of 24 for 97 yards and no touchdowns. He completed one of 11 passes in the second half, and that was for minus-3 yards.

Jaso did all he could to downplay the contest. He did not let Poly dwell on last year’s 42-13 semifinal loss to Mater Dei.

“I wanted them to think of this as another game,” Jaso said. “Forget the hype. They would have to play well under a bunch of distractions.”

Long Beach showed some early nerves on its first possession. The center hiked the ball over the punter’s head and out of the end zone for safety, giving Mater Dei a 2-0 lead at 5:19.

Poly showed its speed and quickness was as good as advertised. With 46 seconds left in the quarter, Ho-Ching took a screen pass from Lewis, faked his way past Mater Dei lineman Ryan Keyes, broke to the right sideline and dashed 66 yards for a touchdown to put Poly up, 7-2.

Six minutes into the second quarter, McNair completed an eight-play, 60-yard Mater Dei drive bursting through the middle of the Jackrabbits’ line for a seven-yard score. Leonard swept around left end for a two-point conversion to put the Monarchs ahead, 10-7.

Mater Dei led, 17-7, three minutes later. After a 14-yard Poly punt set them up at its 49, Mater Dei tried a flea flicker.

McNair handed off to Boese, who pitched the ball back to Leonard. He found Ismael Lopez behind the Jackrabbit secondary for a 47-yard completion. Three plays later, McNair bulled over from two yards out for his second touchdown.

Poly responded with a 10-play 77-yard drive. Ho-Ching scored his second touchdown on a six-yard run with 1:56 left in the half.