It happened a couple of times this season.

Mater Dei’s football team would lose its edge. The opponent would close in or take a brief lead. Then Mater Dei would get its nasty back and win going away.

On Saturday Mater Dei had a big halftime lead that was reduced to a one-score advantage in the third quarter. Then the Monarchs got serious again, regained control and beat De La Salle of Concord 37-15 on Saturday at Saddleback College’s excellent football facility to win a second-straight CIF State championship. And it will probably also win another national championship, as bestowed by websites who make those decisions.

Head coach Raul Lara of Mater Dei , left, shakes hands with head coach Justin Alumbaugh of De La Salle. Mater Dei played De La Salle in the CIF Open Division Championship game at Saddleback College on Dec. 4, 2024 in Mission Viejo CA. (Photo by John McCoy, Contributing Photographer)

It is Mater Dei’s fifth football state title and second in a row. The Monarchs (13-0) won back-to-back titles in 2017 and 2018 seasons and in 2021 under Coach Bruce Rollinson, and won a state championship last year during Frank McManus’ lone year as head coach.

This one comes with former Long Beach Poly coach Raul Lara coaching Mater Dei.

De La Salle (12-1) trailed 23-0 when it took the second half-opening kickoff and did what the Spartans did so well for so many years – sharp execution on offense, starting with their offensive linemen who were into the chests of Mater Dei defensive linemen a millisecond after the ball was snapped. De La Salle scored a touchdown on that possession, a 1-yard run by quarterback Toa Fa’avae.

After a Mater Dei three-and-out, De La Salle scored again on a 41-yard run by Fa’avae. The Spartans went for two points and got them on a run by Derrick Blanche to make it 23-15 with 4:20 to go in the third quarter.

Then Mater Dei snapped out of it and went to work.

The Monarchs put together a long drive that covered 92 yards in 16 plays, consumed 7 minutes and 55 seconds from the end of the third quarter into the fourth and ended, and finished with one of running back Jordon Davison’s bruising runs, this one going 15 yards for the touchdown that made it 30-15 with 8:19 to go in the game.

De La Salle could not convert on fourth-and-15 on its 36 and Mater Dei quickly turned that into more points, a 31-yard touchdown pass from Dash Beierly to future NFL tight end Mark Bowman, a sophomore, for a 37-15 lead with five minutes remaining.

Another young Monarch, freshman safety Ace Leutele, sealed the win with an interception at the goal line.

Mater Dei started strong, going on a shock-and-awe, seven-play, 80-yard drive for a touchdown on its game-opening possession. It added two more touchdowns and a safety for a 23-0 halftime lead.

Then came the occasional lull. What followed was Mater Dei’s wildly talented roster again playing to potential, like the Monarchs seemed able whenever it wanted to, and rolling to another state championship.

 NOTES

Rollinson and longtime De La Salle head coach Bob Ladouceur were at Saturday’s game, standing on their former teams’ sidelines. Ladouceur coached De La Salle to five state championships. …

De La Salle is 7-10 in state championship games. …

Teams representing Northern California in CIF State Open Division football championship games had not scored since the 2021 season until De La Salle scored in the third quarter. …

The Southern California teams – that is, Mater Dei and St. John Bosco – have outscored the Northern California team – that is, Serra of San Mateo and De La Salle – 161-22 in the CIF State Open Division game since 2021. …

Mater Dei’s freshman football team had to forfeit its game against Servite because the school decided it did not have enough healthy players to safely play the game. That raised concerns in some places about the future of Mater Dei football, although it should be noted that Saturday’s varsity roster had 13 freshmen on it. Winning another CIF Southern Section and CIF State championship with a bunch of players getting college football scholarships might make the place attractive to eighth-graders and their parents (especially their parents) and maybe a transfer or two or three or …

Sam Thomson was asked if, back in August when the Edison sophomore was the team’s second-string quarterback, somebody had told him then that he would throw the touchdown pass that would get the Chargers a CIF State championship, his reaction would have been: “Thank you God!,” Thomson said. “I don’t know. One day at a time, I guess.” …

Edison senior running back Julius Gillick became Edison’s single-season rushing yardage record holder this year, breaking the record that Kerwin Bell, one of the greatest players in county history, has held since the 1970s. With his combination of power and speed, Gillick will remind football people of a certain age, or people who are football historians, of former NFL running back great John Riggins. Gillick finished this season with 2,494 yards in his 15 games. …

Edison’s Julius Gillick (9) gets pulled down during the CIF State Division 1-A championship game between Edison High and Fresno Central High at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo on Saturday Dec. 14, 2024…..(Photo by Michael Goulding, Contributing Photographer)

In the fourth quarter and the game tied 14-14, Central eschewed a field-goal opportunity for a touchdown try. Central sophomore quarterback Jelani Dippel’s pass to Xavior Jones in the end zone was on target but, like a few other Dippel passes, bounced out of the receiver’s hands. The reason Central did not go for the field goal might be because Central was 0 for 3 on field-goal tries in its previous 14 games …

Portola’s great run to a CIF Southern Section championship, a CIF Southern California Regional win and a ticket to the CIF State championship Division 6-A game ended with a 27-21 loss to Arcata in overtime on Saturday. What a wild season for the Bulldogs – they were 0-5, improved enough to play for the Omicron League championship, lost that league championship game to Pacifica 28-0 for their most-lopsided loss of the season, then got it together to win the CIF-SS Division 11 title and get to a CIF State final. That’s special stuff, right there.

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