What We Think: State Roundup 10/18

No. 1 Mater Dei and No. 2 St. John Bosco set up their annual regular season showdown with wins on Friday night in the Trinity League. Big NorCal winners on the night included state No. 6 De La Salle, No. 22 St. Francis of Mountain View and unranked but soon to be on the bubble Turlock in the game we saw in Turlock. Lincoln of San Diego also dominated in a No. 1 vs No. 2 showdown in the CIF San Diego Section and there was a hard-to-believe small school upset staged on a field that we drove by on the way home.

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It hasn’t been as easy in recent weeks for state No. 2 St. John Bosco of Bellflower to continue winning games in the Trinity League as it has been for No. 1 Mater Dei of Santa Ana. But the Braves once again matched a Mater Dei win on Friday by getting into the win column themselves at SoFi Stadium on Friday night and that sets up this year’s regular season showdown with the Monarchs. Both teams will enter unbeaten. That game will be next Friday at the Santa Ana Bowl.

Bosco’s annual Brotherhood Bowl with state No. 5 Servite of Anaheim is the game that was played at SoFi Stadium. It was just a 13-10 lead at halftime, but head coach Jason Negro’s squad put together scoring drives in the second half to secure a 27-17 win over the Friars.

The win capped a strange week for the Braves that began with the sudden departure of junior quarterback Matai Fuiava, who moved to Hawaii and thus became immediately eligible to play at Kahuku High there. If healthy, Fuiava probably would have started against Servite and has been the No. 1 QB since the start of the season. Freshman Koa Malau’ulu, however, had played a lot and keyed a recent comeback win against Orange Lutheran. Malau’ulu didn’t need to lead a comeback but with the receivers he has and with the guidance of Negro and offensive coordinator Steven Lo there certainly wasn’t a drop in quarterback play on Friday.

Malau’ulu, according to the L.A. News Group, passed for 205 yards and three touchdowns, including a pair of TDs to junior Madden Williams to start the second half that turned a 13-10 contest into a more comfortable 27-10 lead. His other TD pass went to junior Carson Clark on a 32-yard throw in the first quarter.

Servite, which made a rankings jump after its first Trinity League game, a 20-7 win at JSerra, fell to 6-2 but its two losses have been to Mater Dei and now Bosco. The Friars still have Orange Lutheran and Santa Margarita to play to close the regular season. San Diego State-commit Quaid Carr had a good night running the ball with two touchdowns plus 19 carries for 158 yards. The Friars still didn’t have QB Leo Hannan (Michigan State) in the lineup with a leg injury, but he was in uniform this time and did warm up.

Mater Dei, meanwhile, ventured further south in Orange County than its Santa Ana home on Friday to face a state No. 7 JSerra of San Juan Capistrano squad that was playing at home. Following the team’s first two Trinity League wins of 40-18 over Santa Margarita of Rancho SM and 28-6 over Servite, it was a similar 41-17 win vs the Lions.

QB Dash Beierly (Washington) had three touchdown passes and rushed for 66 yards and another score to lead the MD offense. RB Jordon Davison also had 16 carries for 109 yards and one TD rushing. The defense was dominant up front with seven sacks, led by Jasir Wyatt (Oregon) with three and junior Tomuhini Tupui (Oregon) with two.

The Monarchs, also No. 1 in the nation by everyone who does national rankings, will be favored by two touchdowns or more in the upcoming matchup with Bosco. They also will be aware that they were also favored by about the same in last year’s regular season game at Bosco, but had probably the worst game they’ve had in nine years in taking a 28-0 loss. Mater Dei dominated in the rematch to win the CIF Southern Section D1 title, 35-7.

MORE MAJOR SCORES FROM AROUND THE STATE ON FRIDAY NIGHT

St. Francis (Mountain View) 27, St. Ignatius (San Francisco) 13

This NorCal showdown in San Francisco between the state No. 22 Lancers and state No. 20 Wildcats (who both have wins in the West Catholic Athletic League over preseason favorite Serra of San Mateo) was the game we had circled to go see following our return from a two-week trip to London and Paris. An issue with a car, however, foiled that plan.

The host Wildcats shut down the SF offense in the first half (just 20 yards) and took advantage of a fumble and another short field (35 yards) for a 13-0 lead. It was all St. Francis in the second half, beginning with an 80-yard run to start the third quarter from RB Kingston Keanaaina. He had another 4-yard TD run in the second quarter. The Lancers took the lead in the fourth quarter on a 63-yard TD pass from Aaron Knapp to Grant Righellis and then made it four scores in a row on a 1-yard TD by Knapp that was set up by a 60-yard run by Keanaaina.

St. Francis improved to 6-1 with its only loss to NorCal No. 1 De La Salle. St. Ignatius had its second loss after wins against Cathedral Catholic, Archbishop Riordan and Serra had boosted itself in all of the major rankings. The Wildcats lost their first game to San Ramon Valley of Danville (see below).

Lincoln (San Diego) 27, Cathedral Catholic (San Diego) 7

This became a No. 1 vs No. 2 matchup in the CIF San Diego Section after Cathedral Catholic won in a rout in its previous game, 52-7, over defending Open Division champion Granite Hills of El Cajon. Against Lincoln’s defense, the Dons were the ones on the other side of a similar game.

According to the San Diego Union Tribune, Lincoln’s defense only allowed 27 yards rushing on 18 carries and also put the clamps on Cathedral Catholic’s receivers. QB Brady Palmer had 164 yards passing for the Dons, but 62 of those came on a play in the fourth quarter with the outcome decided.

