Mater Dei Coach Bruce Rollinson is joined by four of his standout players (from left) lineman Myles Murao, quarterback Bryce Young, linebacker Dean Neeley and defensive back Nate White. (Photo Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone)
Mater Dei’s football team, the top-ranked team in the nation, is back in the CIF Division 1 final and the Monarchs opponent Saturday night will be Trinity League foe St. John Bosco.
Top seeded Mater Dei (12-0) and No. 2 St. John Bosco (11-1) meet at 7:30 at Cerritos College for the top prize in the division.
It will be the fourth straight year that Mater Dei and St. John Bosco have met in the finals. St. John Bosco won 42-28 in 2016 while Mater Dei won 49-24 in 2017 and 17-13 last year.
Mater Dei Coach Bruce Rollinson is well aware of what is required to bring home another title.
“It’s about preparation,” Rollinson said on Monday at the CIF press luncheon in Long Beach. “We started talking to the kids on Saturday and we’re talking about every day, every period, every play, total focus, total concentration and then when you go to the game itself, you have to play within the moment of each play.
“And then it’s scheming, what are they going to do differently, what are we going to do differently and what do we do best. And then turn them loose for 48 minutes. It’s going to be a physical football game so you get as many kids to 100 percent as you can. Right now early in the week, it’s going to be won up front by the big men. You got to control both lines of scrimmage.”
Mater Dei is led by Alabama commit quarterback Bryce Young, who has passed for 3,603 yards and 46 touchdowns and 10 rushing touchdowns. Wide receiver Kodey Epps has accumulated 1,387 receiving yards and 23 touchdowns.
Defensively, Ray Leutele has more than 60 tackles and three interceptions.
Coach Jason Negro’s St. John Bosco team is led by quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei, who has thrown for nearly 3,177 yards and almost 40 touchdowns. He’s also rushed for seven touchdowns. The top receivers are wide receivers Kris Hutson and Beaux Collins, who each have more than 700 receiving yards. The defense is led by Koby Pepe and Danny Lockhart, who both have more than 60 tackles.
St. John Bosco is going for its third CIF title and will be out to avenge a 38-24 loss to Mater Dei on Oct. 25 at St. John Bosco.
Mater Dei players are excited about being in the finals again, but they want to achieve the goal they established at the start of the season, a third consecutive CIF crown.
“It’s definitely a blessing,” Young, the Monarchs quarterback, said Monday. “It was our goal coming in. But our goal wasn’t to be in the finals, it was to win a championship. I’m just blessed to be here, but we have a lot of work to do.
“For us, I think it will be preparation to make sure that we prepare and make sure we keep getting better Monday through Friday in all of our practices. That’s been a big emphasis for us this year making sure we get better in the weight room and get better in practice day by day and we have to make sure we keep that mentality this week.”
The goals have been clear from the start, a CIF title.
“It’s all we’ve been working for since our first team meeting in January,” Young said. “It’s been our goal the whole year. This is our biggest game of the year for sure so this is everything for us.”
Young is coming off a seven touchdown performance in Mater Dei’s 49-24 victory over Mission Viejo in the semifinals Friday night.
“I feel it was a great team win,” Young said. “But we looked at it on Saturday and evaluated what we did good and what we could have done better and we’re on to the future. It was a good game in the past, but that’s behind us now, all that matters now is Bosco on Saturday.”
Rollinson, the Monarchs coach, said the season has gone about how he expected.
“The hidden part is is going to be a great group of kids or there is going to be self-created adversity or internal problems,” he said. “This is just a spectactular group of kids. We’ve got great leadership, great senior class. I look forward to being on the field with them in practice.
“They work extremely hard but they have fun. They’re a tight-knit group. And that chemistry is going to be one of the ingredients for this Saturday night. They’ve got great chemistry.
“Who would have predicted we would be undefeated with the schedule I stuck in front of them, but they’re not looking at any other senior class or any other past, they’re looking at this game Saturday night that we have to get it done.”
-Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com
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