Preview: No. 4 St. John Bosco facing No. 19 Mater Dei is like looking in the mirror

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Like any aspiring high school football coach in Southern California, Jason Negro hoped one day to match — even simply approach — the success of Bruce Rollinson at Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.).

Now that his national powerhouse St. John Bosco (Bellflower, Calif.) team has won the last five meetings against Mater Dei, could the shoe somewhat be on the other foot?

Maybe more to the point, could Mater Dei be throwing out their traditional run-heavy playbook to look more like Bosco's spread passing attack?

Most importantly, who will win the MaxPreps National Game of the Week Friday when the Braves (6-0), No. 4 in the MaxPreps Xcellent 25 national rankings presented by the Army National Guard, take on No. 19 Mater Dei (6-0) at the Santa Ana Bowl? Negro isn't prepared to answer any of those questions, but he's quite firm on his respect for Rollinson, who has a 255-79-2 career record in 26 seasons with two mythical national titles and five Southern Section crowns.

"As a young coach he's definitely someone you wish some day to be like or run a program like his," Negro said. "It still holds true today. Just for our program to be mentioned in the same breath as theirs is a real honor.

"To do what he's done consistently over all these years is really tough to do. There's a large revolving door of players and talent and coaches here in Southern California. What he's done is very, very impressive."

Negro has been particularly impressed this season with how the Monarchs have changed up their offense with freshman quarterback J.T. Daniels, a 6-foot-1, 195-pounder who has completed almost 70 percent of his throws (82 of 119) for 1,464 yards and, most impressive, 18 touchdowns and just one interception.

Those numbers are almost identical to Bosco first-year starter Quentin Davis, who replaced three-year Bosco starter and current UCLA starter Josh Rosen.

Davis, a 6-foot-2, 208-pound senior has completed 89 of 129 for 1,686 yards and — get this — 18 touchdowns and one interception.

"I must admit, they look more like St. John Bosco than Mater Dei of the past," Negro said. "Before they looked more like Stanford with two tight ends and two backs. Now they're spreading the ball out."

On Daniels, who is drawing natural comparisons to Matt Barkley — the only other Mater Dei freshman to start at quarterback for Rollinson — Negro said: "He looks great. He doesn't get rattled. He throws a nice ball. He surely doesn't look like a freshman." Negro, of course, is much more comfortable evaluating his own first-year quarterback, and he's not surprised at his early success. Davis completed 7 of 10 passes as a junior for 98 yards and a touchdown last season at Bosco.

"He's been really good and playing well within the system," Negro said of Davis. "This was his opportunity and he's taken advantage. We're not surprised because of the talent he has and the talent surrounding him."

Indeed, the Braves brought back two-year All-CIF running back Sean McGrew, four offensive linemen and three starting wide receivers.

McGrew, an explosive and speedy 5-8, 174-pound senior back headed for Washington, has been used economically with 74 carries, 689 yards and 13 touchdowns.

"We're very pleased that Sean is fresher than he's ever been at this stage of the season," Negro said. "He'll get the bulk of his carries down the stretch."

Jared Harrell, Kristian Gilbert and Devin Fleming have between 19 and 22 catches had have combined for 13 touchdowns.

That balance on offense has led the Braves to 382 points (63.6 per game), the highest total in California.

What pleases Negro even more is the team's defense, which has allowed just 67 points (11.2 per game), a far cry from last year when it allowed more than double that per game, and 320 overall.

With seven returning defensive starters, including the entire defensive backfield, Negro wasn't entirely surprised.

"We took it on the chin last season," he said. "We had 10 new starters last year so it figured to take a while. We got through the growing pains and have been doing a fantastic job this season."

They'll definitely be challenged Friday, especially that secondary, as Daniel spreads the ball beautifully to four different receivers with at least 17 catches, led by sophomore Chris Parks (25 catches, 351 yards, two touchdowns).

The deep threat is Osiris St. Brown, who has six touchdowns on 18 catches and 367 yards (20.4 average), and made one of the most spectacular catches of the season — maybe of all time — last week.

Though Daniels is chucking the ball around, Mater Dei has one of the Southern Section's top running backs in 5-10, 191-pound senior Brandon LaMarche (856 yards, 13 touchdowns). He's accounted for 64 percent of his team's carries with 137.

On defense, Mater Dei is averaging better than three sacks per game, led by Kapono Laguisan, Jedediah Smith and Faavae Faavae, all with four sacks.

The Monarchs have done a good job of containing SJB all these years under Negro. The Braves have never scored more than 34 points against a Mater Dei team.

"We have to eliminate the big play and make their young guy a little uncomfortable," Negro said. "We can't just allow him to sit back and throw at will. Offensively, we have to score a little more than we've done in the past."