Two perennial national powers and longtime Southern California rivals renew their tug-of-war in a Southern Section Division I semifinal game Friday when No. 1
Mater Dei (Santa Ana) travels to No. 11
Centennial (Corona).
The visiting Monarchs (9-0) have maintained the upper hand in recent years, winning the last two by scores of 42-12 and 48-14. But the two teams have split the last 10 meetings over a 14-year stretch. Perhaps the most famous of the 10 was the first in 2007, a 51-37 Mater Dei victory featuring a then
state-record 1,298 yards and a remarkable 58 first downs.
It's always entertaining when these two teams meet, especially with a berth in the section finals at stake. Friday's winner faces the survivor of the other Division
I semifinal involving two more national Top 10 teams, No. 7 Servite (Anaheim) at No. 4 St. John Bosco
(Bellflower).
Centennial (11-0) and Mater Dei were supposed to open the season in a nonleague contest, but the Huskies were hit by COVID-19. The teams were not allowed to play a game, but most of the Huskies were allowed to partake in a scrimmage.
That gave the Monarchs some valuable reps before they traveled to Texas to play and defeat then nationally ranked Duncanville, 45-3.
"I'll be indebted to (Centennial) coach (Matt) Logan for getting that
scrimmage in," Mater Dei legendary coach Bruce Rollinson told MaxPreps that week. "I really didn't want to go into Texas
without our younger guys getting in some full contact."
The Huskies surely won't be doing Rollinson (33rd season, 326 wins, 86 losses, two ties, four national championships) or Mater Dei any favors this week.
Izzy Carter, Centennial
File photo by Rudy Schmoke
Despite a rigorous schedule against teams with combined records of 69-31, the Monarchs have really only been threatened once, a 46-37 victory over Servite on Oct. 23. They were tied 21-all at halftime with St. John Bosco but pulled away with three unanswered touchdowns in the second half on Oct. 8.
Mater Dei is coming off a 49-14 win over an 8-3 Norco squad behind another brilliant performance from one of the country's top sophomore quarterbacks in
Elijah Brown. He was 20 of 25 passing for 364 yards and six touchdowns, giving him almost 2,100 yards passing for the season, 27 TDs against three interceptions.
Brown is following in the long lineage of great Mater Dei quarterbacks that include Heisman Trophy winners John Huarte (1964) and Matt Leinart (2004). In addition to the Heisman winners, Matt Barkley, J.T. Daniels and 2020 graduate Bryce Young, currently a leading candidate for college football's top player at Alabama, all guided the Monarchs. Brown is polished, poised, accurate and rarely makes mistakes.
He has two main receiving threats in Notre Dame-bound
C.J. Williams (42 catches, 719 yards, 11 touchdowns) and
Cooper Barkate (20, 535, 8), and the luxury of handing the ball to game-breaking Oklahoma-bound running back
Raleek Brown (82 carries, 742 yards, 9). Williams and Barkate combined for five TD catches against Norco as the Monarchs piled up 565 yards.
Centennial wasn't quite as prolific in a 48-24 Oct. 15 win at Norco as junior quarterbacks
Izzy Carter and
Carson Conklin combined to throw for 236 yards and three touchdowns and Carter led a running attack that had 155 yards and three more TDs.
Logan's spread offense has always scored points in bunches, and this year's team is no exception with 646 points (58.7 per game). The Huskies have scored at least 60 six times, including a stunning 62-16 quarterfinal home win last week over Mission Viejo (9-2), which was coming off a shutout win over San Clemente and had 47.5 sacks on the season.
Carter was virtually untouched, running for two long touchdowns and passing for two others. Seven other Huskies scored touchdowns, which is how Logan orchestrates things: Spreading the attempts. A balanced, high-octane offense is a big reason why Logan is 266-54 since 1997, according to CalHiSports' record book.
The Mission Viejo win was the third straight game Centennial scored at least 60 points. Mater Dei's defense, which features the state's No. 5 senior recruit
David Bailey, a 6-foot-3, 220-pound edge rusher with 10.5 sacks, figures to put an end to that streak. Linebackers
Malaki Te'o and
Leviticus Su'a along with San Diego State-bound cornerback
Joshua Hunter are just three of several future FBS standouts on defense for the Monarchs.
"Mater Dei is a great team," Carter told the
Press-Enterprise. "They're the No. 1 team in the country for a reason, so there's no bigger stage in high school football."
David Bailey, Mater Dei
File photo by Terry Jack
