By DAMIAN CALHOUN
OCVarsity staff
 
SANTA ANA -- The first-half performance of third-ranked Mater Dei gave Coach Bruce Rollinson plenty of ammunition for his halftime speech.

“I got in their dish pretty good at halftime,” he said, “because I felt like that there was a total letdown, a lack of effort and that’s not what Mater Dei football is all about.”

The Monarchs (3-1) heeded Rollinson’s words and defeated L.A. Jordan, 49-32, in a nonleague game Thursday at Santa Ana Stadium.

The Monarchs finally started to take advantage of their depth and size advantage in the second half. Jordan (1-3), which had only 24 players on its roster, started to wear down as the game progressed.

“Those guys started to run out of gas,” Rollinson said. “I commend them, they battled and kept making plays.”

Mater Dei’s running game proved the difference. Jaron Hytche rushed for 152 yards and four touchdowns. Jordan Allen rushed for 87 yards and one TD. But Rollinson wasn’t pleased.

“This wasn’t the team that played last week,” he said. “If this team shows up from here on in, it will be horrible. … We need to work harder.”

Matt Barkley completed 17 of 36 passes for 242 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions.

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