San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
DONS ESTABLISH THEIR DOMAIN AS TOP DOGS
When it comes down to getting into a physical battle on the football field, not many in San Diego County can stand with Cathedral Catholic.
No. 3 Mater Dei Catholic slugged it out with the topranked Dons all night, but the physicality of Cathedral was just too much as the Dons came away with the 2814 nonleague battle between defending state champions in the opener for both clubs.
“I knew we had to be physical with them, they have so much talent,” said Cathedral Catholic head coach Sean Doyle. “I just told John (Joyner, Mater Dei’s coach) I think we both got too many hurt in this one.”
In their opening two possessions of the night, the 2021 State 1-AA champions had their offense sputter, being held without a first
Cathedral Catholic 28, Mater Dei Catholic 14 down. It was special teams play which got things going for the Dons.
With less five minutes left in the opening quarter, the Crusaders’ Jerry Mcclure’s punt hit the back of his own blocker. Big Taylor Diaz pulled the floating ball down like a rebound and fell into the end zone for the 7-0 lead.
“I got free and saw the ball hit the player’s back,” explained Diaz. “I thought to myself, ‘I’ve got to get this, they’re going to see it on TV.’ ”
Mater Dei (0-1) fought back, driving 80 yards in 10 plays with Anthony Mcmillian Jr. going in easily from 8 yards out on the second play of the second quarter.
The Dons (1-0) grabbed back the lead they never would relinquish when Henderson (Nev.) Green Valley transfer Jack Stevens found Chula Vistan Marcus Ratcliffe behind the secondary for a 38-yard score and a 14-7 lead with 7:40 left in the half.
“It was a snake pattern,” said Ratcliffe, who rejoiced scoring in his neighborhood. “I faked the slant and turned up. I saw the corner bite and knew I had it.”
Earlier in the drive, the Crusaders suffered a major blow to the defense when Section Defensive Player of the Year Tre Edwards went down with an ankle injury. They were already playing without returning leading rusher Nico Mosley, who ran for 964 yards a year ago, who went down with an ACL injury in last week’s scrimmage.
Cathedral upped its lead to 21-7 midway through the third quarter when Will Bond went in from the 7.
The Crusaders got to within a score again when Chris Snyder scored on an 8yard run on the first play of the fourth quarter, but the Dons would answer back on an 11-yard run by Sean Kagen two minutes later, set up by a Madden Faraimo interception.
Cathedral Catholic will next play Corona Centennial,
ranked No. 3 in the state, coming off an 85-0 thrashing of Corona Santiago. Mater Dei Catholic, the defending 2-AA state champion, travels north to play No. 2 Carlsbad, last year’s Open finalist which was off this week.
“I’m not embarrassed losing to the No. 1 team,” said Joyner. “In many ways we beat ourselves with so many unforced errors. We played hard though.”