High school football: Mater Dei, St. John Bosco head into showdown atop MaxPreps Top 25 California rankings

Like a Thanksgiving table, it's all arranged, neat and pretty, with all the fixings. Top-ranked Mater Dei and No. 2 St. John Bosco prevailed handily last week in tuneups and now meet Saturday for the unofficial 2021 spring California high school football championship.

The No. 1 Monarchs rolled a very good Santa Margarita team 49-13 on Friday behind 291 yards passing and four touchdowns from freshman quarterback Elijah Brown and two rushing scores by Raleek Brown. Elijah Brown fired TD passes to four different receivers.

Bosco led 48-0 at halftime en route to a 55-0 victory over Orange Lutheran. According to the Press-Telegram, sophomore quarterback Pierce Clarkson threw three touchdown passes on his first three attempts and the Braves scored six touchdowns on their first 22 plays while sharpening up for the Monarchs.

Bosco has outscored five opponents 266-91, while the Monarchs have a 174-40 margin over their four foes. The two national powers have split their last 10 meetings, including their last two to decide the Southern Section Division I title. The combined scores of those two games: St. John Bosco 52, Mater Dei 51.

Saturday's showdown is set for 7 p.m. at Santa Ana Stadium.

The biggest movers in the rankings this week were No. 16 Serra (Gardena) and No. 21 Chaminade (West Hills).

Serra won its fourth straight, 38-17 over Bishop Amat, after a season-opening overtime loss to Long Beach Poly. Among those wins was a victory over Chaminade, which entered the rankings after beating previous No. 8 Alemany 34-27. Serra jumped seven spots this week.

Chaminade started 0-2 but has won three straight, getting a huge boost from starting quarterback Jaylen Henderson, who had planned to sit out the season. He returned in an overtime loss to Serra, but has since led his team to three straight wins.

In the win over Alemany, Henderson completed 15-of-20 for 244 yards and four touchdowns and rushed 11 times for 123 yards and another score. The highly-ranked dual threat has signed to Fresno State.

Another notable team performance last week was No. 8 Cathedral Catholic (San Diego), which moved up one spot after a 41-0 win over previous No. 23 Lincoln (San Diego). Lincoln had outscored its three previous opponents, 152-0. In Cathedral Catholic's win, Lucky Sutton rushed for 235 yards and three touchdowns and the defense allowed just 65 total yards and three first downs. MaxPreps Top 25 California Football Rankings