A freak play ended the 2015 Serra football season Friday night.  With two minutes left and the Cavs ahead by seven, the snap flew over Merlin Roberson's head, Roberson tried desperately to get possession with Monarchs closing in.  What might have been called a tackle in the end zone was ruled a fumble in the end zone and Mater Dei tied the game on a fluke.  What followed was a brilliantly designed and executed play for the 2-point conversion.  Mater Dei escaped and the lights went out for the 2015 football Cavaliers. 

 

This is not the time to curse the darkness.  This is the time to thank the 64 men who became the 2015 Cavaliers, and especially the dozen or more who bore the sweat and bruises of daily practice but got very little game time -- the many Cavaliers, on and off the field, whose names were rarely mentioned in the papers or the stat sheets.  This is the time to thank, especially, the fourteen who played their last game in Serra colors: Abdullah Alonzo, Oluwole Betiku, Deondre Brown, Brandon Burton, Kendall Flournoy, Malik Foster, Malik Gardner, Tyler Hall, Robert Hermosillo, Kevin Hicks, Job McGinty, Chris Pollard, Eric Sharber, Nehemiah Shelton, Eddie Slack, Khalil Tate, Amanaki Veikoso, Blake Walls and Steven Winn.  This band of brothers.

 

Probably the 2015 seniors will never stop regretting what might have been, but they can always be proud of what they did. Twice champions of one of the strongest leagues in the state, and with the smallest population of any school in their division.  30 and 7 over three seasons.  There are thousands of former Serra footballers that could only dream of some of those stats.

 

Friday's loss was heartbreaking.  With 4:29, Job McGinty broke through the Mater Dei line and went 30-yards for what looked very likely to be the winning touchdown.  When Serra forced the Monarchs to punt with at 3:22, the odds were that Serra would burn up the clock or if not, leave the Monarchs with too little time to score.  Even when things went bad, Serra's chances were good.  If Roberson had been ruled down in possession, Serra would have been okay.  That's why it was heart breaking.  Serra deserved to win.

 

Briefly, the game went like this:  Mater Dei went ahead in the first period when Serra couldn't score from the six.  On fourth and goal, the Cavs set up for a field goal.  It was blocked, Mater Dei picked up the ball and took it 80 yards for a touchdown.  PAT good. 5:00 remaining in the first quarter.

 

Both offenses sputtered for a while.  With 4:00 minutes remaining in the quarter, the Monarchs had the Cavs backed up against their goal line.  Khalil likes being backed up.  He faked the hand off, broke through the line and ran untouched to the Mater Dei end zone: 95 yards.  PAT blocked.  Serra 6 - Mater Dei 7 with 10:42 remaining in the first half.

 

More sputtering.  Apart from Tate, Serra couldn't move the ball on the ground, and the Cavs had their usual problems with passing game.  After a strong first series, Mater Dei also couldn't do much on the ground, and the Monarch's freshman quarter back was consistently overthrowing his receivers.  Overall, the Serra defense seemed to be in control.

 

Two minutes into the second quarter, Tate did it again.  Serra was backed up to the twenty five after successive penalties.  Tate faked the hand off, gave a pump fake and took off for 75 yards.  Serra took the lead and finally got a place kick up in the air.  Serra 13 - Mater Dei 7. 

 

Mater Dei responded with a 50-yard drive highlighted by a 30-yard completion.  But the Cav defense wouldn't allow a touchdown. Mater Dei kicked a 30 yard field goal at 8:45 in the second.  Serra 13 - Monarchs 10.

 

The final score of the first half came with 1:05 remaining.  Tate was running for his life in the backfield.  When it seemed there was no escape, he threw in the general direction of the end zone.  Kobe Smith on the ground, managed to catch the ball on his knees for a touchdown.  PAT good.  Serra up by ten 20-10.

 

At that point, Khalil Tate was credited with 277 rushing yards.  Total offense was 355.  No other player on the field came close. 

 

When the Cavaliers came out in the second half, the question was whether this would be a Loyola second half or a Chaminade second half.  It was neither.  The big difference was Mater Dei.  The Monarchs offense was marginally more effective, the Monarch defense was marginally stronger.  MD scored ten points in the third quarter and held Serra scoreless, but even then Serra looked like it would prevail in the end.

 

And that prediction looked right when McGinty scored at 4:29.  And it almost was.