ANAHEIM — It took longer than expected, but the score eventually reflected the wide gap in talent and experience between the Mayfair and Cypress football teams.
The Monsoons didn’t take their first lead until late in the third quarter, but the defending CIF-SS Division 7 champions went on to hang a 49-28 loss on Cypress in the nonleague game at Western High on Friday night.
“We’re young and we make young kid mistakes that cost us big opportunities on both sides of the ball,” Cypress coach Rick Shelton said.
Mayfair coach Derek Bedell was feeling lukewarm about his team’s performance as well after the Monsoons fumbled the opening kickoff and then let Cypress stay with them for three quarters.
“I just think that we lacked a little focus early on in the game,” Bedell said. “At halftime, we refocused them and figured it out.”
Mayfair returned quarterback quarterback Jeremiah Calvin this season, as well as leading rusher Louis Johnson and No. 1 receiver Chaz Gilbreath from last season’s team that also won the CIF Southern California Regional Division 3-A championship.
Johnson did most of the legwork against Cypress, which held the Monsoons to minus-2 passing yards in the first half, rushing for 212 yards on 24 carries and scoring four touchdowns.
“Our O-line was fantastic,” Bedell said. “I’m proud of those guys.”
The Centurions struck first after Tyler White recovered the fumble on the opening kickoff at the Mayfair 30.
Cypress kept the ball on the ground and was aided by a late hit out of bounds by the Monsoons, eventually scoring on a 1-yard run by Bryson Busbee for a 7-0 lead with 9:02 left in the opening quarter.
Busbee, a junior transfer from St. Anthony, rushed for 93 yards and scored three touchdowns.
“I believed in my team,” Busbee said. “Followed my reads and my blocks and did my thing.”
Mayfair answered back with a touchdown drive that was kept alive by a penalty on Cypress while the Monsoons were in punt formation at midfield. Johnson eventually scored on a 10-yard run to tie it 7-7 with 3:43 left in the first quarter.
Both teams then delivered back-to-back big plays on special teams.
Cypress lined up in punt formation near midfield, but Xavier Guerrero caught the short snap and hit White over the middle for a 54-yard touchdown to give the Centurions a 14-7 lead with 8:25 left in the first half.
Cypress then tried another short kickoff and it deflected off two players before Max Mitchell picked it up and returned it 90 yards for a touchdown to tie it 14-14.
Mayfair had an 80-yard touchdown called back on a holding penalty and Matthew Baldonado intercepted a pass shortly afterward, returning it to the Monsoon 1, where Busbee scored on the next play for a 21-14 lead with 2:36 left in the first half.
“We didn’t play very well at the start of the game and it’s something we’ve got to fix,” Bedell said.
Mayfair would tie it up before the end of the half, however, using a 45-yard run by Johnson to move into Cypress territory and eventually scoring on a 2-yard run by Calvin with 33 seconds to go before halftime.
Both teams scored on their opening drives of the second half.
Busbee scored on a 37-yard run to give the Centurions a 28-21 lead.
The Monsoons converted two fourth down plays before Johnson ran in from 2 yards out to tie it 28-28.
Johnson broke through the line of scrimmage on third-and-1 and scored on a 76-yard run to give Mayfair its first lead at 35-28 with 1:48 left in the third quarter.
The Monsoons didn’t waste any time after Gilbreath intercepted a pass near midfield. Calvin hit Mitchell with a 55-yard touchdown strike to stretch the lead to 42-28 with 10:34 left in the game.
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