It’s a Most Offensive Opening : Defenses Rest, Fountain Valley Tops Mater Dei, 28-22

Fountain Valley and Mater Dei high schools opened the season Friday night with their offenses in midseason form and their defenses looking less than respectable.

The teams combined for 50 points and 711 yards of offense.

In the end, Fountain Valley, a team with only two returning starters from last season’s Division I champion, won the game, 28-22, in front of 7,000 in Santa Ana Stadium.

Willy Puga, a senior getting his first start at quarterback in a varsity game, looked like a veteran, completing 13 of 17 passes for 228 yards and three touchdowns.

“Before the game, I was really nervous, but I was trying not to be nervous,” Puga said. “But people kept coming up to me before the game and asking ‘Are you nervous?’ That only made it worse.”

It was Puga’s 27 yards pass to Rob Dubar early in the fourth quarter that gave Fountain Valley the victory.

The pass came with 9:07 left in the game and Fountain Valley facing a fourth-and-four situation at the Mater Dei 27. Puga looked to his right and then floated the ball to Dubar in the left flat. Dubar, who caught six passes for 105 yards, outran two Mater Dei defenders to score.

Dubar caught a 42-yard pass from Puga in the second quarter to open the game’s scoring and ran 40 yards for another touchdown in the third.

“I had huge holes to run through,” Dubar said. “We had great offensive surge all game, and we just ran right up the middle.”

And Fountain Valley had great success all game running right at the Monarchs. Of course, it also had great success running right by them. Receiver Doug Weaver, the lone returning offensive starter from last season’s team, caught four passes for 93 yards. He ran past the Mater Dei secondary and then caught a 27-yard touchdown pass from Puga in the second quarter to put Fountain Valley ahead, 14-7.

The game was to be tied three times, with the pattern the same every time. The Barons would score first, then Mater Dei would match it.

Mater Dei quarterback Danny O’Neil scored his team’s first touchdown on a two-yard run. After Weaver’s touchdown reception, O’Neil led Mater Dei on a 60-yard drive that ended with running back Kealii Clifford scoring from a yard out.

Down 22-14 in the third quarter, O’Neil completed a nine-yard touchdown pass to David Gonzalez and then threw a pass to Jonathon Packard for a two-point conversion to tie the score.

O’Neil completed 15 of 22 passes for 182 yards. He also rushed for 56 yards on 10 carries. Clifford gained 89 yards on 11 carries and caught five passes for 52 yards.