Mater Dei Takes Care of This Week’s Business

The Mater Dei Monarchs were trying to keep their minds off next week’s showdown with Concord De La Salle. But if Bellflower St. John Bosco had been a bit more opportunistic, and a bit less fumble-prone, it might have made Mater Dei pay dearly.

Instead, the Braves made the somewhat distracted Monarchs work for their 30-13 victory, before an estimated 4,500 at St. John Bosco.

The Monarch offense, led by Junior Palacios’ 138 yards and two touchdowns, looked crisper than last week. The running game, which gained 314 yards, was most efficient. Quarterback Scott Lukash had an ordinary passing night--71 yards, one touchdown and one interception.

And the defense, which got to play against the same option veer system it will see against De La Salle, had mixed results. The Braves--who trailed 27-0 before scoring in the third and fourth quarters--ran effectively enough (150 yards rushing), which caused Mater Dei Coach Bruce Rollinson’s brow to furrow. After all, first-year Coach Kiki Mendoza installed the veer offense for St. John Bosco in the spring, and the Braves have worked with it for less than four months.

De La Salle has been playing the system the past 20 years.

“We only defended it at times during the game,” Rollinson said. “But now we’ve got some film we can study and try to learn from what we did tonight. We’re going to have to improve dramatically. The speed Bosco has is nothing like the speed De La Salle has. The reality is, if we don’t get better, they will turn next week’s game into a track meet.”

Palacios, who also had a good night on defense with an interception and one of Mater Dei’s two recovered fumbles, was confident the Monarchs will be OK by next Saturday.

“Tonight we got to practice against the veer, which will help,” said Palacios. “We’ll be ready. We want to give them a taste of Southern California.”

The Braves appeared to have the Monarchs stopped on the game’s opening drive. But a personal-foul penalty gave Mater Dei new life, and the Monarchs capitalized with a 12-yard touchdown pass by Lukash to Kelvin Millhouse.

Mater Dei’s second possession was equally fruitful, covering 49 yards in 11 plays. Palacios made it 14-0 on a one-yard run.

Palacios saved his most electric moment for the second quarter, snaking through the Bosco defense for a 55-yard touchdown run. The point-after attempt failed, but the Monarchs were in control, 20-0.