Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) and
St. John Bosco (Bellflower, Calif.) has turned into the best high school football rivalry over the last five years with both programs consistently at or near the top of the MaxPreps Top 25 rankings. Since 2016 both schools have
finished in the Top 10 every year except for 2020, which saw California push football to spring and Golden State teams weren't included in the national rankings discussion.
Mater Dei went wire-to-wire as the No. 1 team in 2017, going 15-0 while never trailing at any point during the season. They repeated as CIF Open Division state champs in 2018 and finished No. 2 in the MaxPreps Top 25.
St. John Bosco finished the 2019 season as MaxPreps National Champions after upsetting the Monarchs 39-34 in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 championship.
DJ Uiagalelei threw for 446 yards and five touchdowns and helped erase a 28-5 first half deficit to lead Bosco to its second section crown in a four-year span. Bosco beat De La Salle (Concord) 49-28 to win the school's third CIF Open Division title since 2013.
Mater Dei and St. John Bosco have played in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 championship every year since 2016 and have split the series (no playoffs happened in 2020). After St. John Bosco won six consecutive meetings from 2011-15 the Monarchs have won six of the last nine meetings, including a 34-17 win last spring.
Class of 2017
LB — Sal Aguilar | Montana State
DB — Chase Ault | UCLA
DB — Xavier Bell | Arizona, Portland State
LB — Connor Brazeel | California
WR — Osiris St. Brown | Stanford
DB — Jalen Cole | Montana State
DL — Fa'avae Fa'avae | Washington State, Idaho
DL — Austin Faoliu | Oregon, Dallas Cowboys
DB — Roman Kafentzis | Boise State
DB — Quentin Lake | UCLA
LB — Jackson McCleery | Montana State
K — Chase McGrath | USC, Tennessee
P — Ryan Stonehouse | Colorado State
Class of 2018
WR — Amon-Ra St. Brown | USC, Detroit Lions
OL — Tommy Brown | Alabama
QB — JT Daniels | USC, Georgia
DL — Andrew Faoliu | Oregon, Boise State
LB — Jack Genova | Idaho State
OL — Kekanioka Holomalia-Gonzalez | Boise State
OL — Mason Kolinchak | Army
DL — Nathan Logoleo | UTEP
OL — Chris Murray | UCLA, Oklahoma
WR — CJ Parks | Eastern Michigan
WR — Nikko Remigio | California
DL — Samuela Tuihalamaka | Oklahoma State
LB — Solomon Tuliaupupu | USC
Class of 2019
DL — Evan Bennett | Oregon State, Fresno State
DB — Jeremiah Criddell | Oklahoma
RB — Sean Dollars | Oregon
LB — Steele Dubar | Colorado
OL — Luke Felix-Fualalo | Utah
LB — Mase Funa | Oregon
WR — Cameron Gardner | Utah, Montana State
RB — Shakobe Harper | Cal Poly
WR — Braedin Huffman-Dixon | Colorado
LS — Aiden Livingston | Boston College
K — Nick Lopez | California
TE — Mike Martinez | UCLA
WR — Bru McCoy | USC
DB — William Nimmo | UCLA
DL — Keyon Ware-Hudson | Oregon
Class of 2020
WR — Kody Epps | BYU
LB — Kobah Fuamatu | San Diego State
DB — Darion Green-Warren | Michigan
LB — Ray Leutele | New Mexico
K — Race Mahlum | Oregon
OL — Tai Marks | Colorado State
OL — Myles Murao | Washington
LB — Dean Neely | Navy
DB — Elias Ricks | LSU
DL — Martin Salazar | Portland State
LB — Nate White | Pennsylvania
QB — Bryce Young | Alabama
Class of 2021
LB — Austin Bressler | FAU
OL — Terrance Caldwell | Cornell
DB — Jaylin Davies | Oregon
LB — Raesjon Davis | USC
WR — Cristian Dixon | Michigan
WR — Kyron Ware-Hudson | USC
TE — Champion Johnson | California
OL — Ross Maseuli | San Diego State
OL — George Miki-Han | Colorado State
DL — Tyler Narayan | Navy
RB — Marceese Yetts | Air Force
WR — Josiah Zamora | USC
St. John Bosco (65)
Class of 2017
WR — Terrell Bynum | Washington
LB — Jacob Callier | Colorado
OL — Wyatt Davis | Ohio State, Minnesota Vikings
WR — Kristian Gilbert | UC Davis
WR — Berkeley Holman | Northwestern
OL — Ben Holmes | Idaho
TE — Kyle McCombs | Stanford
DL — Kyle Murray | Dixie State
DB — Tyrel Thomas | Montana State
Class of 2018
DB — Stephan Blaylock | UCLA
OL — Kevin Coblentz | Nevada
WR — Devon Cooley | Weber State
RB — Demetrious Flowers | Arizona State
LB — Spencer Gilbert | USC
OL — Jalen Hooper | Northern Arizona
QB — Re-al Mitchell | Iowa State, Temple
DB — Level Price Jr. | Montana State
OL — Cole Sain | Montana, Montana State
DL — Sal Spina | Stanford (track and field)
LB — Kedron Williams | Washington State
DB — Jaiden Woodbey | Florida State, Boston College
Class of 2019
DL — Cole Aubrey | Princeton
WR — Jake Bailey | Rice
LS — Derek Bedell | Colorado
WR — Colby Bowman | Stanford
LB — Junior Gafa | Brown
LB — Ralen Goforth | USC
RB — George Holani | Boise State
LB — Jacob Joradal | Arizona State
LB — Spencer Lytle | Wisconsin
DB — Trent McDuffie | Washington
DL — Suaava Poti | Oregon
DL — Na'im Rodman | Colorado
P — Will Rose | USC
DB — Chris Steele | USC
OL — Marist Talavou | Utah
DB — Titus Toler | Wisconsin
TE — Jude Wolfe | USC
Class of 2020
DB — Josh Alford | Idaho State
OL — Logan Bednar | Harvard
RB — Matt Colombo | USC
LB — AJ Gatto | Navy
WR — Kris Hutson | Oregon
RB — Nathaniel Jones | New Mexico
DL — Matthew Jordan | Army
LB — Danny Lockhart | USC
WR — Logan Loya | UCLA
DL — Noa Masui | UC Davis
OL — Drake Metcalf | Stanford
DB — Jake Newman | UCLA
DL — Kobe Pepe | USC
DB — James Smith | Washington
QB — DJ Uiagalelei | Clemson
DB — Jon Jon Vaughns | UCLA
LB — Kourt Williams | Ohio State
OL — Che Womack | Air Force
Class of 2021
OL — Anton Ambuehl | UNLV
DB — Kamren Blanton | UNLV
WR — Beaux Collins | Clemson
LB — Ma'a Gaoteote | Michigan State
OL — Maximus Gibbs | USC
K — Andre Meono | Fresno State
WR — Jode McDuffie | Sacramento State
LB — Iermia Moore | California
LB Andrew Simpson | Boise State