Top-ranked Mater Dei leaves no doubt in Southern Section championship win over Servite: 'Our defense rose up'

Mater Dei's defense held a historically good Servite offense to their first single digit scoring output of the season in Friday's 27-7 Division 1 Southern Section championship win.

LONG BEACH, Calif. -- There are several good reasons why Mater Dei has been the top-ranked team in the SBLive Power 25 for most of the fall 2021 high school football season. Above all, their defense has been dominant in almost every game.

That trend continued on Friday night as the Monarchs' defense held a historically good Servite offense to their first single-digit scoring output of the season in a 27-7 Division 1 Southern Section championship victory. The Friars scored a touchdown on their first drive following a turnover which gave them a short field, but didn't score again in the game.

"We just played team defense," Mater Dei head coach Bruce Rollinson said. "We doubled [Tetairoa McMillan] and I thought our defensive coaches did a great job of mixing our fronts and our coverages. It turned out to benefit us.”

Rollinson has been under the spotlight this week after the OC Register released a detailed report that revealed a lawsuit has been filed against Mater Dei for an alleged hazing incident stemming from a locker room fight in February. Rollinson and members of the Mater Dei athletic department staff did not comment on the story after the game, citing the ongoing lawsuit.

Outside of their first drive, the two other series' Servite sniffed the red zone in the game ended in turnovers as Mater Dei senior defensive back Quincy Craig forced a Hoi Hansen fumble at the end of the first half and sophomore defensive back Jeilani Davis intercepted a fourth quarter 4th-and-10 desperation heave from Servite quarterback Noah Fifita at the 3-yard line.

Mater Dei's front seven really made the key difference in the game as the Monarchs defensive linemen and linebackers knocked Fifita around on seemingly every other drop back. Senior linebacker David Bailey and sophomore linebacker Tanner Williams each had two sacks in the victory. Bailey played the game with a broken wrist that was heavily bandaged.

When these two teams met for the first time in the regular season on Oct. 23, the Monarchs gave up a season high 37 points to the Friars and Fifita threw for 340 yards and two touchdowns. On Friday night, Mater Dei held Servite to only 43 yards as a team in the first half and then the Monarchs pitched a second-half shutout.

247Sports.com's Greg Biggins called the game, "one of the best defensive performances I've ever seen," in a Tweet.

In addition to Craig, Davis, Bailey and Williams' contributions, several other Monarchs made impressive plays on the defensive side of the ball in the win.

Sophomore cornerback Zabien Brown held senior Servite tight end Keyan Burnett without a catch. Senior corner Cam Sidney contorted his body to break up a second quarter bomb from Fifita to McMillan that led to a Friars punt. Senior linebacker Leviticus Su'a dropped Fifita for a third quarter sack that brought up a 3rd-and-24 that Servite couldn't pick up.

“Our defense rose up [tonight]," Rollinson said.

Following the early 7-0 deficit, Craig tied the game with a three-yard scamper after picking up a 4th-and-1 earlier on the drive. In the second quarter, Mater Dei quarterback Elijah Brown completed a 3rd-and-12 pass to Craig for a first down before sophomore Ajon Bryant ran in a touchdown to put the Monarchs up 14-7. In the third quarter, a one-yard touchdown run from Raleek Brown cushioned Mater Dei's lead to 21-7 before Brown tossed a 27-yard game-sealing touchdown to CJ Williams with 2:21 left.

Mater Dei will now face the Northern California representative in the Open Division state championship in two weeks at Saddleback College.

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