Mater Dei Goes Down Fighting

Let’s dispense with the small talk and call it what it was: One of the greatest high school football games in recent memory.

Mater Dei, its hope for an upset over Concord De La Salle seemingly stifled time after time Saturday night, refused to surrender to the nation’s top-ranked team.

Nothing the Spartans, who extended their national-record winning streak to 103 games, threw the Monarchs’ way could stop them. Not a here-we-go-again first quarter in which De La Salle went ahead by 21 points. Not a momentum-killing third quarter, in which the Spartans reeled off 10 straight points to take a comfortable advantage after Mater Dei rallied.

In the end, the Monarchs, driving down the field furiously, converting fourth down after fourth down, simply stopped themselves. Bryan New pulled a 34-yard field goal attempt wide left with 33 seconds left to allow De La Salle to escape with a 31-28 victory before an estimated 15,000 at Edison Field.

“This was a great high school football game,” Mater Dei Coach Bruce Rollinson said. “It could have turned into a rout, but we didn’t let it. I thought we were going to win this football game.”

Rollinson wasn’t the only one. The large Mater Dei contingent stood and roared as quarterback Matt Leinart, who completed 25 of 40 passes for 401 yards and four touchdowns, valiantly led the Monarchs toward the goal line on the game’s final drive.

Leinart converted two fourth downs in Houdini-like fashion, once taking a high snap and finding receiver Jeff Diulio for 10 yards, and the second time eluding a tackler and finding Diulio for a 22-yard gain and another crucial first down.

But the drive stalled at the Spartans’ 16-yard line before New missed the attempt that could have tied the score.

De La Salle’s victory was its third straight over the Monarchs in the battle of powers from Northern and Southern California. The Spartans were so relieved with the win that one player came out of the dugout afterward and kissed the field.

“I never lost faith in my teammates,” said De La Salle quarterback Matt Gutierrez, who passed for 197 yards and two touchdowns. “This is something that will make us even stronger.”

As well as Gutierrez played, Leinart played even better. He connected with receiver Brian Panique for two fourth-quarter touchdowns to pull the Monarchs within three points.

“We had the momentum at the end when we were hitting those fourth-down passes,” Leinart said.

De La Salle (3-0), which led 21-14 at halftime, took a 31-14 lead in the third quarter on a 24-yard James Bloomsburgh field goal and a 34-yard touchdown reception by Demetrius Williams.

Mater Dei (2-1), blown out by the Spartans 42-0 last year, rebounded from another poor start, in which it surrendered 21 first-quarter points, with two touchdowns in the second quarter.

The Monarchs, who had gained 37 yards in the first quarter, drove 74 yards on their first possession of the second quarter. Leinart faked two handoffs before hitting Diulio over the middle with a perfectly placed 40-yard touchdown pass to make it 21-7.

Mater Dei linebacker Ian Gunderman picked off a Gutierrez pass on De La Salle’s next drive, and seven plays later Leinart found Matt Haugen standing alone in the the end zone for a five-yard touchdown pass to pull the Monarchs to within 21-14.

The Spartans’ first two touchdowns of the game were set up by big plays. Jonathan Tucker returned a punt 59 yards to the Monarch 16, setting up Kevin Simon’s 14-yard touchdown run to give De La Salle a 7-0 lead.

Simon caught a Gutierrez screen pass on the Spartans’ next possession and rambled 49 yards to the Mater Dei eight. Two plays later, Nate Kenion ran straight ahead for a seven-yard touchdown run that made it 14-0.