Notre Dame High School varsity football team. (PHOTO COURTESY NDHS.ORG)
Nearing their highly-anticipated battle on Oct. 12, St. John Bosco and Mater Dei continued their dominant performances with home-field blowouts in Week 4 of the 2018 football season.
As expected, St. John Bosco (4-0) romped over Paramount 56-14, and Mater Dei (3-1) blitzed St. Mary’s (Stockton) 56-0. Their fellow Catholic school Trinity League foes also won: J.Serra (also 4-0) outscored Pinnacle 42-35; Servite (3-0) beat Roosevelt 32-13; and Santa Margarita (2-2) regrouped to clobber Mayfair 55-7.
Elsewhere, there was mixed success among Catholic high school teams. Cathedral ran its mark to 4-0, beating Loyola 30-7, and this week will take on Bishop Amat, now 3-1 after a 45-14 win over Rancho Cucamonga.
But two of the Lancers’ Mission League rivals struggled last weekend: Chaminade (2-2) fell 70-34 to Folsom, and Alemany (3-1) lost 56-14 to Oaks Christian. On the other side, Notre Dame (Sherman Oaks) won its first game in a big way, 55-7 over Paraclete, and Serra (Gardena) edged Long Beach Poly 29-25.
Other than Cathedral, Angelus League teams were on the losing end: St. Francis, 35-21 to Westlake; Crespi, 21-14 to Golden Valley; and Salesian, 41-7 to St. Margaret’s.
St. Paul (4-0) is still the class of the Del Rey League, beating Birmingham 31-7, and St. Genevieve (2-2) got its first win in several weeks, 57-7 over San Bernardino. But St. Anthony and La Salle are still winless, losing 52-14 to Woodrow Wilson and 48-7 to Westchester, respectively.
The Santa Fe League saw St. Bernard improve to 3-1 overall by beating Bishop Montgomery 47-13, and Verbum Dei do likewise by doubling up on Jordan (L.A.) 56-28.
Other highlights included Damien outlasting Charter Oak 31-24; Mary Star scorching Century 61-26; and, up north, St. Bonaventure and Bishop Diego bouncing back from one-sided losses to beat Santa Barbara 28-13 and Nipomo 41-28, respectively.
And one of the brightest lights of the weekend was St. Monica, winning its first game since October 2016 when the Steve Broussard-coached Mariners downed Littlerock 6-0.
Elsewhere: Bassett defeated Don Bosco Tech 47-23; Tri-City Christian beat Cantwell-Sacred Heart 53-6; Bakersfield edged St. Joseph (Santa Maria) 38-31; Montclair nosed out St. Pius X-St. Matthias 20-14; and Savanna beat Santa Clara 35-16.
In eight-man football, St. Michael’s Prep defeated Calvary Baptist 30-22.
Mike Nelson is the former editor of the Tidings (predecessor to Angelus News).
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