Jordon Davison shows power running that was a big factor for state/national No. 1 Mater Dei in win on Friday vs St. John Bosco in CIFSS D1 championship. Photo: Scott Kurtz.
It wasn’t close to the 59-14 triumph from earlier this season, but national/state No. 1 Mater Dei of Santa Ana tops state No. 2 St. John Bosco of Bellflower, 31-24, to win its second straight CIF Southern Section D1 championship. They will now go into the CIF Open Division state final in two weeks to face 12-0 De La Salle of Concord as massive favorites to make it two straight state titles and five state titles overall.
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Very few high school football fans in Southern California, or the 7,407 fans that packed Veteran’s Memorial Stadium on the campus of Long Beach City College on Friday night thought the CIF Southern Section Division 1 championship game would be a duplication of the last two meetings between Mater Dei of Santa Ana and St. John Bosco of Bellflower, both lopsided victories by the Monarchs, a 59-14 Trinity League win this season, and a 35-7 victory in last year’s CIFSS D1 title game. It wasn’t.
This year’s CIFSS D1 championship was anything but similar to the previous two matchups. However, in the end it was Cal-Hi Sports top-ranked Mater Dei (12-0) holding off its arch-rivals and No. 2 ranked St. John Bosco in a 31-24 victory in which the Braves gave the Monarchs their toughest test of the season in a game that produced the smallest margin of victory for Mater Dei all season.
“Adversity. That’s something that we talked about since we hadn’t had that kind of a game, and I wanted to see how our kids would step up to the occasion,” said first year head coach Raul Lara, who won his sixth CIF Southern Section title and second in the first year at the helm at two schools after winning in 2001 at Long Beach Poly in a win over Mater Dei.
“Obviously Bosco came out here and their coaching staff had them ready to go, their schemes were solid, so they did a good job,” continued Lara. “What I’m more proud of is these guys finally got tested and they did very well and they overcame that.”
Mater Dei head coach Raul Lara is about to get a watery substance splashed on him toward the end of team’s big win vs St John Bosco. Photo: Scott Kurtz.
In a lot of respects, the game somewhat resembled the Aesop fable The Tortoise and the Hare with the powerful Monarchs’ offensive line allowing 6-foot, 215-pound Oregon-committed senior running back Jordon Davison to grind out the yards, while the just as solid Mater Dei defensive line pretty much snuffed out the St. John Bosco running game and forced the Braves to counter with some explosive plays from the passing game for its tallies.
The real difference maker was Davison. Other than some designed runs and scrambles by 6-foot-1, 210-pound Washington-bound quarterback Dash Beierly, he was the only Mater Dei running back to carry the ball. After all was said and done, Davison was the real workhorse. He had his best game of the season after carrying the ball 28 times for 196 yards and three touchdowns, but when talking about his performance Davison’s answers showed humility.
“I want to give the credit to God and my teammates, and the coaches. They put us in the right situations and we came out here and executed,” Davison said. “It would not have been possible without the O-line. Those big guys up front are unbelievable.”
“Coming into the game I knew I was going to have put the team on my back and play my game,” Davison continued.
Beierly rushed for 59 yards on eight carries, but despite only being sacked once the St. John Bosco pass rush bothered him and forced him out of the pocket several times. He finished 9-of-18 for 119 yards and one touchdown.
In preparation for the game, Mater Dei added an offensive lineman and that seemed to help it dominate the line of scrimmage on offense.
“The coaches noticed something, and we stuck with it as we saw it was there all night,” said Davison about adding more punch to the offensive line.
The Mater Dei defensive secondary gave up a few big plays but the defensive line limited St. John Bosco to a mere 29 yards rushing on 16 carries.
Mater Dei won the toss and deferred. St. John Bosco got the ball but after five plays 6-foot-1, 165-pound freshman quarterback Koa Malau’ulu was intercepted by Daryus Dixson. The 6-foot, 185-pound senior Penn State-committed defensive back stepped in front of the would be receiver and returned the ball to the Braves’ seven.
The Mater Dei offense wasn’t able to punch it in, but senior kicker Dominic Zante came on and hit a 28-yard field goal and the Monarchs had a 3-0 lead at the end of the first quarter they would never relinquish.
St. John Bosco ran seven plays on its ensuing possession but was forced to punt and Mater Dei had the ball at its own 16 yard line.
The next Mater Dei offensive series produced the game’s longest scoring drive when the Monarchs ground out 84 yards in 14 plays culminating in a 4-yard TD run by Davison. Senior Abduall Sanders then took it in for a 2-point conversion and Mater Dei had an 11-0 lead with 9:38 left in the second quarter.
St. John Bosco (11-2) answered quickly. A one-handed acrobatic catch by 6-foot-3, 191-pound junior wide receiver Daniel Odom was followed by two roughing the passer penalties on Mater Dei that kept the Braves’ 11-play, 71-yard scoring drive alive that culminated in a 10-yard TD pass from Malau’ulu to 6-foot-2, 182-pound junior wide receiver Madden Williams that cut the Monarchs lead to 11-7 with 3:57 left in the half.
St. John Bosco’s Daniel Odom (left) and Madden Williams do congratulatory celebration after a TD for Braves in their CIFSS D1 title game vs Mater Dei. Photo: Scott Kurtz.
