Column: Mater Dei shows it's still nation's best high school football team

SANTA ANA, Calif. — I got this one wrong. Hands up. That's on me.

Before the season started, I ranked St. John Bosco as the No. 1 team in the country and Mater Dei at No. 2. 

But after Friday night's rivalry showdown between the two schools, it's clear that they should've been flipped.

Mater Dei played a brutally physical style of defense and executed at a high level on offense to win 17-7 over St. John Bosco from Santa Ana Stadium. 

After finishing as the top team in the country last season, Mater Dei will be back on its perch in next week's Power 25 national high school football rankings. And the truth is, they never should have left. 

"I can't say enough about them," Mater Dei head coach Bruce Rollinson said of his team postgame. "We challenged the kids. Big players make big plays."

• READ THE GAME STORY

ELIJAH BROWN DOES IT AGAIN

Elijah Brown improved to 24-0 as Mater Dei's starting quarterback. If there's a better QB in high school football, I haven't seen him.

What separates Brown from his colleagues is his decision making. Other highly recruited high school QBs wow with their arms or with their speed, but can be inconsistent with their brains. In the clutch moments of the biggest games, Brown seemingly always makes the right play and so far in his career, he always wins. 

With 11:51 left in the second quarter, Mater Dei faced a 3rd-and-goal from the 9-yard line in a scoreless game. Monarchs offensive coordinator Taylor Kelly called a run option play that Brown wisely kept himself and scored easily on.

Kelly made the call, but Brown had the choice on how to play it.

"The end crashed and I just kept it myself," Brown said.

In the third quarter with the game tied 7-7 on 3rd-and-8 from the St. John Bosco 25-yard line, Brown took a shotgun snap, faced heavy pressure, rolled to his right and connected with Marcus Harris for a 17-yard gain to set up a field goal to break the deadlock. It was a truly exceptional play. 

When the lights are brightest, count on Brown to come through. It's a fitting characteristic of the quarterback for the nation's No. 1 team. 

DOMINANT DEFENSIVE PERFORMANCE

Both teams ran better than they passed on Friday, but the difference in the game was Mater Dei could pass when they needed to and St. John Bosco couldn't. 

The Monarchs defense had a huge night limiting St. John Bosco quarterbacks Pierce Clarkson and Caleb Sanchez to 14 completed passes and 106 yards through the air. Clarkson, the Braves' starter, missed the second half after suffering a concussion in the first half. He was sacked three times and never really looked comfortable. Sanchez didn't look comfortable either facing constant pressure over the final two quarters. 

St. John Bosco averaged 48.5 points per game coming into Friday night's clash of titans. The No. 1 team in the nation held that unit to only seven.

PLAYING TO THEIR STRENGTHS 

Obviously the uber-talented roster is the main reason for Mater Dei's success, but the Monarchs coaching staff knows exactly how to put their star players in winning positions.

Kelly called a brilliant game resulting in a 29:21 time of possession for Mater Dei compared to 18:39 for St. John Bosco. When St. John Bosco needed a stop in the fourth quarter, Kelly's run option calls kept the Braves defense guessing and the Monarchs consistently moved the chains. On a crucial third down in the fourth quarter with 1:10 to play, sophomore Jordon Davison iced the game with a 38-yard TD. 

"Taylor helps with everything," Brown said. "He's not just a great coach, he's a great person to be around and a great mentor."

The Monarchs are always expertly coached on defense too under Rollinson and coordinator Eric Johnson. 

Last month, we asked California high school football coaches to anonymously answer the question: which California coaches do you think do a good job? 

Here's one answer on Johnson:

"The best defensive coordinator, who I enjoy going against because it's such a challenge, is Eric Johnson from Mater Dei. I've gone against some of the best of the best and Eric is the best. He's so good. If you get him on one drive, it's immediately fixed on the next drive. Their adjustments are so clean and so quick. He's just really good."

So there you have it. Once again Mater Dei's proven that they're the best team in the country. The Monarchs only start four seniors too. This could go on for a while...

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(All photos by Heston Quan)

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