Gorman falls short in No. 1 vs. No. 2 prep football showdown — PHOTOS

The No. 2-ranked Gaels, the defending national champions, had their 27-game winning streak snapped with a 31-15 loss to No. 1 Mater Dei on Friday night at Santa Ana Stadium.

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

This one wasn’t as close, and the Gaels are now 0-4 all-time against Mater Dei.

“That’s a good team,” Gorman coach Brent Browner said. “You can’t make mistakes early in the first (quarter). We didn’t get rolling on offense like we should have. … Hats off to them. Well-coached, great kids. Probably the most respectful team I’ve been around in a long time.”

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

Gorman briefly showed signs of life in the second quarter.

Trailing 14-0, running back Jonathan Coar and quarterback Maika Eugenio entered the game looking to spark the Gaels.

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

Bishop Gorman couldn’t keep the momentum going after the break, going three-and-out on the first possession of the third quarter.

Jordon Davison ran for his second score of the game on Mater Dei’s first drive of the second half, and the outcome was never again in doubt.

Davison finished with 89 yards on 19 carries.

“We definitely had the momentum coming into halftime,” Coar said. “We felt good. We felt like it was finally going our way. Us coming out and getting stopped three-and-out really killed our momentum. Then they came out and scored and killed everything.”

CJ Lavender Jr. intercepted Eugenio with 9:30 to play and returned it to the Bishop Gorman 31-yard line. Trenton Dunn scored on an 11-yard touchdown run three plays later to put the game out of reach.

Spicer was under constant duress and struggled to find any rhythm, completing just 1 of 4 attempts for six yards. Eugenio added a touchdown pass to Brandon Gaea in the final minute of the game, finishing 7-for-11 for 62 yards and two scores.

“We needed to step up on offense, and unfortunately we fell short tonight,” Spicer said. “As a QB, I’ll take the blame on the offensive side of the ball. Back to the drawing board and go from there.”

Ashton Beierly had 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 hole early after a fast start by Mater Dei.

The Monarchs took the opening kickoff and drove 77 yards for a score on 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 attempts for 40 yards, adding nine yards on a pair of runs.

The Gaels then showed some nerves despite already having endured a pair of tough games to open the season, including a top-10 road win over St. Thomas Aquinas (Florida) two weeks ago.

Spicer fumbled a shotgun snap on the second offensive play and was tackled in the backfield for a 7-yard loss. Several Mater Dei defenders broke through on the next play and sacked Spicer again to force a punt.

The Monarchs quickly struck again, this time going 45 yards in four plays. Chris Henry Jr.’s spectacular grab in the end zone was ruled a completion after a lengthy discussion between the game officials to put Mater Dei ahead 14-0 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 sailed wide.

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

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on X.