California High School Football: Corona Centennial upsets No. 1 Mater Dei

The last time a team not named St. John Bosco defeated Mater Dei was 3,578 days ago. That very program to do so was Corona Centennial and Friday night, the Huskies ended the drought.

Behind a 28-point first quarter, Centennial held off a furious comeback attempt by top-ranked Mater Dei and came away with a thrilling 43-36 win at Husky Stadium.

Ironically, the last time Centennial beat Mater back in November of 2025, the quarterback for the Huskies was Anthony Catalano. Now Catalano’s brother, Dominick, is the starter behind center for Centennial these days as it comes full circle.

Centennial had a huge first quarter

The Huskies raced out to a fast 28-point lead in the opening quarter of play behind a myriad pf plays on both sides of the ball.

After Centennial broke the scoring ice in the opening frame, junior three-star safety Jaden Walk-Green picked off Wisconsin commit Ryan Hopkins and returned it all the way back for a touchdown to give the Huskies an early 14-0 advantage. Little did anyone know, Centennial was nowhere near finished.

The Monarchs turned over the ball for a second time in the quarter, with the Huskies capitalizing and scoring two more times in the quarter, exiting with a commanding 28-0 lead. It has probably been quite some time that any team has dominated Mater Dei in the first quarter quite line Centennial did, racing out to a four-touchdown lead.

Though the Monarchs started to chip away and made a comeback attempt, trailing by four scores to start a game is just never ideal.

Mater Dei made a game of it, but couldn’t complete the comeback

We’ve kind of seen this story with Mater Dei this season where they are locked in, but at times are not.

Heading into the matchup with Centennial on Friday night, for a full 12 minutes to start the game, the Monarchs were certainly not hyper focused on the task at hand. Coming off an uninspiring 21-18 win over Kahuku, Mater Dei needed to quiet the doubters and pickup a much needed win heading into next week’s showdown with No. 2 Bishop Gorman.

Instead, the Monarchs trailed big and eventually started to chip away at the Huskies’ lead. What was 28-0 turned into 28-7 after Hopkins hit Ohio State commit Kayden Dixon-Wyatt on a touchdown pass.

Facing a 33-7 halftime deficit, Mater Dei head coach Raul Lara and his staff got together and made adjustments. Those changes nearly led them to a New England Patriots’ Superl LI-like comeback.

The Monarchs fought back and scored 29 unanswered points to take a stunning 36-33 lead late in the third quarter. That’s when Mater Dei just ran out of gas and wouldn’t score again for the rest of the game.

How does this shakeup the National High School Football Top 25 Rankings?

We won’t know until later this weekend what kind of ramifications this will have when looking at the National High School Football Top 25 Rankings, but we are sure this won’t completely boot Mater Dei out of the Top 10 by any means.

Losing to a Centennial team that has certainly been knocking at the door of trying to compete for an Open Division state championship in California the last several years, head coach Matt Logan and crew have felt like they are close.

A win like this emphatically answers the question of if Centennial belonged as one of the elite teams in the country. Coming off an upset win like this for the Huskies also serves up the burning question of where will Centennial fall after all of this. Can they move into the Top 5?

We will see what the Massey Ratings say and the National High School Football Composite Rankings as well. Monday should be an interesting time for high school football.

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For California high school football fans looking to keep up with scores around the nation, staying updated on the action is now easier than ever with the Rivals High School Scoreboard. This comprehensive resource provides real-time updates and final scores from across the Golden State, ensuring you never miss a moment of the Friday night frenzy. From nail-biting finishes to dominant performances, the Rivals High School Scoreboard is your one-stop destination for tracking all the gridiron excitement across the state of California.