Mater Dei-St. John Bosco set to add to No. 1 vs. 2 high school football history

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They've been tabbed "Prep Super Bowls" — when the top two ranked teams in the nation meet. Since 2000, there have been seven.

Friday makes No. 8 when No. 1 St. John Bosco (Bellflower, Calif.) tangles with No. 2 Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) at the Santa Ana College.

The game features more than 40 FBS-bound players, almost evenly divided between the two teams, making it one of the most star-studded game ever when No. 1 vs. 2 takes place.

MaxPreps will breakdown that game and be on the ground Friday with the Trinity League rivals square off. For now, let's look at the previous seven No. 1 vs. No. 2 games.

Oct. 6, 2001, Long Beach City College, Long Beach (Calif.)
De La Salle (Concord, Calif.) 29, Long Beach Poly 15

Who could remember anything else? De La Salle's Maurice Jones-Drew somersaulting into the end zone, the first of four touchdowns he scored in a breakout performance. Poly, one of the most talented high school teams ever with five future NFL players and 15 FBS players, was shell-shocked and never recovered.

GAME STORY: Sports Illustrated

Because this was the first No. 1 vs. No. 2 match-up, the media flocked. A total of 121 media credentials were handed out, including ABC World News Tonight and NFL Films. Fans were turned away — the game drew 17,321 — and scalpers were charging $50 for $10 tickets.

Oct. 12, 2002, University California at Berkeley
De La Salle 28, Long Beach Poly 7

The far-away dreamy look of De La Salle quarterback Britt Cecil, an absolute afterthought going into the star-studded game, turned out to be the star by going 12-of-17 for 237 yards and three touchdowns.

He also rushed for a score and a 2-point conversion. This was win No. 130 toward De La Salle's record of 151 consecutive triumphs that lasted from 1992 to 2004. It proved the result of the 2001 game pitting the same two team was no fluke.

GAME STORY: San Francisco Chronicle

"I'll probably go to bed tonight and just cry," Cecil said that day. "I mean that, I'll probably cry. No one knows how good this feels right now. I can't describe it."

Sept. 15, 2007, Southern Methodist University, Dallas
Northwestern (Miami) 29, Carroll (Southlake, Texas) 21

Another far-away stare, this one from defensive stud Marcus Forston, who looked into the warm Texas night long after Northwestern broke Carroll's 49-game win streak before 31,896 fans in Dallas and a national television audience.

Forston's team held high-powered Carroll scoreless in the second half while Jacory Harris completed 21-of-28 passes for 280 yards and four touchdowns. (Harris and Forston went on University of Miami).

Northwestern even stole a play right out of Southlake's playbook to score the go-ahead touchdown, a 75-yard bomb from Harris to 6-6, 215-pound senior Tommy Streeter with 5:56 seconds left in the third quarter. The visitors saw the wheel route while watching game film of Carroll.

"It worked so well for our offense, we decided to use it in the game," Streeter said. "We even called it Southlake."

 

It was the third touchdown of the night for Streeter (4 catches, 140 yards), who earlier caught scoring tosses of 32 and 19 yards.

GAME STORY: MaxPreps

Forston was reflective because his team's previous coaching staff was fired a couple months earlier in a controversial decision.

"We practiced for a week without a coach," Forston said. "What team anywhere would practice without a coach?. ... I knew then this was a special group. I could see it in their eyes."

Oct. 2, 2009, Lockhart Stadium, Fort Lauderdale (Fla.)

This one had it all, including celebrity sightings, electrifying runs, bonehead mistakes, heroes, goats, comebacks, trick plays, fake punts, pin-point passes, speed demons, hellacious hits, 861 yards, a 93-yard kickoff return, a blocked field goal, a fumble return for touchdown, gobs of FBS talent, numerous college coaches, and speed, speed and more speed.

GAME STORY: MaxPreps

Junior quarterback Jacob Rudick threw for four touchdowns, including a 52-yard beauty to Lamarcus Joyner, who later put the game away with a 93-yard kickoff return.

"I felt a little disrespected that they would kick to me in that situation," said Joyner, who starred at Florida State before being drafted in the second round by the Rams. "We call that an automatic six when Lamarcus Joyner is back on the return."

There was a lot of talk and kids backing it up in this game. In a losing effort, Chas Dodd threw for 416 yards and three touchdowns and Byrnes actually outgained STA 558 to 303. Turnovers did in Byrnes and the chief culprit, of all people, was its unquestioned star and leader Marcus Lattimore, who fumbled four times, twice in the red zone.

He also rushed for 118 yards, had 94 more receiving and scored two touchdowns. But afterward he was inconsolable. There was a lot of emotion in this one.

"That's the first dog fight St. Thomas has been in for a long time," Joyner said. "This just showed the world that we're No. 1. It feels great."

Said Dodd: "It was a great high school football game. I'm sure people got their money's worth."

Sept. 6, 2013, Traz Powell Stadium, Miami (Fla.)
Booker T. Washington (Miami) 28, Central (Miami) 17

As Washington junior linebacker Terry Jefferson weaved his way down field in the waning moments of his team's national showdown with crosstown rival Central (Miami), his head coach Tim "Ice" Harris was anything but cool.

Harris, racing down the sideline parallel to Jefferson, was pleading with his 5-foot-9, 170-pound linebacker to fall on the ground to preserve an excruciatingly hard-earned win.

GAME STORY: MaxPreps

Finally, seeing there was no quit in the diminutive but talented third-year starter — yes, Jefferson started as a freshman — Harris relented. Jefferson did not stop, completing a 65-yard interception return with 9.9 seconds remaining to put a cherry on top of this as-good-as-advertised 28-17 Washington victory before 8,000 exhausted and sweaty South Florida fans at steamy Traz Powell Stadium.

Dec. 5, 2015, Angel Stadium, Anaheim (Calif.)

Centennial, which got 269 yards rushing and five touchdowns from J.J. Taylor, raced to leads of 34-10 and 48-24 before hanging on to win the 10th Southern Section title for coach Matt Logan. His high-powered offense rolled up 55 points and 460 yards of offense by halftime and finished with 624.

GAME STORY: MaxPreps

Bosco almost overcame a first-quarter injury to starting quarterback Quentin Davis behind senior running back Sean McCrew (196 yards rushing, three touchdowns) and sophomore quarterback Re-Al Mitchell.

Sept. 1, 2017, Santa Ana Stadium

But Mater Dei, with its most talented team in the history of a storied program, jumped out quickly behind quarterback JT Daniels (302 yards passing, two touchdowns), running back Shakobe Harper (117 yards rushing, two touchdowns) and sophomore cornerback Darion Green-Warren (pick six) to lead wire-to-wire.

GAME STORY: MaxPreps

Gorman hung tough with UCLA-bound quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson throwing for 331 yards and two touchdowns, but Mater Dei was just too experienced and tough. The Monarchs didn't celebrate too much after because they had other things to accomplish, they said.

They went on and did it, going 15-0, never trailing and winning a first state title and third national crown.