Graney: Mater Dei showed Bishop Gorman who’s really No. 1

And then Bishop Gorman’s football team discovered why.

The Gaels on Friday night, at least for this season, learned the difference between No. 1 and 2.

And it’s a bunch.

Mater Dei was better, faster, stronger, more of everything.

I’m not sure a final score of 31-15 before a packed Santa Ana Stadium — the count was more than 8,000 — told the entire story.

The Monarchs, who scored on their first two possessions and never looked back, had their way with the second-ranked Gaels.

You don’t see this happen to Bishop Gorman. It had a 27-game win streak snapped, and things weren’t all that close as the clock crept into the fourth quarter.

“A few years ago when we played Chaminade (Florida) in the GEICO (State Champions Bowl Series), I thought that was the best team I had ever seen walk onto a field,” Bishop Gorman coach Brent Browner said. “They had everything all up and down their lineup. … This (Mater Dei) team is better.”

His side just couldn’t get anything going consistently Friday, unable to put together enough competent drives to give itself a fighting chance. A lot of that was Mater Dei, which had six sacks on the evening.

No comeback coming

There would be no rally for victory this time by the Gaels, no comeback win such as the one Bishop Gorman managed against St. Thomas Aquinas two weeks ago. No fourth-quarter magic.

Slow starts have defined the Gaels to begin this season over three games. They were capable enough to overcome and prevail in the first two. Different level of opponent this time.

It would reason, then, that Bishop Gorman’s hopes for another mythical national championship ended with the loss, that a fifth such title is now out of reach this season. That there will be no repeat.

Mater Dei (2-0) just wore the Gaels (2-1) down in those final 24 minutes. There were some key plays to be had for Bishop Gorman. It just couldn’t make them when needed most.

“We were down at St. Thomas and had the same mindset here,” Bishop Gorman running back Jonathan Coar said. “Stay together and fight it out. But their speed and strength is unmatched. Down (14-7 at halftime), we felt good coming out and definitely had some momentum. Felt the game was finally going our way.

“But to get stopped on three plays really killed that momentum and them coming right back down to score … it killed everything we had going.”

It wasn’t the best of nights for senior quarterback Melvin Spicer IV, who would complete just 1 of 4 passes for six yards. But he also stared into the teeth of pressure most of the game.

This, after he completed 12 of 17 for 188 yards and two touchdowns while also rushing for 78 yards against St. Thomas Aquinas.

It has been this way when Bishop Gorman and Mater Dei meet, the Monarchs now 4-0 all-time against the Gaels. But that won’t stop Browner from scheduling the game. Just the opposite.

Hey, it happens

“We’ll keep playing them until we figure it out,” he said. “That’s what you have to do, is figure it out. We have a lot of things to fix in a short amount of time. We just have to go back and revamp what we’re doing on both sides of the ball. You have to tell yourself the truth. If you can’t tell yourself the truth, you’ll never get better.”

Say this for Browner and his players: No excuses were made. They respected the moment. Said all the right things. Acted the right way.

Hey, it happens. Sometimes, even with such a wonderfully successful program such as Bishop Gorman, the other guys are just better.

“We,” Spicer said, “just played a heck of a team.”

Ed Graney, a Sigma Delta Chi Award winner for sports column writing, can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com. He can be heard on “The Press Box,” ESPN Radio 100.9 FM and 1100 AM, from 7 to 10 a.m. Monday through Friday. Follow @edgraney on X.