Pre-game facts and thoughts on Mater Dei vs. IMG Academy football showdown

Mater Dei fans get ready for tonight’s big football game with tailgate get togethers at the Santa Ana Bowl. Kickoff is at 7:37 p.m. tonight.

MATER DEI

Record: 3-1, No. 3 national ranking by Max Preps.

Previous scores: Defeated Bishop Amat,  42-14 (later forfeited because of ineligible player); defeated Bishop Gorman, 4209; defeated La Mirada 49-0, defeated St. Mary’s 56-0.

IMG ACADEMY

Record: 3-0, No. 1 national ranking by Max Preps.

Previous scores: Defeated Pine Richland 42-0, defeated Norland 49-14, defeated Liberty 35-0.

OC Sports Zone is excited to be covering tonight’s football showdown between IMG Academy and Mater Dei at the Santa Ana Bowl.

It’s definitely a big game atmosphere and about an hour before kick-off there are a lot of fans starting to fill up the Santa Ana Bowl. It should be quite a night and we hope you will come back to OC Sports Zone for updates.

We also have a scoreboard ticker at the top of our site.

Some thoughts on the game:

–Mater Dei has 91 players listed on its roster while IMG has 114.

–If there is a 50-50 drawing tonight, we wonder how much the winner will get.

–How many Mater Dei supporters will there be along the sidelines?

–Will this game of the year live up to all the hype? These big games sometimes don’t.

–If Mater Dei wins, will it become the top ranked team ahead of St. John Bosco in the CIF Division 1 rankings?

–How loud will it be in the Santa Ana Bowl?

–How fast will the parking lot at the Santa Ana Bowl fill up and how long will it take fans to exit the lot?

–How many television timeouts will there be and what time will the game end?

–What will the always quotable Mater Dei Coach Bruce Rollinson have to say to reporters after the game?

Please check back for updates.

—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone