No. 8 Mater Dei edges out No. 2 Bishop Gorman

LAS VEGAS, Nev.- With upsets left and right around the country, two national powerhouses meeting at Fertitta Field Friday night in No. 8 Mater Dei and No. 2 Bishop Gorman was only fitting to cap the evening.

Coming off their first loss to a team not named St. John Bosco since November, 2015, Mater Dei needed to bounce back in a big way and they did. The Monarchs received a huge night from their offense as they narrowly defeated the Gaels 27-24.

With the win, Mater Dei remains in the all-mythical national championship picture moving forward as the Monarchs victory is sure to shake up next week’s Top 25 rankings.

Mater Dei’s passing attack was clicking on all cylinders

Forget about anything and everything you might’ve seen through the first three weeks of this season. Mater Dei’s offense was alive and well, especially through the air. For a passing attack that seems lethargic at times this season, the group seemed to be on the same page the entire night.

Wisconsin commit Ryan Hopkins was superb, especially when needing to make clutch throws for first downs or touchdowns. Hopkins finished the night completing 15 of 20 passes for 258 yards and three touchdowns and just the one errant pass for an interception.

It wasn’t just Hopkins that had awoken, it was his go-to-targets of tight end Mark Bowman (USC commit) and wide receiver Chris Henry Jr. Bowman had by far his best game of the season, hauling in four passes for 105 yards and two touchdowns. Henry Jr. made a couple of grabs over multiple defenders, showing folks why he’s bound for Ohio State after high school.

Bishop Gorman couldn’t capitalize on the redzone on multiple possessions

What Bishop Gorman head coach Brent Browner will look back at as his program fell to 0-5 all-time against Mater Dei was the missed opportunities inside of the redzone for the Gaels’ offense.

Against a team like Mater Dei, settling for field goal attempts is just not going to cut it and Bishop Gorman had to on multiple occasions on the evening. Though Hudson Bosario had a somewhat solid evening, outside of missing one kick, it was how many times the Gaels had to settle for less. It ended up proving to be the difference in the end.

The missed field goal would’ve been the game-tying, but that happened well before the waning moments of the heavyweight tilt. Field goals needed to be touchdown runs or passes and the Gaels just were not able to get it done on offense despite a strong night from Hawaii commit Maika Eugenio (300 yards, two touchdowns).

What does this result do to the national Top 25 conversation?

Oof. You had to ask that now, didn’t you? Well, with the results filing in from around the country involving national Top 25 teams, expect a lot to change come next week.

For this specific contest, Mater Dei picking up the win certainly makes it difficult for the computers to decide how much to move this team up when you have an undefeated Grayson and IMG Academy ahead of the Monarchs. Bishop Gorman entered the contest as the nation’s No. 2 team and Mater Dei made its argument by traveling to Sin City and picking up the win.

The case was made on the field that Mater Dei should be the No. 2 team in the country right behind rival St. John Bosco because of the totality of their schedule thus far. But how does a one-loss team leapfrog any undefeated teams ahead of them? It’s a difficult question to answer right now, but we think this will all likely be decided once Halloween rolls around and the Monarchs and Braves meet for what is shaping up to be an all timer.

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