Mater Dei Has Nearly Everything Going Its Way

Top-ranked Mater Dei’s 42-10 victory over third-ranked Edison on Friday was so convincing that the Monarchs could joke afterward about the few things that did go wrong.

“We’re going to have to go to the kicking doctor,” Mater Dei Coach Bruce Rollinson said after Bryan New missed two field goals in the team’s otherwise dominating performance.

The things that went right for the Monarchs before a capacity crowd of 7,600 at Orange Coast College were too many to mention. Among them: two running backs rushed for more than 100 yards in a game for the first time this season, and the defense stifled Edison star Darryl Poston and turned in a goal-line stand after the Chargers had the ball first and goal at the Mater Dei one yard-line.

“That was huge,” Rollinson said. “The kids said, ‘We’ll take care of business down here,’ and they got the job done.”

Mater Dei running back Camron Carmona rushed for 180 yards and two touchdowns in 12 carries and Darius Williams added 104 yards and one touchdown in 16 carries as the Monarchs exhausted the Edison defense.

“You could see it in their eyes that they were wearing down,” Williams said. “I give our coaches all the credit in the world for our conditioning.”

Grant Melton chipped in with 22 yards and two touchdowns in only three carries for Mater Dei (3-1), which amassed 449 yards of total offense to 255 for Edison (3-1).

Williams scored on a six-yard run up the middle and receiver Jeff Diulio hauled in a 28-yard touchdown pass from Matt Leinart in the first quarter as Mater Dei built a 14-0 lead and never looked back.

“They just played physical up front and we didn’t block well,” Charger Coach Dave White said. “We never got hot throwing the ball, and our defense was on the field too long.”

The Monarch defense limited Poston to 63 yards in 20 carries. Poston scored the Chargers’ only touchdown on a 71-yard reception from Richard Schwartz early in the fourth quarter.

Mater Dei’s biggest stand came late in the third quarter with the game still relatively close. Edison had the ball at the Monarch one-yard line with a chance to cut into its 21-3 deficit.

But Poston lost two yards, Schwartz threw two consecutive incompletion passes and was sacked on fourth down by Mater Dei linebacker Ian Gunderman.

Leinart, who threw for 401 yards in Mater Dei’s 31-28 loss to Concord De La Salle last week, had an average game after being hit in the shoulder on the last play of the first quarter.

The 6-foot-6, 220-pounder, who has committed to USC, completed nine of 21 passes for 159 yards and one touchdown with two interceptions. He never left the game and is expected to be fine for next Friday’s game against Wilmington Banning.

“The other kids rose to the occasion,” Rollinson said. “I challenged them to run with the football and they did.”