Mater Dei Catholic rallies to beat Mission Hills in final seconds

Mater Dei Catholic overcame a series of special teams errors, then used a special play in the game’s dying seconds to beat Mission Hills 34-29 and claim the San Diego Section Division I championship Friday night before a crowd of more than 4,500 at Southwestern College.

No. 2-seeded Mater Dei Catholic (9-4), last year’s State Division 2-A champion, advances to the Southern California playoffs on a nine-game winning streak.

Southern California playoff seedings will be announced Sunday.

Top-seeded Mission Hills sees its season end at 9-4.

Trailing 29-28 after Mission Hills scored with 1:25 to play, Mater Dei Catholic drove 83 yards with quarterback Dominic Nankil finding Jerry McClure in the back corner of the end zone from 30 yards with 3 seconds to play.

The officials initially ruled McClure was out of the end zone, but after conferring ruled he was indeed in bounds.

“I was in,” McClure said. “I saw an opening by the backline, so I went there.

“When I caught it, at my feet was all red (the end zone).

“That was our last chance. We weren’t losing.”

Mission Hills had put Mater Dei Catholic in the hole, recovering a pair of fumbled punts.

Jonathan Reyes made three field goals.

But it was the Nankil-to-McClure connection that put Mater Dei Catholic over the top.

The pair hooked up 14 times with McClure finishing with 127 yards and a pair of scores.

Nankil was 30 of 38 for 305 yards and three scores.

“That was my first game-winning throw ever,” Nankil said. “There was no panic. It came down to what I wanted to do. I consider myself a winner, and a winner does whatever it takes.

Mission Hills rolled up 271 yards total offense and appeared to have the game won when quarterback Keaton Smith capped a 64-yard drive with a 15-yard scoring pass to Lucas Scott with 1:25 to play.

The Grizzlies, however, left too much time as Mater Dei Catholic rallied for the win.

Asked if it was the most frustrating loss he ever suffered, Mission Hills coach Chris Hauser said, “Absolutely.”

His reaction to the call? “You saw my reaction — I wasn’t happy.”

Asked why it took more than two minutes to overturn the call, Hauser said, “Ask them. Ask them. Ask them. Because they have all the answers. The worst ever. You’re 33 years into this and you thought you saw it all and here it is.”

Mission Hills used a blocked field goal and a long return by Andy Devine to put the heat on Mater Dei Catholic.

The Crusaders, however, had the answer in the end.

“This moment will be more memorable as they get older,” Mater Dei Catholic coach John Joyner said immediately after the game.

“They will always remember the moment and the ring. And they will be part of Mater Dei history forever.”

Mater Dei Catholic 34, Mission Hills 29

Mater Dei Catholic 7 0 7 20 — 34

Mission Hills 0 14 6 9 — 29

First Quarter

MDC — McMillian 17 run (Parker kick), 11:05

Second Quarter

MH — Salas 3 run (Reyes kick), 5:59

MH — Devine 1 run (Reyes kick), 0:30

Third Quarter

MDC — McClure 17 pass from Nankil (Parker kick), 9:07

MH — FG Reyes 43, 6:59

MH — FG Reyes 28, 4:19

Fourth Quarter

MH — FG Reyes 24, 8:34

MDC — McMillian 51 pass from Nankil (Parker kick), 6:27

MDC — McMillian 13 run (Parker kick), 2:04

MH — Scott 17 pass from Smith (pass failed kick), 1:25

MDC — McClure 30 pass from Nankil (pass failed), 0:03

MDC MH

First downs 21 11

Total net yards 480 271

Rushing 175 107

Passing 305 164

Comp-Att-Int 30-36-0 9-18-1

Penalties-Yds 9-114 6-75

Fumbles-Lost 3-2 2-2

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING: Mater Dei Catholic: McMillian 18-138, Nankil 4-28, Snyder 1-5, Overstreet 1-4. Mission Hills: Salas 28-75, Smith 6-31, Devine 1-1.

PASSING: Mater Dei Catholic: Nankil 30-36-0-305 Mission Hills: Smith 10-19-1-64.

RECEIVING: Mater Dei Catholic: McClure 14-127, Buncom 5-35, McMillian 4-90, Overstreet 4-32, George 1-8, Adriel 1-7, Cook 1-6. Mission Hills: Scott 3-58, Davis 2-56, Ridill 2-16, Williams 2-11, Devine 1-30, Salas 0-8.

INTERCEPTIONS: Mater Dei Catholic: Aranalde 1. Mission Hills: None.

FUMBLE RECOVERIES: Mater Dei Catholic: (Team) 1. Mission Hills: Navarro 2, Hall 1.

SACKS: Mater Dei Catholic: McMillian 1. Mission Hills: (Team) 1.

BLOCKED FIELD GOAL: Mater Dei Catholic: None. Mission Hills: Devine 1.