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Fryer: Mater Dei’s fast, physical defense a difference-maker in win over St. John Bosco

October 26, 2024

SANTA ANA – It did not take long for Mater Dei’s defense to make its mark in Friday night’s game with St. John Bosco.

On the game’s third play, St. John Bosco’s Daniel Odom caught a pass and one step later Mater Dei strong safety CJ Lavender blasted into Odom, causing a fumble recovered by Monarchs cornerback Daryus Dixson who made a short return to the St. John Bosco 35-yard line.

Mater Dei’s first play from there: a touchdown pass from Monarchs quarterback Dash Beierly to Kayden Dixon-Wyatt for a touchdown.

The Monarchs never trailed from there on the way to a 59-14 win.

That Monarchs defense created three turnovers that led to 22 points for Mater Dei … all in the first 16 minutes of the game.

Lavender made an interception that led to Beierly’s 40-yard touchdown run. Aaryn Washington returned an interception 45 yards for a Mater Dei touchdown that spread the Monarchs lead to 31-0.

Mater Dei is No. 1 in most of the national rankings, including those for MaxPreps, which this week also had St. John Bosco at No. 2 in the nation.

Nasir Wyatt #31 of Mater Dei causes Koa Malau’ulu #12 of St. John Bosco to fumble in the second half on Oct. 25, 2024 in Santa Anna CA. (Photo by John McCoy, Contributing Photographer)

A major reason the Monarchs are No. 1 is their defense that has college-bound players plugged into just about every position.

Dominic Sesay is in his first season as Mater Dei’s defensive coordinator. He was a defensive backs coach last season under then-head coach Frank McManus.

Sesay’s predecessor at defensive coordinator was Eric Johnson, who held the position for many years, most of them under Monarchs former head coach Bruce Rollinson and last year McManus. Johnson had long planned for either 2023 to be his final season with Mater Dei, and then Marina head coach Charlie TeGantvoort talked Johnson into working as defensive coordinator this season at Marina.

Sesay, 29 years old and also an assistant coach at Golden West College, likes the assortment of top-grade tools in the Mater Dei tool box.

“We talk about ‘FBI’ which means ‘Football Intelligence.’” said Sesay who played at Gahr High in Cerritos, at Golden West and at Colorado State-Pueblo. “There are a lot of new schemes, and these guys have been open to the new things. They know we’re going to coach them up and they know we’re going to play fast.”

Monarchs junior linebacker Shaun Scott said speed is the group’s chief asset.

“We run and we hit,” Scott said. “We play fast, we play physical. We’re just an all-around great defense.”

The Monarchs were ready to play fast and play physical Friday.

“We had a great week of preparation,” Scott said. “We just read our keys and our keys took us to the plays every time.”

One of the changes Sesay brought to the defense is how junior nose tackle Tomu Topui is used. Topui (6-3, 315) said last year his role mostly was to tie up two blockers to allow linebackers to, as he said, “run wild.”

That worked fine. Mater Dei won CIF Southern Section and CIF State championships last year.

Daryus Dixson #8 of Mater Dei recovers a fumble in the first half of a game against St. John Bosco on Oct. 25, 2024 in Santa Anna CA. (Photo by John McCoy, Contributing Photographer)

Now Topui lines up where there is an opening, a chance for him to meet a running back at the point of attack or for Topui to pressure the quarterback or get his hands up on a pass attempt.

“This new gap scheme has me lining up in the gap,” Topui said. “It makes the offense give me a one-on-one against an offensive lineman. I’m still comfortable being in a two-on-one, but if it’s one-on-one then it’s over with.”

The defensive guys even got involved in the offense. Defensive lineman Semi Taulanga (5-11, either 335 or 300 pounds depending on where you look) caught a short pass from Beierly for the Monarchs’ final touchdown of the first half that ended with Mater Dei ahead by the ridiculous score of 45-0.

Taulanga,who sometimes goes on offense to line up outside in a short-yardage situation, was asked to recall the last time he scored in a football game.

“Youth football,” he said. “Eight years old? Nine? Ten?”

The touchdown pass to Taulanga was not a designed play.

“I didn’t think Dash was going to throw the ball to me,” he said. “When I saw the it in the air I said ‘I gotta grab it.’”

The 59-14 win was the biggest margin of victory for Mater Dei against St. John Bosco. There was a 41-7 win over Bosco in 2000, but this one surpassed that.

And this Monarchs defense had much to do with that. Mater Dei forced two fumbles, both recovered by Mater Dei, and had the two interceptions.

“It all comes from being relentless and fast,” Sesay said. “We want to be an opportunistic defense.”

That they were.

NOTES

The difference in the time of possession was striking. Mater Dei had the ball for 30 minutes and 11 seconds. St. John Bosco’s offense had the ball for 17:49. …

Mater Dei went into the game averaging 107 yards in penalties a game. The Monarchs were flagged 12 times Friday for 132 yards. As usual, the penalty yardage did no damage to the result. …

Maybe Mater Dei’s best offensive play came early in the third quarter. With the Monarchs at their 16-yard line, Beierly dropped back, squeezed out of one tackle attempt and with another defender’s arms around his waist the quarterback flicked a pass to Marcus Harris for 12 yards and a Mater Dei first down. …

Estimated attendance: 8,000. Santa Ana Stadium capacity is 9,000, so 8,000 is good for a game that was televised live on the Fan Duel channel (that used to be Bally Sports channel). The St. John Bosco half of the stadium was not as populated when the third quarter started, and the score 45-7, compared to when the game began. …

Friday’s results had significant effect on the Calpreps.com ratings that will determine the CIF-SS playoff divisions and the seedings for each division. St. John Bosco remains No. 2 behind Mater Dei. Orange Lutheran moved up to No. 3 and Mission Viejo went from No. 3 to No. 5 with Centennial of Corona in between them at No. 4.

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Fryer: Mater Dei’s fast, physical defense a difference-maker in win over St. John Bosco

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