Football: No. 1 Mater Dei downs Bishop Gorman to stay No. 1 in U.S.

In a confrontation between the top 2 high school teams in the U.S., the Mater Dei Monarchs defeated Bishop Gorman of Las Vegas 35-21 in an exciting Sept. 1 duel at Santa Ana Stadium.

Mater Dei held onto its No.1 national ranking in MaxPreps’ “Xcellent 25” survey, and its No. 1 standing in California. St. John Bosco, which was No. 2 to the monarchs in the CIF-Southern Section’s Division 1 rankings, rebounded from its opening week overtime loss in Florida to demolish Garces of Bakersfield, 63-0, and are No. 9 in the’ “Xcellent 25.”

Chaminade (No. 4 in D-1, No. 5 statewide) stopped Mount Point View 39-25, but Serra (No. 5) lost a touchdown-fest, 56-42, to Punahou (Hawaii). J.Serra (No. 7 in D-1, No. 12 statewide) stopped Alemany 48-27, and Santa Margarita (No. 17 statewide) blanked Loyola 35-0.

In other games involving last week’s CIF-SS ranked teams, Cathedral (ninth in Division 2) blanked Arcadia 49-0. St. Francis, ranked third in D-3 at the start of the year, opened its season beating Mira Costa 48-21.

Paraclete, Division 5’s top-ranked team (and No. 22 in California), beat Helix 23-6, and St. Joseph (Santa Maria) ranked fourth in D-5, evened its mark at 1-1 by easily topping Righetti 40-14. St. Paul (fourth in D-6) lost 42-35 to Montebello, while Bishop Diego (ninth) defeated Arroyo Grande 42-14.

In Division 8, La Salle (ninth) edged Monrovia 42-40 to even its record at 1-1, while St. Anthony (second in D-9) won its opener 22-0 over Crean Lutheran. Cantwell-Sacred Heart (ninth in D-13) was idle. Santa Clara (tenth) won its opener over St. Bernard, 42-28,  

Last week’s results also included the following: Aquinas 41, Crespi 21; Montclair 58, St. Pius X-St. Matthias 6; Damien 14, Glendora 7; Mary Star 39, Duarte 0; Loyola Academy (Chicago) 13, Bishop Amat 6; Notre Dame (Sherman Oaks) 34, Birmingham 14; Calabasas 45, Salesian 14; Verbum Dei 28, Manual Arts 20; Carnegie (Riverside) at Don Bosco Tech, Lawndale 35, St. Bonaventure 0; Servite 38, American Fork (Utah) 28; Lynwood 34, Bishop Montgomery 13; Villanova 64, Desert 8; Xavier Prep 34, St. Monica 6; Carnegie 35, Don Bosco Tech 13..

This week’s games include:

Sept. 7: Alemany at Santa Margarita.

Sept. 8: St. Joseph (Santa Maria) at St. Bonaventure; La Salle at Birmingham; Loyola at St. Augustine; Bishop Amat at J. Serra; Chaminade at St. John Bosco; Bishop Diego at Nipomo; Notre Dame (Sherman Oaks) at Leuzinger; La Mirada at Mater Dei; Cantwell-Sacred Heart at Salesian; Lynwood at Cathedral; Los Altos at St. Paul; Servite at Roosevelt (Eastvale); Serra at Dorsey; Long Beach Wilson at St. Anthony; West Ranch at St. Genevieve; Linfield Christian at Mary Star; North Torrance at Bishop Montgomery; Paraclete at Oaks Christian; Damien at Claremont; Santa Paula at Santa Clara; St. Pius-St. Matthias at Sherman Indian; St. Francis at Pasadena; St. Monica at Locke.

Sept. 9: Bellarmine-Jefferson at Calvary Baptist; Riverside City Academy at Villanova Prep.