High school football: St. John Bosco 2023 schedule features games with St. Frances Academy, St. Thomas Aquinas

St. John Bosco (Bellflower, Calif.) released its 2023 football schedule Thursday and last year's MaxPreps National Champions face one of the toughest in the country. The Braves face three teams that finished ranked in the top 10 — Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.), St. Frances Academy (Baltimore) and St. Thomas Aquinas (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.).

Bosco opens the season hosting Liberty (Henderson, Nev.) on Aug. 18 before a huge matchup Aug. 26  at St. Thomas Aquinas (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.). This will be the second meeting between the two national powers. Aquinas won 9-3 in overtime back in 2017.

The Braves face another team from Florida the following week on Sept. 1 hosting Norland (Miami) before a big-time showdown against St. Frances Academy (Baltimore) in the Trinity League vs. USA Showcase on Sept. 8.

They close out non-league action with a road trip to Hawaii to face Kahuku on Sept. 16. The Red Raiders finished last season ranked at No. 25 in the MaxPreps Top 25 after going 12-2 and winning their second consecutive Open Division state title.

After a bye week, the Braves open up Trinity League action at Santa Margarita (Rancho Santa Margarita) then host Servite (Anaheim) before the big one vs. Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) on Oct. 13. These two split last year with the Monarchs winning the regular season meeting and St. John Bosco snapping Mater Dei's 29-game win streak with a 24-22 win in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 championship.

The Braves final two Trinity League games are on the road against JSerra Catholic (San Juan Capistrano) and Orange Lutheran (Orange).

While Jason Negro has to replace a lot of key players from last year's squad, they return plenty of talent headlined by four-star safety Peyton Woodyard, four-star cornerback Marcelles Williams and four-star linebacker Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa.