High School Football: Mater Dei shuts out Edison

Anyone who talked to Edison High Coach Dave White about Mater Dei this week got the same answer. He said in all of his 38 years coaching at Edison, 31 as the head coach, that this was by far the best Mater Dei football team the Chargers would face.

White was right, as the Monarchs handed Edison its worst loss in the head-to-head series that dates back 40 years.

The programs met for the 22nd time with White at the helm of the Chargers, and Mater Dei walloped host Edison, 42-0, at Orange Coast College on Friday.

Mater Dei became the first team to shut out Edison in nine years. The Chargers never stood a chance against the No. 3-ranked team in the country by USA Today.

Both teams entered the nonleague contest perfect through four games, and the Monarchs easily improved to 5-0.

“They’re unbelievable,” White said of the Monarchs. “We didn’t play very good, but they had everything to do with it.

“We beat a good Tesoro team and a good San Juan Hills team [during nonleague play]. We’re not in the same ballpark as this [Mater Dei] team.”

Edison, ranked No. 1 in the CIF Southern Section Division 3 poll, trailed, 35-0, at halftime. The first half belonged to quarterback JT Daniels, as the sophomore sensation completed 23 of 31 passes for 341 yards and four touchdowns.

Daniels’ night ended early in the second half. On the opening drive to the third quarter, Daniels was perfect on his six throws, resulting in 75 yards. His last pass was an 11-yard touchdown to Nikko Remigio. With 9:42 left in the third quarter, Daniels exited with his team up, 42-0.

“We’ve got such talent across the board, from the wide receiving corps, to the [offensive] line, to our running backs,” Daniels said. “Everyone just understands to do their job and all we do is execute as a unit.”

Daniels finished 29 of 37 with 416 yards and five touchdowns, giving him 28 touchdowns in five games. His lone mistake was an ill-advised throw in the end zone that defensive back McCade Barrett jumped to pick off late in the first half.

Other than that, the Monarchs dominated Edison. They sacked quarterback Griffin O’Connor six times in the first half. Five defensive players had a hand in each of the sacks.

Five offensive players also caught a touchdown pass from Daniels.

The first was a three-yard shovel pass to Shakobe Harper, followed by a 35-yard pass to C.J. Parks, both touchdowns came in the first quarter. In the second quarter, Daniels went to the St. Brown brothers, Osiris and Amron-Ra. Osiris, a Stanford-bound receiver, caught a 27-yard touchdown, and Amron-Ra, a junior, a 50-yarder. The younger St. Brown had five catches for a team-best 107 yards.

“Obviously JT and the offense get a lot of compliments, but guys, you know, this is our third shutout,” said Mater Dei Coach Bruce Rollinson, whose team has blanked Lakewood Mayfair, 63-0, and La Mirada, 48-0. “We were bringing the hat tonight. We were hitting pretty good.”

The first jarring hit by Mater Dei forced a turnover.

Right from the start, things didn’t go Edison’s way. On the first play from scrimmage, running back Jack Carmichael ran into a wall near the line of scrimmage. The junior lost a yard and then the ball. Mater Dei’s Chase Ault recovered the fumble just inside the Chargers’ 20-yard line.

Ten seconds into the evening and the Monarchs had the ball. It took four plays for them to strike. Raphael Jones Jr. rushed for a three-yard touchdown.

Edison put something together on the ensuing possession. O’Connor fooled the defense with a 22-yard run to the right, setting up the offense on the opponent’s 40-yard line. Then the Chargers went backward. A 12-yard sack by Mater Dei’s Roman Kafentzis and a three-yard sack by Nathan Logoleo put the offense in a fourth-and-28 situation on its 42.

Punting is what the Chargers did most of the game. They punted nine times.

Edison only managed 81 yards of offense, 77 through the air. O’Connor and backup Bowen Blake combined to complete only seven of 21 passes.

Without an offense and a defense to slow down the Monarchs, Edison lost to Mater Dei for the seventh straight year.

The schools have played every year since 2000. White and Rollinson have become good friends over the years. They began coaching against each other in 1989, Rollinson’s debut season with the Monarchs.

Friday’s meeting between Rollinson and White was the last, as White is retiring after this season. Rollinson went 15-4 against White.

“I respect how he prepares his teams. They’re so well coached and we’ve had so many great battles,” Rollinson said of White. “I’ve been thinking about it all week, and there’s part of me that’s actually jealous [that’s he retiring]. He’s going to go relax, and there’s part of me saying that probably a year from this Christmas, I’m going to call him and say, ‘Hi, are you bored?’ because I’ll still be coaching. I ain’t going anywhere, so [I’m going to say], ‘Why don’t you come over and help me.’”

Nonleague

Mater Dei 42, Edison 0

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Mater Dei 21 – 14 – 7 –0 — 42

Edison 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 — 0

FIRST QUARTER

MD – Jones 3 run (McGrath kick), 11:01.

MD – Harper 3 pass from Daniels (McGrath kick), 7:24.

MD – Parks 35 pass from Daniels (McGrath kick), 2:18.

SECOND QUARTER

MD – O. St. Brown 27 pass from Daniels (McGrath kick), 9:10.

MD – A. St. Brown 50 pass from Daniels (McGrath kick), 7:31.

THIRD QUARTER

MD – Remigio 11 pass from Daniels (McGrath kick), 9:42.

INDIVIDUAL RUSHING

MD – Bloomquist, 9-54.

E – J. Carmichael, 11-10.

INDIVIDUAL PASSING

MD – Daniels, 29-37-1, 416, 5 TDs.

E – O’Connor, 5-14-0, 61.

INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING

MD – A. St. Brown, 5-107, 1 TD.

E – Fisser, 3-30.