Bishop Gorman loses to No. 1 Mater Dei in high school football showdown

SANTA ANA, Calif. – Bishop Gorman just can’t find a way to defeat the final boss.

The Gaels, the defending national champions, had their 27-game winning streak snapped with a 31-15 loss to first-place Mater Dei on Friday night at Santa Ana Stadium.

This winning streak began after Bishop Gorman suffered a 24-21 loss to the same Monarchs in Las Vegas on August 26, 2022.

This game wasn’t quite as close, and the Gaels are now 0-4 overall against Mater Dei.

“This is a good team,” said Gorman coach Brent Browner. “You can’t afford to make any mistakes in the first quarter. We didn’t get going on offense like we should have. … Hats off to them. Well coached, great guys. Probably the most respectful team I’ve seen in a long time.”

Mater Dei (2-0), ranked No. 1 nationally by MaxPreps and USA Today, got off to an early start against the visitors and wore down the Gaels (2-1) in the second half to pull away in what had been billed as the true national championship game in high school football.

Gorman briefly showed signs of life in the second quarter.

Trailing 14-0, running back Jonathan Coar and quarterback Maika Eugenio entered the game with the intention of giving the Gaels new momentum.

And it worked. Coar ran six times for 42 yards on that drive and Eugenio found Anthony Hickman free in the end zone on a bootleg for a 4-yard touchdown 43 seconds before halftime.

Bishop Gorman could not maintain the momentum after halftime and fell behind by three points on its first possession of the third quarter.

Jordon Davison scored his second point of the game on Mater Dei’s first drive of the second half and the outcome was never in doubt.

Davison finished the game with 89 yards on 19 attempts.

“We definitely had the momentum going into halftime,” Coar said. “We felt good. We felt like it was finally going in our favor. When we came out and got stopped three times, our momentum was really destroyed. Then they came out and scored and ruined everything.”

CJ Lavender Jr. intercepted a pass from Eugenio with 9:30 left and returned it to the Bishop Gorman 31-yard line. Three plays later, Trenton Dunn scored an 11-yard touchdown to win the game.

Under constant pressure, Spicer struggled to find his rhythm, completing just one of four attempts for six yards. Eugenio threw a touchdown pass to Brandon Gaea in the final minute of the game and finished 7 of 11 passing for 62 yards and two touchdowns.

“We needed to get stronger on offense and unfortunately we didn’t do that tonight,” Spicer said. “As quarterback, I take the blame for the offense. Go back to the drawing board and go from there.”

Ashton Beierly played an efficient game for the Monarchs, completing 12 of 14 passes for 103 yards and a touchdown and adding 49 yards on the ground on nine attempts.

Bishop Gorman found itself in a difficult position early on after a fast start from Mater Dei.

The Monarchs took the opening kickoff and gained 77 yards and a touchdown in 11 plays, capped by Davison’s 1-yard touchdown run.

Kayden Dixon-Wyatt had three catches for 34 yards on the drive, and Beierly completed all four of his 40-yard attempts and added nine yards on two runs.

The Gaels then showed nerves, despite having already survived two difficult games earlier in the season, including a top-10 away win against St. Thomas Aquinas (Florida) two weeks ago.

Spicer dropped a shotgun snap on the second offensive play and was tackled in the backfield, resulting in a loss of 7 yards. Several Mater Dei defenders broke through on the next play and sacked Spicer again, forcing a punt.

The Monarchs struck again quickly, this time gaining 45 yards in four plays. Chris Henry Jr.’s spectacular catch in the end zone was ruled complete after a lengthy discussion between the referees, giving Mater Dei a 14-0 lead less than nine minutes into the game.

Bishop Gorman tried to answer on the ensuing drive, but Hudson Borsari’s 38-yard field goal attempt missed.

“We just didn’t manage to make the right plays when they were there,” Browner said.

Contact Adam Hill at [email protected]. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on X.