With four teams from the Metro-Mesa League included in this year’s San Diego Section Division II playoff field, it was inevitable that some league rematches would occur down the line once the playoffs kicked off.
Ask the Mater Dei Catholic Crusaders about that. The second-seeded Crusaders (11-1) fended off challenges from its four league rivals to capture this year’s Metro-Mesa League championship.
Mater Dei Catholic’s reward? After a bye in the first round of the playoffs, the Crusaders have drawn playoff rematches against three of those four league rivals.
Mater Dei Catholic defeated seventh-seeded Otay Ranch, 34-7, in the division quarterfinals on Nov. 18, then eliminated 11th-seeded Bonita Vista, 42-10, in last Friday’s semifinals.
The Crusaders have one more league rival to hurdle in Saturday’s Division II championship game at Southwestern College: the Olympian Eagles. Kick-off is 3 p.m.
If that match-up sounds familiar, it is. The teams met Nov. 4 in the Metro-Mesa League championship game. Mater Dei Catholic won that contest 28-7 to finish 4-0 in league play; Olympian secured second place with its 3-1 league record.
The teams meet again in a championship scenario. Will the outcome be different or will the Crusaders run the table against their Metro-Mesa rivals in 2016?
“We are very excited about playing Olympian in the Division II finals,” explained MDCHS head coach John Joyner, whose team takes a nine-game winning streak into Saturday’s CIF title contest (and a 6-0 record against Metro-Mesa teams this season). “It was a very tough game the first time around and it should be another fantastic game.”
Crusader Nation
Mater Dei Catholic has outscored its two playoff opponents 76-17. The game plan has been going right for the jugular. The Crusaders led 28-10 at halftime in last Friday’s semifinal game against Bonita Vista after taking a 28-0 halftime lead the previous week against Otay Ranch.
The Barons, 0-5 to start the season, had seemingly turned their season around by winning five of their last seven games, including playoff upsets of sixth-seeded West Hills (27-10 in the opening round) and third-seeded El Capitan (41-6 in the quarterfinals).
However, Bonita Vista (last year’s Division III champion) lost for the second time this season against a talented Mater Dei Catholic squad. The Crusaders defeated the Barons, 42-14, in a Metro-Mesa tilt on Oct. 21. The rematch played out much like the first encounter did on the scoreboard.
BVHS quarterback Anthony Posada had been on fire with six touchdowns and 448 passing yards in the playoff wins over West Hills and El Capitan. However, in last Friday’s game, he could muster just one TD pass and a 74.1 quarterback rating.
On the ground, Bonita Vista collected 103 net rushing yards, including 109 from senior Robert Cota. Jake Rozar led the Baron receiving corps with 63 yards on seven catches. Cota (four catches, 31 yards) caught the lone touchdown in the game.
Josh Godfrey had two catches for 47 yards. Keenan Ellis had two catches for 20 yards while Nick Esquivias had one catch for 19 yards.
Dean Klaser had three rushes for negative four yards while Tahj Stewart had two carries for negative two yards.
Cota led Bonita Vista with 140 all-purpose yards.
Ellis had racked up 274 yards and four touchdowns in the team’s two playoff wins.
But the Crusaders, last year’s section Division IV and state bowl champions, have a way of making good teams look mortal.
While the Mater Dei Catholic defense was bent on subduing the Barons, the Crusaders’ offense —specifically star running back C.J. Verdell — ran amok on the field.
Verdell finished the semifinal game with five touchdowns and 310 rushing yards to spearhead the Mater Dei Catholic offensive attack. He scored on a 25-yard run and tacked on a 30-yard touchdown run minutes later to propel the hosts to a quick two- touchdown lead.
Verdell opened the second quarter with a seven-yard scoring run before quarterback Chris Jones connected with Eli Shelton for a 29-yard TD catch to put the Crusaders ahead 28-3 on the scoreboard after a 20-yard field goal by BV’s Sebastian Ulloa.
Ahead 28-10 at halftime, Mater Dei Catholic put the game away on a 64-yard TD run by Verdell in the third quarter and a 33-yard scoring run by Verdell in the fourth quarter.
Verdell, who will continue his football career at the University of Oregon next fall, has scored 35 touchdowns this season, including six in two playoff wins. He has rushed for more than 2,000 yards this season.
Jones has passed for 24 touchdowns in 12 games while Shelton leads the team’s receivers with seven TDs.
Defensively, the Crusaders are led by Jovan Bayless (tackles), Kyle Caldwell II (sacks) and Kyle Moses (interceptions).
Posada finished the season with 2,322 passing yards, 28 touchdowns and a 108.3 quarterback rating in 13 games. He also rushed for two scores.
Klaser, who made a triumphant return to the gridiron after missing last season due to cancer recovery, led the Barons with 585 rushing yards and four touchdowns in 10 games.
Ellis accumulated 972 receiving yards, topped the team with 10 TDs and 1,207 all-purpose yards.
