SACRAMENTO — The stands at Sacramento State’s Hornet Stadium were all but empty 20 minutes after De La Salle-Concord’s football team took a thumping for the second straight season in the CIF State Open Division finals.

The Spartans committed five turnovers — one a pick-six — and fumbled eight times Saturday in a 52-21 loss to the country’s No. 1 team, Mater Dei-Santa Ana.

The Monarchs (15-0) were as good or better than advertised, led by the country’s top-rated junior quarterback, USC-commit JT Daniels. He completed 20 of 30 passes for 233 yards and three touchdowns and ran for two scores, including a scintillating 40-yard scramble out of the pocket.

Amon-Ra St. Brown, the nation’s top-rated senior receiver, caught eight passes for 137 yards, including a 38-yarder to open the scoring and a 22-yarder to close it.

With virtually no one around, Mater Dei spread out for its pride drill ritual. Coach Bruce Rollinson, winner of 287 games and two mythical national titles, led the team in a 1-minute drill that resembles a cross between a military formation and Polynesian Haka dance.

He’s done it after every game during his 29-year career, remembered most around these parts following losses of 42-0 and 34-6 — two of four consecutive losses to De La Salle in a series that began in 1998 — at the University of the Pacific in 1999 and 2001.

Mater Dei was playing for its first state championship, so Rollinson didn’t think his players needed any more motivation. But he gave it to them anyway, even though all of them were barely born during that four-year De La Salle domination.

“I told them I was 0-4 against them and I saw that really caught their attention,” he said. “Before the game, I could see in their eye they were ready. They were not going to be denied.”

De La Salle coach Justin Alumbaugh felt confident his team would be far more competitive than it was in last year’s 56-33 loss to St. John Bosco-Bellflower.

But the turnovers simply didn’t allow the Spartans to execute their game plan.

“We didn’t have to play perfect,” Alumbaugh said. “But we couldn’t lose the turnover battle. We didn’t need to give them anything. They’re good enough on their own.”

De La Salle (11-2) played hard and with spunk throughout, especially senior running back Kairee Robinson, who rushed 15 times for 102 yards and two touchdowns.

But the game plan was to avoid playing from behind, as the Spartans lacked an established passing attack. De La Salle even went to freshman Dorian Hale, who completed 4 of 6 passes for 69 yards.

But frankly, De La Salle was never in it. Down 21-0 and 31-7, there was no way to make up that kind of deficit against the best team in the country, which had played one of the best schedules in America.

After Robinson’s first TD cut the Mater Dei lead to 21-7, De La Salle recovered a pooch kick. Had they taken advantage of the short field, they would have climbed within a touchdown.

Instead, Zion Alefosio picked off an Erich Storti pass and sprinted 86 yards for a touchdown, making it 28-7.

“That was the backbreaker,” Alumbaugh said.

Mater Dei has 19 Division I FBS prospects on the 247Sports junior and senior recruiting list. De La Salle had four.

Two of those — two-way linemen Henry To’oto’o and Isaiah Foskey — are juniors. With Hale and top sophomore running back Shamar Garrett returning, the Spartans look to reload and extend their streak of 26 North Coast Section titles.

But do they have enough to compete with the Southern California elite? Even some Northern California foes — Division 1-A champion Folsom and Division 1-AA runner-up Pittsburg, along with Division 2-A champ St. Francis — have most of their rosters returning.

“We’ll be back,” Alumbaugh said. “We’re not going away."

MaxPreps senior writer Mitch Stephens covers high school sports for The Chronicle.