High school football: St. John Bosco vs. Mater Dei will be the 12th No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup since 2000

Meetings between the top two teams in high school football are rare but that will be the situation Friday in Southern California when league rivals No. 1 St. John Bosco (Bellflower) and No. 2 Mater Dei (Santa Ana) square off at the Santa Ana Bowl. It will be the 12th No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup at the prep level since 2000 with three of the last four also featuring Bosco and Mater Dei.

From 2001 until 2012 the No. 1 and No. 2 teams only faced each other four times, with two of those happening in 2001 and 2002 between De La Salle (Concord, Calif.) and Long Beach Poly (Long Beach, Calif.).

Seven of the previous 11 meetings have been in-state matchups with California leading the way with six. The only in-state contest not featuring a California school was Florida in 2013 when Booker T. Washington (Miami) beat Central (Miami) 28-17.

No. 1 teams own a 7-4 record in the 11 previous games since 2000. St. John Bosco came into the 2019 CIF Southern Section Division 1 championship but came from behind to knock off top-ranked Mater Dei 39-34 behind D.J. Uiagalelei, who threw for over 400 yards and five touchdowns. 

When these two Trinity League powers square off in Santa Ana it will feature 70 players who have landed at least one FBS offer with 48 players rated as a three-star recruit or higher on 247Sports.

The top-ranked Braves have outscored opponents 291-31 this fall.

Mater Dei is one of two programs this season that has two wins against MaxPreps Top 25 teams. Quarterback Elijah Brown is 23-0 to start his high school career with seven of those wins coming against nationally-ranked opponents. No. 1 vs. No. 2 since 2000

Maurice Jones-Drew led the Spartans to their 117th consecutive win accounting for 165 total yards and four touchdowns. This was considered the biggest game in high school football history at the time and is known as the "Game of the Century." De La Salle's win helped extend a win streak that it eventually ran to 151 games from 1992 to 2004. Long Beach Poly had four players that went on to play in the NFL – Darnell Bing, Winston Justice, Marcedes Lewis and Manuel Wright. Star running back Hershel Dennis played at USC.

Maurice Jones-Drew had another stellar performance against Poly, rushing for 161 yards. But the star of the game was quarterback Britt Cecil, who completed 12 of 17 passes for 237 yards and three touchdowns while adding a rushing score. This victory extended the Spartans' win streak to 130.

Jacory Harris threw for 280 yards and four touchdowns for Northwestern, helping the Miami power snap the Dragons' 49-game win streak in front of a crowd of nearly 32,000 at Southern Methodist University's Ford Stadium. Tommy Streeter was Harris' favorite target hauling in four receptions for 140 yards and three scores. Riley Dodge, who is now the head coach at Southlake Carroll, threw for 269 yards and two touchdowns. He was named the MaxPreps National Player of the Year as a junior in 2006.

Aquinas has sent over 40 players to the NFL, including six that were on this team in James White, Giovani Bernard, Phillip Dorsett, Lamarcus Joyner, Rashad Greene and Jake Rudock. Rudock threw touchdown passes to Dorsett, Greene, Joyner and White. Byrnes was led by the nation's top running back Marcus Lattimore, who piled up 212 total yards and two touchdowns in the loss.

Treon Harris led the Tornadoes to an 11-point victory against their rival in the first ever No. 1 vs. No. 2 national matchup in South Florida. Harris accounted for 222 yards of total offense and three touchdowns. Terry Jefferson iced the game with a 65-yard pick-six in the final seconds. Central's dynamic backfield duo of Joseph Yearby and Dalvin Cook combined to rush for 200 yards and two scores.

J.J. Taylor put on a performance for the ages in the CIF Southern Section Pac-5 Division championship, finishing the night with 41 carries for 261 yards and five touchdowns in front of nearly 15,000 fans at Angel Stadium. St. John Bosco's Sean McGrew had a big night on the ground too, rushing for 184 yards and three scores. The two teams combined for over 1,200 total yards. Centennial's Javon McKinley had seven receptions for 132 yards and a score. He also threw a 65-yard touchdown pass to Cameron Jackson.

A testament to the talent on the roster, Mater Dei snapped the Gorman's 55-game win streak without Amon-Ra St. Brown, who missed the first three games of the 2017 season with an injury. JT Daniels threw for 312 yards and two scores. Bru McCoy had six receptions for 143 yards and Nikko Remigio had six grabs for 114 yards and two touchdowns. Bishop Gorman's Dorian Thompson-Robinson threw for 339 yards and two touchdowns. Cedric Tillman and Brevin Jordan combined for 12 receptions, 287 yards and a pair of scores. Mater Dei went wire-to-wire as the No. 1 team in the country and never trailed at any point that season.

This was the first No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup featuring the two Trinity League powers. D.J. Uiagalelei put on a clinic, completing 15 of 21 passes for 278 yards and five touchdowns. Jake Bailey had a huge night, hauling in six receptions for 161 yards and three scores. Kris Hutson had five grabs for 66 yards and a touchdown while George Holani racked up 145 total yards and two scores. This was the first of two losses Bryce Young had as the starting quarterback at Mater Dei. He threw for 306 yards and two touchdowns. Bru McCoy had 100-plus yards receiving and a score. The Monarchs won the rematch in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 championship 17-13.

Bryce Young threw for 247 yards but did most of his damage on the ground rushing with 105 yards and four touchdowns against a defense loaded with future Power 5 players. This was one of two losses St. Frances Academy has had since 2017. Kody Epps had seven receptions for 101 yards. Blake Corum led the way in the loss for the Panthers, accounting for over 200 total yards and a score.

Six weeks after beating St. Frances Academy, Mater Dei found itself in another No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown. Once again, Young had a big time performance throwing for 256 yards and three touchdowns while adding 78 yards rushing to go with two more scores. Epps showed out with 11 receptions for 175 yards and three touchdowns. Uiagalelei threw for 320 yards and two touchdowns. Hutson, Logan Loya and Jode McDuffie combined for 309 yards receiving and two scores.

Mater Dei jumped out to a 28-5 lead in the second quarter but the Braves reeled off 34 unanswered points to take control. Bosco's Uiagalelei completed 26 of 38 passes for 446 yards and five touchdowns. Loya had 10 receptions for 164 yards and two scores. Hutson added seven receptions for 93 yards and two touchdowns. For Mater Dei, Young completed 25 of 41 passes for 405 yards and five touchdowns. C.J. Williams and Kyron Ware-Hudson combined for 16 receptions, 202 yards and three scores. The Monarchs had one last chance but Hutson intercepted Young's Hail Mary attempt in the end zone as time expired.