The Friday night lightning that struck the Southland postponed a number of football games to Saturday (and even Monday), including the much-anticipated matchup between the country’s two highest-ranked high school teams.
But the delay mattered little to St. John Bosco’s already-high-powered offense, which overwhelmed Mater Dei, 41-18, at the Santa Ana Bowl Oct. 13, and established the Braves as the likely No. 1 seed in the CIF-Southern Section Division 1 playoffs come November.
Junior quarterback DJ Uigalelei tossed five scoring passes (four in the first half) for St. John Bosco, which bolted to a 27-10 halftime lead and then got a 75-yard scoring run from George Holani to essentially put the game away. Jake Bailey caught three of Uigalelei’s TD passes on the one-year anniversary of Uigalelei’s designation as starting quarterback.
“Keeping my faith in God is the main thing for me right now,” Uigalelei told Maxpreps after the game. “Without God, without my Lord and savior Jesus Christ, I’m nothing.”
The Monarchs — last year’s CIF-SS (D-1), state (Open Division) and national champions — pulled to within 34-18, but could not score again. Junior QB Bryce Young threw for 311 yards and two TDs for Mater Dei.
The Braves’ win leaves them atop the Trinity League at 3-0 (8-0 overall), while Mater Dei (2-1, 6-2) plays tough J.Serra (2-1, 7-1) this week in San Juan Capistrano. The Lions, whose only loss was at the hands of St. John Bosco (by seven points), shredded Orange Lutheran, 56-21, in a game played Saturday morning after being postponed by Friday night’s lightning.
The other Trinity League game, played Oct. 11 before the storms, saw Servite beat Santa Margarita, 30-23. Servite (1-2) plays Orange Lutheran (1-2) this week, and St. John Bosco plays Santa Margarita (0-3).
Elsewhere, Bishop Amat took charge of the Mission League at 3-0 by beating Notre Dame 28-14 in Sherman Oaks, while Alemany was upended by Serra, 26-15, in Gardena, and Chaminade downed Loyola 27-10. Alemany and Notre Dame (both 2-1) play this week in Mission Hills, while Bishop Amat is at Loyola (0-3) and Serra (1-2) is at Chaminade (1-2).
St. Paul got past Harvard-Westlake 20-16 to take the Del Rey League lead at 2-0, ahead of Harvard-Westlake’s 2-1. St. Anthony is also 2-1 after a 20-7 win over St. Genevieve.
Other league games last weekend (with two postponed to Oct. 15:
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- Angelus: St. Francis 41, Salesian 0; Crespi at Cathedral rescheduled for Oct. 15.
- Camino Real: Bishop Montgomery 24, Mary Star 17; St. Monica at Cantwell-Sacred Heart rescheduled for Oct. 15.
- Santa Fe: St. Bernard 31, Don Bosco Tech 0; St. Pius X-St. Matthias 14, Verbum Dei 7.
- Mountain: St. Joseph/Santa Maria 49, Atascadero 14.
- Marmonte: Oaks Christian 44, St. Bonaventure 0.
- Baseline: Rancho Cucamonga 57, Damien 17.
- Citrus Coast: Fillmore beat Santa Clara by forfeit.
- Eight-man: Cate 54, Villanova 9; Avalon 60, St. Michael’s Prep 0.
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Mike Nelson is the former editor of The Tidings (predecessor of Angelus News).
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