Mater Dei Kicks Into Gear

Mater Dei had a few uncharacteristic gaffes early, enough to make the Monarchs’ fans edgy for a quarter or so. But even though Mater Dei was tied with Redlands after almost 17 minutes, the Monarchs then ran off 22 points before halftime and cruised to a 36-14 first-round playoff victory before 5,500 at Santa Ana Stadium.

Second-seeded Mater Dei (9-2) will meet Mission Hills Alemany in the second round of the Southern Section Division I playoffs.

Mater Dei’s shaky start included a Tyler Kruse fumble on the goal line and a missed tackle that led to a 53-yard pass play from Greg Brock to Trayvonn McCarlen, setting up Redlands’ only first half-touchdown. But Brock gave back Kruse’s fumble by throwing a pass that was intercepted by Ray Gilbert and Redlands (6-5) never contended again.

“It wasn’t as close as it looked,” Matt Grootegoed, Mater Dei’s star running back and safety said. “We were just a little unlucky early.”

Bryan New’s 28-yard field goal, Grootegoed’s 26-yard touchdown run and Junior Palacios’ six-yard scoring run made the score 24-7 with 56 seconds left in the first half.

But Mater Dei wasn’t done. The Monarchs Matt Acalin blocked a Redlands punt out of the end zone for a safety and Bryan New kicked a 21-yard field goal as time ran out in the half.

Was Mater Dei worried about its slow start?

“Not really, we knew we were a better football team,” said Kruse, who scored the Monarchs only second-half touchdown on a 34-yard ramble up the middle.

Mater Dei’s defense held Redlands to two first downs in the first half and held Redlands running back Jose Corrales to 38 yards in 15 carries. Corrales was averaging 130 yards a game. Other than Kruse’s fumble and a few illegal procedure penalties, Mater Dei’s offense ran smoothly.

Matt Leinart completed 13 of 19 passes for 186 yards. Seven receivers caught passes. Palacios had 89 yards and two touchdowns in 18 carries and Grootegoed had 44 yards rushing and 34 yards on three receptions.

“We’ve still got a whole lot more potential, especially on the offensive side,” Mater Dei Coach Bruce Rollinson said. “I keep telling the offensive staff to open it up even more.”

By the end of the third quarter, Rollinson began emptying his bench. Redlands scored a late touchdown on a 55-yard pass from Josh Lefotu to McCarlen. But by then, Mater Dei was looking ahead to next week.

“We had no reason to panic,” Rollinson said. “We fully expect to be playing on Thanksgiving weekend.”