Evan Williams from St. Francis of Mountain View grabs touchdown pass despite tight coverage during state-ranked Lancers’ win over Notre Dame (Sherman Oaks) at Honor Bowl last Friday night at home field. Photo: Willie Eashman.
We only dropped Orange Lutheran one spot for losing to No. 4 Corona Centennial in what was a tight game until midway in the fourth quarter. Centennial also may benefit later on in CIFSS D1 playoff seedings due to No. 1 Mater Dei now having a forfeit loss. The one team getting a strong boost was Serra of Gardena, going to No. 10 with a flashy outing at the Honor Bowl. The highest ranked newcomer in the first 25 of the Top 50, meanwhile, is new No. 23 Westlake of Westlake Village.
For teams ranked No. 26 to No. 50 (Also Gold Club post), CLICK HERE.
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(Last week’s ranking in parentheses)
(After games of Saturday, Aug. 25)
(Contributing: Chuck Nan for Orange County, Daniel Poulter for Northern California, Todd Cataldi for L.A. & Ventura counties)
1. (1) Mater Dei (Santa Ana) 2-0*
This game, between two elite echelon schools in the national landscape, garnered a great deal of attention all week, but turned out to be quite a lopsided affair. Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas, Nevada) hosted Mater Dei and was looking for payback from last year’s defeat that halted its 55-game win-streak. Despite a sloppy start in the first quarter that saw two turnovers (interception and fumble) on their first two drives, and continued nagging penalties, the Monarchs’ defense took control of the contest and rolled to a 42-0 victory. In the rout, many of Mater Dei’s expected offensive playmakers delivered. Sean Dollars and Bryce Young were magnificent. Dollars scored three touchdowns from long distance — 49 and 71 yards receiving and 55 yards via a rush. Young was 10-of-13 (76.9%) for 252 yards with four touchdown passes. The perhaps bigger news came earlier in the week, however, when Mater Dei officials self-reported some incorrect info about a player on the roster wound up having to forfeit the first game to Bishop Amat of La Puente. In the rankings world, it just goes down as an asterisk (at least the way we do it) but officially in the eyes of the CIF and CIF Southern Section it’s a loss and it may have some rather significant playoff seeding implications down the road. This week, the Monarchs remain on the road, much closer to home, as they face unranked La Mirada.
