No. 5 Mater East football outlasts No. 3 Sloan Canyon with final play stop

No. 5 Mater East football outlasts No. 3 Sloan Canyon with final play stop Mater East’s shot squad did not record a walk in the first half connected Thursday nighttime against Sloan Canyon. The Knights did not need to because they held an 18‑point lead at halftime. When they did complete their first pass, it proved to be a dagger in a clash of the two top Class 4A Southern Region football teams. James Monaghan connected with S’Marion Coleman, who raced for an 18‑yard touchdown that put Mater East up by 24 points early in the third quarter. Mater East, ranked No. 5 in the Review‑Journal’s Southern Nevada rankings, dominated on the ground, forced three turnovers and held off a late rally by No. 3 Sloan Canyon to win 27‑19 at Sloan Canyon in front of a sold‑out, standing‑room‑only crowd. “Nothing tin faze us,” said Mater East interim manager Gio Fauolo, who added that the Knights’ regular head coach Tim Hough will be back with the squad next week. “We came here, and we did what we thought we would do. We expected to win.” “I know everybody thought we would lose. There was a couple things saying we’re not big enough, but I think we showed we got one of the better (offensive lines) in the state.” Mater East (4‑0, 1‑0 4A Southern League) is in prime position to claim the No. 1 seed in the 4A Southern Region playoffs. Sloan Canyon is the reigning 4A portion champion and defeated Mater East 50‑22 in last year’s 4A Southern Region semifinals. “They kicked us out of the playoffs last year, so being that we had 2 weeks of preparation — each week it was just we got to beat Sloan. Beat Sloan, we got to beat the Pirates,” said Monaghan, who shared snaps with Rajahn Butler and had 27 passing yards and 21 rushing yards. “We played a great game. Our defense stepped up in the first half, and our offense came back. We were just going, going, going.” Sloan Canyon (3‑1, 0‑1) made things interesting in the second half with backup back Derek Backman, who threw an 18‑yard touchdown pass to Kaiden Hunn with two minutes left in the third quarter to cut the deficit to 27‑11. As Mater East’s offense struggled to move the ball for the remainder of the second half, Sloan Canyon added another touchdown on a seven‑yard run from Jermaine Wilson Jr., and the ensuing two‑point conversion made it a 27‑19 game with 5:49 remaining. Mater East turned it over on downs on fourth‑and‑goal with under two minutes left. Backman led Sloan Canyon on one final drive, but at Mater East’s 10‑yard line, Backman was sacked and Mater East escaped with the win. “They’re a good team,” Fauolo said. “We knew they wouldn’t go away. They got a whole bunch of my brothers (former UNLV teammates coaching at Sloan Canyon) across the field. I know how competitive they are and they weren’t going to back down. We got to do a better job of putting them away.” Things did not start well for Mater East. The Knights were forced into a possible three‑and‑out on the game’s opening possession and then elected to go for a fake punt on fourth and long that Sloan Canyon sniffed out immediately. Sloan Canyon obtained the ball at Mater East’s 21 early in the game, and the Pirates converged on a fourth‑and‑3 on a seven‑yard pass from Cade Hoshino to Talon Wittlief. Mater East’s defense stood tall on three consecutive plays at the one‑yard line, and the Pirates settled for a 20‑yard field goal to take a 3‑0 lead midway through the first quarter. Mater East recovered its ground with Marcus Williams breaking off a couple of runs, and on fourth‑and‑3, offensive lineman Rayshawn Brown ran up the middle for a touchdown to give the Knights a 7‑3 lead at the end of the first quarter. Knights back Rajahn Butler broke off a 63‑yard run in the second quarter, and on the next play Brown pounded it in from a yard out for another touchdown to put Mater East up 13‑3 after a missed extra point early in the second quarter. Mater East’s defense produced a play when Hoshino fumbled and Justice Kaina recovered with the Pirates in the red zone. The Knights’ defense created another play on the ensuing Sloan Canyon possession when Hawaii commit Khalil Abdullah intercepted Hoshino and raced 40 yards for a touchdown. Butler’s two‑point run gave Mater East a 21‑3 lead that it held until halftime. “We’re known for our DBs,” Fauolo said. “He made a play when we needed. That’s a play (Abdullah) can make every time. Hawaii knows what they’re getting. In the big‑time game, he’s going to make a big‑time play.” Mater East accumulated 184 rushing yards in the first half and did not attempt a pass on three full attempts. Sloan Canyon