Concord De La Salle (2-0) vs. No. 1 Mater Dei (2-0)

By BEN BOLCH

Sept. 23, 2000 12 AM PT

7:30 TONIGHT EDISON FIELD

Mater Dei Coach Bruce Rollinson has labeled tonight’s game a “free shot” for his Monarchs to upset De La Salle and end its national-record winning streak of 102 games. He’s right, of course. But so is throwing a football through a hoop 75 yards away in one of those halftime contests. It’s free, but it’s also unlikely. For Mater Dei to have a chance, running back Darius Williams must open up the ground attack so the Spartan defense can’t key on quarterback Matt Leinart. And the Monarchs must shut down quarterback Matt Gutierrez, who scalded them last year for 300 yards.

KEY PLAYERS

De La Salle

QB Matt Gutierrez

53%, 325 yds., 3 TDs

WR Demetrius Williams

7 rec., 137 yds., 2 TDs

RB Kevin Simon

25 carries, 186 yds., 3 TDs

Mater Dei

QB Matt Leinart

61%, 378 yds., 2 TDs

WR Jeff Diulio

11 rec., 204 yds., 1 TD

RB Darius Williams

30 carries, 148 yds.

High School Sports

Ben Bolch

Ben Bolch has been a Los Angeles Times staff writer since 1999. He is serving his second stint as the UCLA beat writer, which seems fitting since he has covered almost every sports beat except hockey and horse racing. Bolch is also the author of the recently released book “100 Things UCLA Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die.” He previously covered UCLA basketball from 2010-11 before going on to cover the NBA and the Clippers for five years. He happily traded in gobs of hotel points and airline miles to return to cover UCLA basketball and football in the summer of 2016. Bolch was once selected by NBA TV’s “The Starters” as the “Worst of the Week” after questioning their celebrity journalism-style questions at an NBA All-Star game and considers it one of his finer moments.

Concord De La Salle (2-0) vs. No. 1 Mater Dei (2-0)

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