No. 3
St. John Bosco (Bellflower) and No. 19
Centennial (Corona) locked horns in an instant classic in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 semifinals and the Braves pulled out a 43-42 win.
Cornell Hatcher Jr. scored his fifth touchdown of the night with 8 seconds left to cut the deficit to 43-42. Matt Logan decided to go for the win and the Braves stuffed
Husan Longstreet's rushing attempt on the two-point conversion. After the Huskies recovered the onside kick
Max Amasio sacked Longsteet to seal the victory.
Senior quarterback
Caleb Sanchez had a monster night throwing for six touchdowns giving him 34 on the season. The game was tied at 14 after the first quarter, then the Huskies reeled off 10 straight points to take a 24-14 lead. The Braves responded scoring the final 14 points taking a 28-24 lead into halftime.
Corona Centennial shutout the Braves in the third quarter and took a 36-28 lead with 11:26 remaining. Sanchez led the Braves down the field and connected with
Madden Williams for a 7-yard score then found
Stacy Dobbins on the two-point conversion to tie the game at 36 with 9:22 left. The Braves retook the lead after a 4-yard touchdown pass from Sanchez to
Tommy Maher with 3:29 remaining to make it 43-36.
No. 5
Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) had no problem in the other CIF Southern Section Division 1 semifinal rolling past No. 21
Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth, Calif.), 42-14. The Monarchs have won four in a row since a 28-0 loss at St. John Bosco (Bellflower). They have outscored their last four opponents 170-46. Up next for Mater Dei is a rematch against the Braves next Friday at the Coliseum.
This will be the sixth time since 2016 these two SoCal powers square off in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 championship. St. John Bosco has won three of the previous five meetings, including the last two. The Braves beat Mater Dei in 2016, 2019 and 2022. The Monarchs beat St. John Bosco in 2017 and 2018. Mater Dei beat Servite (Anaheim) in 2021 and there were no playoffs in 2020 after the football season was moved to the spring.
Isaac Wilson finished his high school career leading No. 18
Corner Canyon (Draper, Utah) to a 41-27 win over
Skyridge (Lehi, Utah) in the UHSAA 6A state championship. It was the Chargers first state title since 2020 when
Jaxson Dart led them to a 14-0 record. He was named the MaxPreps Player of the Year that season and Wilson is among the short list of candidates to take home that award this year.
He finished the game completing 15 of 23 passes for 251 yards and two touchdowns to go with 20 carries for 192 yards and three more scores. His 54-yard touchdown run with 6:59 left to put Corner Canyon up 41-27 sealed the victory. The four-star Utah commit racked up 5,845 yards of total offense and 62 touchdowns this season. His total yards ranks second-best all-time in state history in a single-season only trailing Dart's mark of 5,867 yards he set in 2020.
No. 4
IMG Academy (Bradenton, Fla.) beat
St. Frances Academy (Baltimore) 17-14 to improve to 10-0. The Ascenders went into halftime with a 10-0 lead and held off a late rally from the Panthers. After St. Frances Academy forced a turnover on downs in the final minute, five-star Oklahoma commit
David Stone jumped on a fumble on a bad snap to ice the game.
The Georgia AAAAAAA playoffs feature five MaxPreps Top 25 teams and they all won advancing to the quarterfinals.
No. 12
Walton (Marietta) cruised to a 48-19 victory against
North Gwinnett (Suwanee) setting up a huge showdown against
Julian Lewis and No. 17
Carrollton next Friday. The Trojans won their 11th game in a row with a 45-28 win over
Valdosta. These two met in last year's AAAAAAA quarterfinals and Carrollton won 52-27. Lewis threw for 333 yards and four scores.
No. 7
DeSoto (Texas) took down
Wylie East (Wylie, Texas) 42-20 setting up a huge third round matchup in the UIL 6A Division 2 playoffs against
DJ Lagway and
Willis. Lagway has led the Wildkats to their best season in school history as they head into next week's matchup 12-0. The five-star Florida commit has accounted for 71 total touchdowns.
MaxPreps Top 25 National Scoreboard
Idle
Friday, 7 p.m.
Saturday, 4 p.m.
Thursday, 7 p.m.
Friday, 7 p.m.
Friday, 2:30 p.m.
Saturday, 6 p.m.
Friday, 7 p.m.
