Mater Dei Puts San Clemente’s Hopes on Hold

Sometimes moral victories are simply a nice way to rationalize a loss. But when you’re playing Mater Dei, a moral victory can mean so much more.

In this case it might mean a playoff berth for San Clemente, which lost to top-ranked Mater Dei, 35-28, but outgained the Monarchs by 43 yards and outplayed them for much of the second half Friday night before 5,000 at San Clemente.

With Dana Hills and Mission Viejo both winning Friday, San Clemente (6-3-1, 2-2-1) finishes fourth in the six-team South Coast League and places its playoff future in the hands of the Southern Section.

The South Coast League has never been awarded an at-large berth since the league began Division I play in 1992.

“I don’t see how they can keep us out of an at-large berth,” San Clemente Coach Mark McElroy said.

Mater Dei, led by running back Mike McNair’s 234 yards and four touchdowns, has no such worries. The Monarchs will enter the playoffs as the No. 1-seeded team.

“I think they made a great case for themselves,” Mater Dei Coach Bruce Rollinson said. “But I’m not very concerned about San Clemente. You control your own destiny.”

San Clemente played about as well as it could Friday. The Tritons confused the Monarchs most of the night with their Delaware-T offense. They rushed for 311 yards and even passed for 82.

“That offense is very hard to simulate in four days of practice,” Rollinson said. “We missed a couple tackles on a couple scores. But the bottom line is we’re 10-0.”

The one mistake San Clemente made--a fumble on an option pitch from quarterback Oscar Montecinos to fullback Phil Payne--might haunt the Tritons for awhile. They had marched to Mater Dei’s 30 on the opening drive of the second half when Payne dropped a perfect pitch and Mater Dei’s Ryan Murillo recovered. McNair dashed 70 yards for a touchdown on the next play to make it 28-7.

“That one turnover, that hurt,” McElroy said.

Montecinos scored twice on short runs to trim the lead to 28-21 with seven minutes left, but McNair struck again on a 50-yard scoring run with 4:55 left.