Mater Dei, Chaminade, Cathedral win league football titles

Seven Catholic high school football teams won league championships on the final weekend of the 2017 regular season, providing a momentum surge heading into this week’s first round of the CIF-Southern Section playoffs.

Two of the league crowns were decided in head-to-head contests pitting unbeaten-in-league teams against one another:

> Chaminade (9-1 overall), the No. 4 team in Division 1, outscored Bishop Amat, 57-33, to win the Mission League at 6-0, with the Lancers (5-5) ending at 5-1. Both will compete in the Division 1 playoffs.

> Cathedral beat previously unbeaten St. Francis, 28-16, for the Angelus League title. Both the Phantoms (9-1 overall, 5-0 in league) and Golden Knights (9-1, 4-1) earned their way to the playoffs.

As expected, Mater Dei (10-0) ended its perfect season with a 51-7 triumph over Servite to clinch the Trinity League and grab the top seed of the Division 1 playoffs, where all six Trinity League teams will participate.

Conversely, Bishop Diego’s perfect season ended with a 31-24 loss to Grace Brethren, which took the Tri-Valley League title at 3-0 to the Cardinals’ 2-1. Bishop Diego (9-1), which had been No. 1 in Division 6 much of the season, nonetheless earned a playoff spot.

Another longtime No. 1, however, kept its record intact, as Paraclete upended Sierra Canyon, 26-7, in a game pitting winners of their respective Gold Coast League divisions. The Spirits (9-1) will be the top seed in Division 5.

In the South Catholic League, a three-way tie for the lead was resolved when Cantwell-Sacred Heart defeated Bishop Montgomery, 38-23, and Verbum Dei beat St. Bernard, 20-18. Cantwell-Sacred Heart thus finished 3-1 in league, while the other three were each 2-2.

Santa Clara won the Frontier League crown with a 48-35 win over Carpinteria, after the teams entered the finale tied for the league lead. And St. Anthony earned the Sante Fe League title by beating St. Monica, 56-7.

In other league games:

> Mission: Notre Dame/Sherman Oaks 41, Crespi 7; Alemany 27, Loyola 24.

> Trinity: St. John Bosco 51, J.Serra 10; Santa Margarita 38, Orange Lutheran 31.

> Angelus: St. Paul 42, Salesian 8; Harvard-Westlake 53,  La Salle 23.

> Sante Fe: St. Genevieve 48, Mary Star 14.

> Marmonte: Camarillo 35, St. Bonaventure 0.

> Baseline: Damien 34, Etiwanda 28.

> Los Padres: St. Joseph/Santa Maria 20, Santa Ynez 14.

> Non-League: Serra 24, Long Beach Poly 20; St. Pius X-St. Matthias 39, Don Bosco Tech 15.

In Eight-Man Football: Villanova raced past Public Safety Academy of Phoenix, 81-30, in the first round of the Division 1 Eight-Man Football Playoffs on Nov. 4. The Wildcats (10-0) will play Windward (8-2) in the Nov. 10 quarterfinals.

The final regular season polls and first-round playoff match-ups were to be finalized Nov. 6. First-round games are scheduled Nov. 10-11, with the quarterfinals Nov. 17, semifinals Nov. 24-25, and finals Dec. 1-2. State championship games will be played Dec. 15-16.