No. 12 Mater Dei upsets rival, No. 1 St. John Bosco

Corona Centennial was able to beat Mater Dei. Santa Margarita was able to beat Mater Dei.

On Halloween, the Monarchs wouldn’t get spooked by their rivals, No. 1 ranked St. John Bosco, into a third regular season loss.

No. 12 ranked Mater Dei reminded everyone around the country of why they still should be considered one, if not the best team in the land when they want to be, as they pulled off a 36-31 upset win at Panish Family Stadium on Friday night. It marks the fourth consecutive win in the series for the Monarchs, which haven’t lost to the Braves since Oct. 13, 2023.

What sealed the victory for the Monarchs (8-2) was when CJ Lavender Jr. picked off Braves’ quarterback Koa Malau’ulu, who threw his third interception of the game.

What looked like a game once fully in St. John Bosco’s control, quickly got away from them in the third period. The Braves (9-1) in the second quarter held a 24-3 lead, but things began to slowly unravel for them as the Monarchs scored right before halftime to only trail 24-10.

Ohio State commit Kaden Dixon-Wyatt scored his first touchdown of the game midway through the third quarter, catching a 7-yard pass from Ryan Hopkins, to trail 24-17.

After a Malau’ulu to Madden Williams touchdown connection, this time it would be Chris Henry Jr’s turn to come up with the big play as the future Buckeye scored on a 79-yard pass from Hopkins.

Mater Dei would take a 36-31 lead when Hopkins would throw his fourth touchdown pass of second half, this time a 24-yard strike to Dixon-Wyatt, which was his third of game with 8:23 remaining in the contest.

What could be the first of multiple meetings between the two teams as the Monarchs-Braves could see each other again in the CIF Southern Sectional final, it looks to be another chapter closed for now on one of the biggest rivalries in high school football.

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