Griffins Can’t Stop Mater Dei

Los Alamitos was the last team to defeat Mater Dei, back in the 1995 playoffs, and for a half of Friday’s Southern Section Division I second-round game it looked as if the Griffins might do it again.

But the top-ranked Monarchs, trailing by three at halftime, shut out the Griffins’ high-octane offense, got three second-half touchdowns from tailback Mike McNair, and rolled to a 40-23 victory before an estimated 10,000 at Santa Ana Stadium.

The 12-0 Monarchs, who have won 26 in a row, move on to the semifinals against La Puente Bishop Amat, which beat Rialto Eisenhower, 19-14. Los Alamitos ends the season 9-3.

McNair, who was held to only 46 yards in the first half in nine carries, had 166 yards in 20 carries in the second half and scored on runs of 51, five and 37 yards.

Mater Dei stayed in the game in the first half because of a tremendous performance by wide receiver Joey Boese.

Boese followed Los Alamitos’ first touchdown (a one-yard run by Bernard Riley) with a 97-yard kickoff return for a touchdown. His 46-yard punt return set up a 17-yard touchdown pass by quarterback John Leonard (194 yards) to Alex Romero, and his 71-yard touchdown catch-and-run on a flanker screen tied the score at 20 near the end of the first half.

“Joey was great in the first half, and Mike was great in the second half,” Mater Dei Coach Bruce Rollinson said.

Los Alamitos had an answer for every Mater Dei score in the half. Griffin wide receiver Keenan Howry--who caught seven passes for 170 yards--caught a 36-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Zach Blazek, who finished with 236 yards passing. Playing defense, Howry returned a McNair fumble 93 yards for a touchdown.

Mike Hill’s 38-yard field goal with a second left in the first half gave the Griffins their final lead, 23-20.

“They have a very high-powered offense,” Rollinson said of Los Alamitos. “But I thought if we kept it close in the first half, our conditioning would tell in the second half.”

Griffin Coach John Barnes said the Monarchs were able to wear his team down, even though Los Alamitos had four sacks of Leonard to go with the key fumble recovery.

“I’m very proud of this team,” Barnes said. “At the beginning of the year I thought it would be a 5-5 team, and we made it to the second round of the playoffs.

“Mater Dei is very tough. Not unbeatable, but tough. We get everybody back next year; I told Bruce this was the year to get us because it won’t happen like this next year.”

At the start of the game both teams were resolved on stopping the other’s passing game.

Los Alamitos’ scheme depends on timing as much as blocking, with Blazek being able to throw to a specific area as his receiver makes his move.

Mater Dei had hoped to bump the Griffin receivers at the line of scrimmage and unleash some well-timed blitzes at Blazek.

“We didn’t think they had faced a secondary as good as ours this season,” Rollinson said. “And we wanted to confuse and frustrate Blazek. We knew John and his coaches could adjust to what we were doing, but wondered if his kids could also.”

Barnes’ determination to stop Leonard and his receiving corps first seemed a surprising strategy since McNair has rushed for more than 2,000 yards this season. But Barnes had his reasons.

“They set you up to think they run inside,” Barnes said. “But from what we saw, they get most of their yards on the outside. We thought we could slow them down that way. Besides, you can’t stop both [run and pass], and I thought they could really hurt us with the deep ball.”

In the end, containing the running game was the difference. Los Alamitos’ Josiah Doby had 133 yards, but only 17 in the second half.