Mater Dei Still Has Some Room to Grow

On the surface, Mater Dei’s 35-0 victory over Loara was the kind of result most people expected from this matchup between Division I and Division VI teams.

The Monarchs (1-1) rolled up 438 yards to 136 by the Saxons. Matt Grootegoed and Matt Leinert rotated at quarterback for Mater Dei, combining for 290 passing yards. On defense, Grootegoed had two interceptions; one of them he returned 46 yards for the game’s first touchdown in the first quarter.

Mater Dei’s defense recorded six sacks, held Loara to three yards rushing and fought off a fourth-and-goal at their three-yard line to preserve the shutout.

And yet, Coach Bruce Rollinson and the estimated 5,500 spectators at Santa Ana Stadium were reminded for the second straight week that this Monarchs team still has some maturing to do.

Grootegoed and Leinert each threw an interception. Leinert also lost a fumble. And even though the Monarchs--who led 21-0 at the half and added two fourth-quarter scores to put the game away--wore down the Saxons, the smoothness on offense that has been a Mater Dei trademark the past few seasons was largely absent.

“I’d considered this a very pivotal game for us,” said Rollinson, whose team lost its opener against Fresno Clovis West last week. “We needed to restore our confidence and get back the momentum we should have. The main thing was eliminating the little mistakes we were making.

“We made the kind of mistakes we will not get away with next week against [Concord] De La Salle. We still have some growing to do. But I thought we played better this week. I thought both quarterbacks played well. Our defense played great.”

Even though Leinert electrified the home fans with a 78-yard touchdown pass to Nick Stroffe in the second quarter and finished with a game-high 184 passing yards, Rollinson reiterated that Grootegoed is still the starter.

Grootegoed, who threw for 106 yards, said he felt “more comfortable” passing the ball. He also said he has no problem when Leinert is sent into the game.

“We’re friends and we root for each other,” Grootegoed said.

Loara Coach John de Fries was glad his team, now 1-1, hung in as long as it did.

“This is a step up for us,” de Fries said. “If we had executed better I think we would have been more into the game. But we couldn’t block their defense. And when we made errors, they capitalized.