Daniels, St. Brown lead No. 1 Mater Dei past No. 5 St. John Bosco

Video: Mater Dei-St. John Bosco first half highlights
Watch Mater Dei's Amon-Ra St. Brown score three first-half touchdowns and account for almost 300 yards.

On a field filled with top Division I talent, the well-known passing duo of JT Daniels and Amon-Ra St. Brown lifted the nation's top-ranked team Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) to an entertaining 31-21 Trinity League victory over No. 5 St. John Bosco (Bellflower, Calif.) Friday at El Camino College.

Daniels, the nation's No. 1 rated junior quarterback, threw for 312 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 103 more, while St. Brown caught eight passes for 238 yards and two scores. The nation's second-ranked wide receiver also returned a punt 51 yards for another score during a wild first half that featured one big play after another and 49 of the game's 52 points.

"We came in here with a great game plan against a great team and executed," St. Brown told Fox Sports West reporter Chris Rix. "To beat Bosco you have to play great, all of us. I had some goals coming in to play my best and I think I played pretty well."

The big performance by the dynamic passing duo offset an impressive starting debut for Bosco's DJ Uiagalelei, a 6-foot-5, 240-pound sophomore pressed into full-time duties when starter Re-Al Mitchell came down with an undisclosed injury earlier in the week.

Uiagalelei threw for 243 yards and two long touchdowns. He also ran effectively, but was sacked seven times by a very active Mater Dei defense, led by linebacker Solomon Tuliaupupu (2.5 sacks) and Horace McCoy III (two sacks), that held Bosco scoreless the second half.

The victory was only the second by Mater Dei (7-0) in the last nine meetings against the Braves (5-2), who allowed just a field goal in the second half. 

"I thought it was a great game to be a part of," Mater Dei coach Bruce Rollinson said. "I thought our defense really rose up in the second half."

The first half was largely the St. Brown show. The 6-foot-1, 190-pound receiver hauled in touchdown passes of 12 and 15 yards from Daniels, plus he took a punt at midfield and scooted 51-yards for another score. Ranked the No. 2 receiver in the country, Brown had seven catches for 221 yards by intermission.

But Bosco hung tough behind Uiagalelei, who had been impressive the last three weeks while splitting time with Mitchell. Uiagalelei overcame a slow start to complete touchdown bombs of 85 yards to Joshua Delgado and 73 yards to Colby Bowman. That helped the Braves close to 21-14 with 5:06 left in the second quarter.

A quick out to St. Brown turned into a 70-yard completion, and then Daniels turned that into a 15-yard TD completion to St. Brown. That made it 28-14.

But Bosco, like it did all night, came right back, and this time sophomore Keith Savage banged off a couple of defenders, before rambling 33 yards for a touchdown, cutting the lead to 28-21 just before halftime.

The third quarter was scoreless until a 23-yard field goal by Nicolas Lopez with 3:14 left in the stanza gave the Monarchs a 31-21 lead. From there, both defenses stood their ground and Mater Dei's pressure eventually got to Uiagalelei.

"I told them at halftime we had to stop them on the first drive of the second half and we did," Rollinson said. "I thought that changed the complexion of the game. They had no big plays in the second half."

Mater Dei finished with 517 yards to 359 for St. John Bosco. The Monarchs constantly hurt themselves with penalties — 14 for 111 yards — but they didn't turn the ball over. Mater Dei's offensive line led by preseason All-American Tommy Brown, was superb. Daniels was barely touched all evening.

Mater Dei hosts JSerra Catholic (San Juan Capistrano) next week at Santa Ana College, while St. John Bosco hosts Santa Margarita (Rancho Santa Margarita) at El Camino College.

Most people anticipate the two teams facing off again in the Southern Section Pac-5 finals, though two other nationally-ranked team, No. 7 Centennial (Corona) and No. 20 Mission Viejo, will be in that tournament. "One game at a time," Rollinson said. "We're just thinking about JSerra, though we might enjoy this one for at least a night."