St. John Bosco and Mater Dei rolled to easy victories once more, but several Catholic teams’ runs of early-season success came to an end during the third weekend of the high school football season.
National No. 1 St. John Bosco powered past visiting Mililani (Hawaii), 52-14, while No. 2 Mater Dei blew past La Mirada 49-0. The Trinity League foes each have two more non-league games prior to the opening of league play late this month.
Two other Catholic Division 1 teams ranked in the CIF-Southern Section top 10 poll were victorious, although No. 8 J.Serra (now 3-0) barely edged Bishop Amat 21-20 when the Lancers, after rallying from 14 points down in the fourth quarter, missed a two-point conversion try with a minute to play.
And No. 9 Chaminade downed Mission Hills (San Marcos) 23-3. But No. 10 Santa Margarita suffered its second loss at the hands of visiting Cherry Creek of Colorado, 21-14.
Among ranked Division 2 teams, Alemany and Cathedral each reached 3-0 with easy wins over L.A. City teams, the No. 4 Warriors topping Dorsey 35-6 and the No. 7 Phantoms blanking Carson 41-0. But No. 9 Loyola lost its first game, 28-10 to St. Augustine (San Diego).
Paraclete, No. 10 in D-3, won its first game after two losses, 49-6 over Quartz Hill. Both of the ranked teams in D-4, however, were beaten: No. 7 St. Bonaventure, 38-6 by Highland, and No. 10 Bishop Diego, 36-10 by Lompoc.
St. Francis made it two in a row, 38-21 over Damien, But after two wins, Crespi was bounced by Harvard-Westlake 34-10, and Cathedral Catholic (San Diego) doubled up on Serra (Gardena) 42-21.
The thriller of the week was St. Paul’s third straight win, a 31-25 double-overtime triumph over Los Altos. The Swordsmen entered the contest No. 4 in the D-5 rankings.
In other heart-stoppers, Bishop Montgomery got by St. Pius X-St. Matthias 40-34; Mary Star of the Sea prevailed over Fairmont Prep 31-25; and St. Joseph (Santa Maria) edged Garces Memorial 31-30.
On the other end, St. Bernard (No. 5 in D-13) lost its first game, a 51-39 “track meet” to Westchester; Moorpark edged Notre Dame (Sherman Oaks) 35-34, Palm Springs slid by St. Anthony 28-26; and Army-Navy (San Diego) escaped Cantwell-Sacred Heart 26-20.
In last week’s other games: Garfield 29, Salesian 6; West Ranch 46, St. Genevieve 24; Birmingham 56, La Salle 0; Village Christian 18 St. Monica (Santa Monica) 6; Rio Hondo Prep 41, Santa Clara 0; Glenn 49, Don Bosco Tech 19; Verbum Dei 36, New Designs (Watts) 6.
In eight-man football, Villanova Prep pummeled Desert 61-0.
Mike Nelson is the former editor of the Tidings (predecessor of Angelus News).
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