Mater Dei Starts Slow but Wins

FULLERTON —  Top-ranked Mater Dei probably wouldn’t be able to get away with this kind of listless first half against No. 2 Long Beach Poly. But Thursday night against Trabuco Hills, the Monarchs were able to shake it off and move on to a 27-0 victory in front of a homecoming crowd of 5,000 at Cal State Fullerton.

“This is still high school football,” Mater Dei Coach Bruce Rollinson said. “They’re a machine, but the machine wasn’t quite hitting on all cylinders.”

Mater Dei (9-0, 4-0) didn’t pick up a first down until the game was 14 minutes old and the Monarchs led only 7-0 at halftime. Mike McNair wound up with 197 yards and three touchdowns in 28 carries, but he had only 12 yards in his first five carries.

Trabuco Hills took the ball 60 yards to Mater Dei’s 25 on its first drive before turning it over to the Monarchs on a fumble.

“We came out flat,” Rollinson said. “We practiced all week against what they had shown, but they came out in something completely different. We were scrambling. We were hurting ourselves on offense too with dropped passes.”

The Monarchs also hurt themselves with an interception in the first half as Trabuco Hills linebacker Bill Carroll picked off a John Leonard pass that was batted at the line of scrimmage. The Mustangs, however, were unable to capitalize.

The second half belonged to Mater Dei and McNair, who rushed for 111 of his 197 yards. His first four carries of the second half went for 12, 17, one and 14 yards.

“I challenged him at halftime,” Rollinson said. “He was doing a lot of zigging and zagging. I told him, ‘Put your head down and go over people.’ ”

McNair’s runs opened up the pass for Leonard, who completed eight of nine in the second half for 139 yards. Meanwhile, Trabuco Hills’ offense shut down. The Mustangs (4-5, 1-3) only crossed midfield once after halftime.

Rollinson said his team was probably due for a down game.

“We rolled it up pretty good on Dana Hills last week,” he said. “We used up a lot of emotion earlier in the year. I don’t care what you say, homecoming’s a distraction, too, for high school kids.”

In next week’s regular season finale at San Clemente, Rollinson vowed there would be no such distractions.

“We’ll get ready for San Clemente,” he said. “We know the importance of seeding. We’ve been doing this a long time. We’re going to keep this in our control.”