Oregon-committed QB Akili Smith Jr. didn’t have the same problems with the CCSD defense. He had 217 yards passing and two TDs. Lincoln will still be prevented from moving up too high in the next state rankings since it has a loss to JSerra of the Trinity League.

Turlock 33, Downey (Modesto) 14

With our car issue muddying up our plans, we looked for a more local game we could get to on Friday night and picked the Bulldogs hosting 7-0 Downey of Modesto. The Knights had been prolific on offense behind QB Carson Lamb in getting out to their perfect start, and while Turlock came in at only 4-3 its losses were to Folsom, Central of Fresno and Rocklin (all in the top 25 of the state when those games were played).

The battle-tested team was the one that came out on top. The Bulldogs also have a freshman QB, Scout Silva, who has been starting and coming up with big games that we wanted to see. Silva is small, maybe 5-foot-7 or 5-foot-8, but he can scramble, he can make throws and he showed a command for the offense that belied his youthful appearance.

With the Turlock defense also getting stops and Downey’s offense suffering from dropped passes, head coach James Peterson’s squad took a 21-0 lead and the game had the feel of it being a blowout. Silva had a 1-yard run, a 44-yard run and a 11-yard TD pass to Marcus Prestia to account for those three TDs.

Downey made it a game in the second quarter after scores set up by a fumble it recovered on the 6-yard line and then on a short punt. Lamb had a shovel pass TD of three yards to Elias Haynes and then a 42-yard throw to Joey Ramirez.

The Knights then had a couple of chances to score and perhaps tie the game at 21-21 in the third quarter, but were turned back. The play of the game came later in the third quarter when Silva avoided a sack and just before he was hit in front of his own sideline delivered a pass toward the end zone that was caught by Junior Silva (a senior and no relation to him) for a 43-yard touchdown.

Downey later was not able to take advantage of recovering a pair of fumbles and a fourth down stuff by the Turlock defense with about six minutes left basically sealed the win.

Everyone else in the media who attended the game (Modesto Bee, Turlock Journal & Front Row Preps) thought a final one-yard touchdown with a few seconds left by the Bulldogs was not needed and showed a lack of sportsmanship.

Lutheran (Orange) 13, Santa Margarita (Rancho SM) 10

This seems like a game in which both teams moved the ball, but couldn’t score much. The Lancers, ranked No. 4 in the state after their win in their previous game over JSerra, prevailed on a 20-yard field goal with two minutes left by Aiden Migirdichian and then there were sacks by Jireh Moe and Marcus Fakatau that stopped the Eagles. Santa Margarita fell to 3-5 overall, but it has a win over Corona Centennial.

De La Salle (Concord) 42, San Ramon Valley (Danville) 14

This matchup garnered much attention in the Bay Area since San Ramon Valley came in at 7-0 (including a win over St. Ignatius) and was up to No. 19 in the state. But the Spartans had “electric start” as described by head coach Justin Alumbaugh to Bay Area News Group reporter Joseph Dycus that gave them a 28-0 lead in the first quarter. Junior speedster Jaden Jefferson returned the opening kickoff for an 89-yard touchdown, which he also did in a game we saw last month at St. Mary’s of Stockton. The Spartans on that night, though, didn’t keep up with that momentum and nearly lost at the finish. This time, the defense may have played its best game of the season with seven sacks. An early fumble set up the second touchdown and Bubba Vargas had a 20-yard interception return touchdown that also pushed the lead out so far, so quickly. DLS improved to 7-0 in its first game back after we saw them defeat the NFL Academy of London on Oct. 8 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. The team now likely will go to 10-0 by the end of the regular season and will be the top seed for the CIF North Coast Section Open Division playoffs.

Mission Viejo 23, San Clemente 7

Despite being held far below its season scoring average, it was another dominant win for the Diablos, who have been No. 3 in our state rankings behind only Mater Dei and St. John Bosco and easily could be No. 2 when the CIF Southern Section D1 playoffs begin. The defense held the Tritons to just 63 yards total offense behind reported state sack leader Jaden Williams, who had two more and now has 22 for the season. Jayden “JD” Hill on the other side of the line had two sacks as well. San Clemente is the last team to beat Mission Viejo with its 20-10 win in a league game last season. This win also upped Mission Viejo’s win streak to 16 dating back to that game.

Centennial (Corona) 28, Murrieta Valley (Murrieta) 9

This wasn’t the usual league game for the Huskies that was over at halftime. Murrieta Valley, with just a loss to Servite coming into the game and with some good wins, made Centennial go on much longer drives for scores. Husan Longstreet only had one TD pass, but ended 22 of 33 for 251 yards. Reporter Eric-Paul Johnson of the Riverside Press-Enterprise also had RB Braylin Drake going for 120 yards on 16 carries with two TDs. Head coach Matt Logan won the 292nd game of his career and tied Dick Bruich of Fontana on the all-time state list (which also is tied for the most wins by a coach in the Inland Empire).

Ripon 27, Sonora 15

We’d call this the upset of the night and one of the biggest of the season as Sonora came in at 6-1 with just a one-point loss (52-51) to Hughson from the previous week. The Wildcats also have been as high as No. 3 in the state small school rankings with wins over Oakdale and Escalon. Ripon won for only the third time this season.

Mark Tennis is the co-founder and publisher of CalHiSports.com. He can be reached at markjtennis@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow Mark on the Cal-Hi Sports Twitter handle: @CalHiSports