No. 10 St. John Bosco beats No. 6 Mater Dei with late fumble recovery

Breaks went each way Friday, with No. 6 Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) and No. 10 St. John Bosco (Bellflower, Calif.) each registering monumental plays on special teams and defense.

The Braves, though, got one more than the Monarchs - and it came late, allowing St. John Bosco to walk away with a 28-25 victory over Mater Dei in the Trinity League opener between two national powerhouses.

Essentially, the game-winning play came with 1:49 remaining in the contest when the ball slipped out of the quarterback's hand. Monarchs quarterback Jack Lowary suffered his third lost fumble of the game as his team was driving for a chance to at least send the contest into overtime. Braves sophomore defensive end Jacob Callier recovered the loose ball around the Mater Dei 46-yard line and the Braves were able to ride it out in victory formation. The play killed the momentum Mater Dei had gained when it stopped Bosco on a fourth-and-2 to get the ball back, thanks to pressure from Malik McMorris.

The Monarchs started that drive at their own 23 and made it into St. John Bosco territory before the fumble.

See the Qwixcore game log, courtesy of David Arredondo

It was a different major break that got Mater Dei back in the contest. With about five minutes remaining, a high snap on a punt allowed the Monarchs' Jalen Cole to block, scoop and score the ball to narrow the deficit to 28-25. But the only reason that play didn't give Mater Dei the lead was because the Braves' Traveon Beck had taken Lowary's first fumble 70 yards for a score with 11:35 remaining in the fourth.

The contest started with Mater Dei missing a chip-shot field goal, but Elias Deeb redeemed himself with a 33-yarder with 1:49 left in the first quarter. Bosco retorted with an 80-yard drive capped off by Josh Rosen taking a 2-yard rush in.

The Monarchs grabbed their last lead of the game when Brandon LaMarche took it in from 4 yards out with 8:34 left in the second quarter to make it 10-7.

Bosco got a 3-yard scoring pass from Rosen to Kaylin Franklin with 4:25 left on a 69-yard drive and then with 1:52 left, Lowary fumbled on a sack and it eventually led to a 5-yard rushing score from Sean McGrew in the final minute to make it 21-10 heading into halftime.

Mater Dei did get an 11-yard touchdown from Noah Delgadillo with 3:17 left in the third quarter, and a Kyle Penniston 2-point conversion, to make it 21-18, but just couldn't get over the hump and grab a lead in the second half.

The close result was everything prep football fans expected from the Monarchs (fifth nationally in the MaxPreps Computer Rankings) and St. John Bosco (eighth). And it's extremely unlikely that this will be the last Trinity League contest that comes down to the final ticks, as all six teams are off to great starts against tough schedules.

The victory for the defending CIF Open Division champion Braves was their fifth in a row over the Monarchs, including one in last year's CIF Southern Section title game.