Make no mistake about it, high school football in the South Bay still belongs to Mater Dei Catholic.
Exhibiting their depth and talent, the host Crusaders captured their 22nd straight Metro Mesa game, knocking off previously unbeaten Eastlake 42-7 Friday night.
“I think we came in feeling disrespected,” said senior free safety Diego Mendoza. “Sure, they were 8-0 and we started 0-6 so we needed to win to get it back.”
Since the COVID year of 2020, the Crusaders have outscored league opposition 949-171, averaging 43-7 per game – pretty much Friday’s score.
They did it with a few surprises.
The first was starting sophomore quarterback Jacob Anderson. Coming into the game, Anderson, a transfer from St. Augustine to play wide receiver, was without a successful completion in seven passing attempts.
On the first drive of the game, Anderson completed his first three passes, including a 43-yard touchdown to junior Khalonie Jordan with 8:27 left in the first quarter.
“I trust my guys out there,” said Anderson, who took on the added quarterback duties prior to the Helix game three weeks ago. “I saw the matchups and knew I had to get him the ball.”
Anderson would make it 14-0 the next time Mater Dei touched the ball.
His 20-yard TD to Mendoza came with 2:25 left in the quarter, with Mendoza pulling down the pass despite a defender all over him.
Eastlake (8-1, 2-1) was playing without its top two rushers, David Blanco (85-973, 13 TDs) and Holiday (22-130, 3 TDs). Both were out with injuries.
Despite that, the Titans were able to close the gap to 14-7 at the half as an interception by Ryan Nicolaus set up RJ Yamasaki’s 39-yard scoring run on the first play of the second quarter.
Anderson finished the first half completing 14 of 19 passes for 151 yards and two TDs.
In the second half, fellow sophomore quarterback Jayden Blondin took over for Anderson and led the Crusaders to the end zone on three of their four second-half possessions.
Blondin, the regular starter, did his damage with his feet. He powered his way for 136 yards rushing on 10 carries, including a 16-yard TD with 5:24 left in the third quarter for a 21-7 lead.
“I felt good with my running tonight,” said Blondin of his powerful running style. “Quite honestly, I don’t look to go out-of-bounds. I want more.”
The Mater Dei defense got in the action to make it 28-7, when sophomore Adrian Wilson picked up an Eastlake fumble and returned it 12 yards for the score.
The Crusaders (3-6, 3-0) added a pair of fourth-quarter scores as Qasim Williams scored on a 40-yard run and senior Bryce Howard-Collens went in from a yard out.
“We started to get hit with the injury bug tonight, and when that happened we were done,” said Eastlake coach Jose Mendoza. “We were having to play kids out of position all over the place. Quite simply, this was humbling.”