By Ken Pivernetz

An alert Lakewood High defense enabled multipurpose quarterback Mike Rae to lead the Lancers to a surprisingly easy 19-7 win over Mater Dei Saturday night at the Santa Ana Bowl. Rae, as usual, was superb in completing 11 of 14 passes for 84 yards and two touchdowns, but it was the defense that set up two of the scores and contained the Monarchs except for one brief lapse near the end of the half.

It was Lakewood's third win in a row and set up next Saturday night's big game with St. Paul at Anaheim Stadium that will feature two of Southern California's top ranked teams. All the scoring came in the first half. The Lancers went to work right away before most of the 5,058 fans had a chance to get settled, taking the opening kickoff and traveling 60 yards in 10 plays. Rae didn't miss a pass in the drive, hitting Rick Gillies for 19 yards, Rich Jones for 7 and then setting up a 7-yard strike to Gillies by running 14 yards. Rae missed his first PAT attempt for the season as the snap from center was high.

After that, it was practically all defense for Lakewood. Mater Dei was faced with a fourth and 10 on its own 40 following the ensuing kickoff when Monarch Jim Long had his punt blocked by Cal Clack that put Lakewood back in business on the 39. This time it took only five plays to score as Al Lemmerman rambled 16 yards, Larry O'Brien for 12 more and Lemmerman again for four yards to the nine.

With second and six at the nine, Rae found the ever present Gillies all alone in the end zone and the sophomore end hung on to make it 12-0. Rae's attempted PAT kick was blocked. Clack and Tom Knudson set up Lakewood's last TD after Long fumbled a poor pass from center when he was attempting to punt from his own 25 on fourth and 32. The bounding ball bounced all the way to the six with Clack and Knudson the first to reach it. Rae gained five yards and Lemmerman dived in from one yard out to wrap up Lakewood's scoring for the night with only three seconds gone in the second quarter.

Mater Dei got on the scoreboard with 52 seconds left in the half on a 29-yard pass from Ted Hamilton to halfback Tom Gerhis. It was his only completion of the night in six attempts and climaxed a 54 yard drive that featured a 13-yard run by Gerhis. A scoreless second half had only one serious threat.

Mater Dei's Gerhis recovered a Lancer fumble on the Lakewood 43 and the Monarchs consumed 13 plays in going all the way to the two where Mark Dunn fumbled on a fourth down play and Rae recovered. Lakewood then played ball control at its best, running off 18 of the next 19 plays to end the game. Clack, Knudson, John Wilkens, Bruce Crawford, Elliott Neff and Andy Gordon were all defensive standouts for Lakewood. Mater Dei is now 0-3, having lost to three teams ranked in the CIF's Top 10-Santa Ana 31-13, Loyola 14-6 and Lakewood.