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BELLFLOWER — Mater Dei’s quest to redeem a painful loss last season continued Friday against the rival who spoiled its storybook ending.
The Monarchs’ football team will need to regroup after their trip to St. John Bosco on Friday.
Before a sellout crowd of about 7,000, the Braves defeated Mater Dei 28-0 to grab sole possession of first place in the Trinity League and take a huge step toward securing the top seed for the CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoffs.
Mater Dei (7-1, 2-1) entered with a No. 1 ranking in several rational polls while St. John Bosco (7-1, 3-0) was ranked ninth nationally by MaxPreps.
The Braves snapped a four-year losing streak in league to Mater Dei and handed the Monarchs their shutout loss since 2011 to Orange Lutheran. That score was also 28-0.
St. John Bosco held Mater Dei to 182 yards on offense.
“They played great,” first-year Mater Dei coach Frank McManus said of the Braves. “There’s some things we can do, we’ll look at differently. I think the coaches got surprised a little bit and tried to make some adjustments. It just didn’t happen. Great game plan for the home team.”
The schools’ rivalry centers on the Division 1 title and that’s ultimately what senior-led Mater Dei wants, especially after the way last season ended at the Rose Bowl.
Mater Dei quarterback Elijah Brown said before this season that his squad was seeking “redemption” for a 24-22 loss against St. John Bosco in the 2022 Division 1 final in Pasadena. The Stanford-bound senior said his class felt somewhat responsible for the defeat, which marked the final game of legendary Mater Dei coach Bruce Rollinson.
“The season is not over,” McManus said. “There’s plenty of opportunity for us to grow and get better as a team.”
Mater Dei’s trademark so far under McManus, a defensive back coach under Rollinson, has been defense. The Monarchs entered the showdown having allowed only 29 points on defense.
But St. John Bosco’s defense held the advantage from the start, recording three sacks to help the Braves take a 14-0 lead at intermission.
UCLA committed running back Cameron Jones (138 yards rushing) took care of the early offense for St. John Bosco.
The 6-foot-2, 235-pound senior scored on a 1-yard run on third-and-goal in the middle of the second quarter as the Braves opened a 7-0.
It was the first time Mater Dei trailed on the season.
Jones set up the score by breaking a 37-yard run — the longest play of the game — to the Mater Dei 5-yard line.
After St. John Bosco sacked Brown twice on the ensuing possession, Jones capped a 54-yard drive with a 17-yard touchdown reception from Caleb Sanchez. Jones lined up at tight end on the play as the Braves led 14-0.
Earlier in the drive, tight end William McKissick made a leaping, one-handed catch for an 18-yard reception to the Mater Dei 11.
To make matters more grim for Mater Dei, running back Jordon Davison walked off at halftime with the aid of crutches. He finished with one carry and one reception.
St. John Bosco extended its lead to 21-0 in the middle of the third period as it executed a double-pass. Wide receiver Stacy Dobbins took a lateral from Sanchez and threw to a wide open Tommy Maher for a 28-yard touchdown on the trick play.
The Braves added a 9-yard TD run by Chauncey Sylvester in the fourth and sealed the shutout with a late interception in the end zone by Frankie Edwards III.
St. John Bosco held Mater Dei to 121 yards passing and 61 rushing. The Monarchs threw 23 passes and rushed the ball 23 times.
The Braves rushed for 163 yards and passed for 143 to outgain the Monarchs 306-182.
McManus credited St. John Bosco’s offense for motioning and shifting into different formations.
“Just testing the defense’s integrity a little bit,” he said. “I think they kind of understood what some of our calls were, too. So we got to do a better job as a staff just having an alternative in there.”
Mater Dei used all three of its timeouts in the first half while on defense.
Brown finished 10 of 18 for 81 yards while being under consistent pressure.
“We got (Brown) off platform, I think, the entire night,” St. John Bosco coach Jason Negro said of his defense, which was led by linebacker Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa’s seven tackles, half-a-sack and QB hurry.
St. John Bosco suffered its own upset loss earlier this season. The Braves were ranked No. 1 the nation by High School Football America when they fell at Kahuku of Hawaii 30-23. But that defeat felt like a distant memory Friday.
“Man, we played a complete football game,” Negro said. “It’s scary to see how good we can be if we can continue to trend in this direction.”
Next week, Mater Dei plays on Thursday, Oct. 19 when it takes on Orange Lutheran at Orange Coast College. St. John Bosco travels to JSerra on Oct. 20.