Once again, Mater Dei answered back with a six-play scoring drive that included two of the biggest Monarchs’ plays of the game. Nearly a third of Beierly’s passing yards came on a 42-yard completion to 6-foot-2, 175-pound junior wide receiver and top D1 recruit Kayden Dixon-Wyatt who pulled in a 42-yard reception. That was followed by a 23-yard run by Davison down to the three of Bosco, and on the next play Davison blasted in for a TD which after a failed two-point conversion gave Mater Dei a 17-7 lead with 2:14 left in the half.
St. John Bosco was not done. After a 27-yard completion by Malau’ulu to Odom and an incompletion, the Braves’ freshman signal-caller found fellow freshman Darren Tubbs Jr. for a 53-yard touchdown and it was 17-14 Mater Dei with 1:15 left in the half.
With little time left in the half, Beierly was able to get Mater Dei down to the Braves’ 17 yard line in eight plays, but the eighth play was an incompletion and the Monarchs had to settle for a 34-yard field goal attempt, this time by senior kicker Joseph Gutierrez, but Bosco’s sophomore Ethan Coach got through to block it and the half ended with a 17-14 lead.
It seemed like that could have made a momentum swing as it fired up Bosco and when the Braves came out for the second half their players were animated and seemed energized.
Bosco held Mater Dei to a three-and-out on its first second-half possession but the Monarchs returned the favor on the next Braves’ drive and the teams exchanged punts. With the exchange, however, Mater Dei got the better field position to start its second drive of the third quarter at the 48 of Bosco. Five straight runs by Davison culminated in a 15-yard scamper around right end and into the end zone untouched, and Mater Dei pushed the lead to 24-14.
No quit Bosco came right back, and after a six-play, 80-yard drive concluded with a 2-yard TD run by 5-foot-8, 181-pound sophomore running back Maliq Allen, the Braves had cut the deficit to 24-21.
The first three plays on the following drive for Mater Dei came in the third quarter, but after marching 59 yards in seven plays to the Bosco 21, Beierly ran a bootleg around left end and it appeared he might score, but he was forced out of bounds at the one and at the same time he was stripped of the ball by Coach and fumbled into and out of the end zone for a touchback.
At that point, instead of facing another possible double-digit deficit, Bosco got the ball with a chance to take the lead with a touchdown. The Mater Dei pass defense had given up some big plays but at that point it came up huge and forced a punt after three straight Braves’ incompletions.
Mater Dei wasted little time and after getting the ball back at the Bosco 47. Beierly orchestrated a 5-play drive that ended with a 7-yard TD pass to 6-foot, 185-pound senior Marcus Harris. That gave Mater Dei a 31-21 lead with 6:15 left, but Bosco was still not done.
Joshua Holland of St. John Bosco and Kayden Dixon-Wyatt of Mater Dei go at it for a pass during CIFSS D1 championship. Photo: Scott Kurtz.
After a 27-yard kickoff return to the 35 by junior Christian Davis, Bosco had the ball at its own 35. Malau’ulu took Bosco downfield and after nine plays he got them down to the nine of Mater Dei. However, a 15-yard penalty was followed by a sack by Oregon-committed 6-foot-3, 225-pound senior edge Nasir Wyatt, who came flying in to drop Malau’ulu for a seven yard loss. Knowing he needed two scores to win or tie, St. John Bosco head coach Jason Negro decided to try a 48-yard field goal and junior kicker Christopher Wallace booted it home with several yards to spare, and the Bosco faithful had a glimmer of hope at 31-24, but there was just 2:21 left.
Everyone in the house knew what was coming next, but the Bosco onside kick was recovered by Dixson, and after 4-yard and 26-yard runs by Davison, Beierly was able to take knees to close it out and deliver Mater Dei a 14th CIF Southern Section championship. This also marked only the second time since the two Trinity League national powerhouses began to dominate California in 2016 that one of them has been able to beat the other one twice in the same season. The first time was in 2017 and that unbeaten MD team already is regarded as one of the three greatest teams in state history. This year’s team is clearly headed in that direction.
Malau’ulu would finish 14-of-26 for 297 yards and two TDs, but he was sacked twice and intercepted once.
In the end it was the hard-nosed running of Davison that ultimately decided the outcome.
“I remember during the game telling my assistants ‘give it to your horses,’” Lara remarked. “Especially in a close game like this you want to go with your best players, and here we go.”
“I’m all about the team. I’m a team player,” said Davison humbly. “I knew we were going to come out here and get the W.”
It seems like over the past several seasons the CIF Southern Section Division I title game championship has pretty much turned into a grudge match between Trinity League archrivals Mater Dei and St. John Bosco.
Since 2013, when St. John Bosco won its first CIFSS championship with a victory over Mater Dei in the old Pac-5 Division, the teams have met eight times in the top division (no championships contested in 2020) with each winning four titles, but since 2016 it’s been only those two teams that have squared of with Mater Dei winning in 2017, 2018, 2021, 2023 and now 2024, and it was in 2016, 2019 and 2022 that St. John Bosco captured its championships.
For St. John Bosco, the future would seem to be very bright with just about every skill position players returning and only 24 seniors on a current 80-player roster.
Mater Dei will now face De La Salle of Concord for the CIF Open Division state championship in two weeks at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo.
De La Salle head coach Justin Alumbaugh was on hand Friday night to scout the game and will hope to use that as a means of changing his Spartans’ fortune against Mater Dei. The two teams have met twice in Open Division title games and Mater Dei has won both — 52-21 in 2017 and 35-21 in the most recent matchup in 2018.
Harold Abend is the associate editor of CalHiSports.com and the vice president of the California Prep Sportswriters Association. He can be reached at marketingharoldabend@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow him on Twitter: @HaroldAbend
