Bosco Lost in August. JSerra Paid for It in October.

St. John Bosco has not lost since Aug. 21, and Friday night in Bellflower the Braves showed JSerra Catholic exactly why.

The scoreboard read 14-0 after one quarter and 34-0 at the break. Final: Bosco 40, JSerra 14, in the Trinity League opener. Both JSerra touchdowns came after the outcome was already settled.

Context makes that score louder. JSerra walked in 4-1 on a four-game run that included a road win at Bishop Amat. High School On SI had just tagged Hardy Nickerson's Lions as the surprise team of the Southern Section. Bosco erased that storyline in 24 minutes, with 20 points in the second quarter alone.

That's the version of Bosco that scares people.

Rewind to opening night. The Braves went to Las Vegas and lost 38-28 to Bishop Gorman. Since then they have beaten Roman Catholic 45-25, ground out a 26-14 win at Pittsburg, handled Kahuku 49-13, flown to Honolulu to beat Saint Louis 63-21, and now this. Five straight, including a road trip across the Pacific.

The engine is the defense. High School On SI's preseason Power 25 counted seven Top 100 recruits on that side of the ball. Friday, that unit kept a four-game winner off the scoreboard for an entire half. Running back Maliq Allen, who broke a 32-yard touchdown run in the Pittsburg win, gives the offense its edge.

Now the gauntlet. Orange Lutheran comes to Bellflower on Oct. 9 and Santa Margarita on Oct. 16, followed by road trips to Servite on Oct. 23 and Mater Dei on Oct. 30. The Oct. 16 game is the one. Carson Palmer's Eagles beat Mater Dei 14-7 Friday, sit at 6-0, and have allowed 34 points all season.

My call: Bosco beats Santa Margarita on Oct. 16 and wins the Trinity League outright. The August loss to Gorman taught this team how to close, and JSerra just found that out the hard way.

The National Top 10 Scoreboard

MaxPreps rankings as of Sept. 28.

Circle Oct. 16. Drop your Bosco–Santa Margarita pick in the comments, and track every Trinity League result all season on RepMax Media.