Mission Viejo Dominates Mater Dei on the Ground

Mater Dei may be one of the best teams in the Southern Section, and maybe even the nation. But on Saturday night, the Monarchs weren’t the best team on the field.

With a defense that was near-perfect, and an offense that was overpowering, host Misson Viejo looked like the national power, scoring a 28-14 nonleague victory Saturday in front of a standing-room only crowd of 8,000.

The victory for Mission Viejo (2-0), ranked No. 5 in The Times top 25, ended a nine-game losing streak to second-ranked Mater Dei (1-1). The teams used to be in the South Coast League together, and Mater Dei’s last victory was 1990.

“My philosophy is to play the best we can, and they’re among the best,” Mission Viejo Coach Bob Johnson said. “We want to lift, we want to play, we want to go after the big game.”

And go after it they did. The defense, led by tackles Chris Cole and Jacob Atafua and linebacker Ryan Powdrell, didn’t allow Mater Dei its second first down until there were less than two minutes remaining in the third quarter.

And, in a symbolic moment of Mission Viejo’s dominance, Mater Dei running back Rafael Rice was stuffed on a fourth-and-one at the Diablo 29 by Cole, and Mission Viejo’s Robbie Dubois countered with a 32-yard run on the ensuing play. That run paved the way for Mission Viejo’s final score, a four-yard run by Dubois, for a 28-7 lead with 6:17 remaining. Dubois rushed 34 times for 241 yards and two touchdowns, of three and four yards. Powdrell, the fullback, rushed 10 for 45. Quarterback Jordan Palmer passed for only 11 yards, completing three of nine.

The defense even scored for Mission Viejo. From the eight-yard line, Mater Dei tailback Rafael Rice fumbled when hit at the line of scrimmage, and the ball bounced into the end zone, where Marcus Dailey scooped it up. Jeff Ferrier’s kick made it 7-0, and the lead stretched to 14-0 when Palmer scored on a bootleg from eight yards..

Misson Viejo outgained Mater Dei, 353-203, with 124 yards of the Monarchs’ offense coming on two plays, including an 80-yard scoring pass from Colt Brennan to Julian Petit. Rice rushed 17 times for 43 yards, but had only 18 in his first 14 carries.

“We had the line of scrimmage the whole game,” said Cole, who had three sacks, one more than Powdrell.

It’s the second week in a row Mater Dei fell behind early. In its opener at Fallbrook, the Monarchs were down 17 points at halftime before staging a 26-17 comeback. “Right now we’re not a very good football team,” Mater Dei Coach Bruce Rollinson said.