MaxPreps is pleased to announce that the
Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) Monarchs have officially been named to the 14th Annual MaxPreps Tour of Champions presented by the Army National Guard, which is in its fourteenth year honoring football.
This is one of the most prestigious team awards in all of high school sports and it is an exclusive honor reserved for 100 of the top teams nationwide. In order to be eligible, a team must win a state championship and be highly ranked in the MaxPreps National Rankings. For football, only 50 of the country's best are invited and with nearly 17,000 competing varsity teams, this puts the Monarchs ahead of 99.9 percent of their opponents!
In order to be eligible, the team not only had to be nationally ranked, but also had to win a state championship. Beating De La Salle 35-21 in the
CIF State Football Open Division Championship Bowl on Saturday, December 8 marked the completion of an incredible 13-2 season — and earned Mater Dei an invitation to the Tour of Champions.
With his team facing third-and-5 from the 20, and clinging to a 28-21 advantage with five minutes left in the game, Mater Dei's Bru McCoy hauled in a nine-yard strike from Bryce Young. A few plays later Glenn Harper's 15-yard run put the Monarchs up by two touchdowns, allowing Mater Dei to claim its second straight Open Division state championship at Cerritos College.
Cameron Gardner opened the game's scoring in the first quarter when he reeled in a 27-yard strike from Young. Then, following a De La Salle fumble, the Monarchs capped a 74-yard drive with Young's 37-yard scoring strike to McCoy on the opening play of the second quarter. De La Salle cut the deficit in half before Harper scored from 15 and one yards out to put the champions up 28-7 with 4:52 left in the third quarter. The Spartans crawled back into the contest with a 67-yard scoring strike and then hit pay dirt, following a blocked punt that gave De La Salle the ball at the Monarch 27, to cut the deficit to 28-21.
Young completed 18 of 25 passes for 296 yards and a pair of touchdowns and ran for 30 yards on seven carries, while Harper led the Monarch ground game with 122 yards and three scores on 22 carries. McCoy caught seven balls for 116 yards and the score, while Gardner hauled in two aerials for 34 yards and a touchdown, Michael Martinez snagged six Young aerials for 87 yards and Sean Dollars reeled in three passes for 59 yards.
Sophomore Raesjon Davis led the Monarch defense with seven tackles, including four for negative yards, and Joshua Hunter and Jaylin Davies added six stops each. Davis pushed his way into the backfield for a pair of sacks, while Hunter and Davies broke up a couple of passes each. Jacobah "Kobah" Fuamatu, Raymond Leutele and Evan Bennett each recovered a fumble.
Mater Dei opened postseason play with a 44-6 win over Valencia before kicking in the door to the CIF Southern Section Final Four with a 56-17 triumph over Mission Viejo. Mater Dei then upended Centennial 48-14 before bumping St. John Bosco from state championship contention with a 17-13 Southern Section championship win to set up the state championship bout with De La Salle. Although they opened the season with a 42-14 win over Bishop Amat, the Monarchs eventually forfeited the contest. Then, following a 42-0 shutout of Bishop Gorman, Mater Dei blanked La Mirada 49-0 to open the season 2-1. The Monarchs tacked on four more wins before falling to St. John Bosco 41-18. Bruce Rollinson's club did not lose again and outscored its competition 606-171. The Monarchs posted four shutouts and held 10 foes to 14 points or less, while scoring a season-high 56 points in wins over St. Mary's and Mission Viejo.
Having won seven straight contests to end the year, Mater Dei set itself up for some very high rankings come season's end. Not only are the Monarchs ranked No. 1 in
MaxPreps' California Southern Section Division I Rankings, Mater Dei is the top team in
MaxPreps' California Southern Section Rankings and is the best club in all of
California. The Monarchs claimed the National Championship in
MaxPreps' National Rankings and played their way into the
MaxPreps Xcellent 25 Writers' Poll at No. 2!
These incredible season achievements have earned the Mater Dei Monarchs an invitation to the 14th Annual Tour of Champions. Please join us in the Grotto for a sports assembly as we celebrate with the football team, coaching staff, students and fans on Wednesday, April 24 at 10:15 a.m.
For more information about the Tour of Champions, please visit the
MaxPreps Tour of Champions site.