Throw Out the Records: Bosco vs. Mater Dei Is Back

The matchup we wait for all year lands in Santa Ana on Friday night. Records, rankings, résumés: none of it survives the opening kickoff.

By Will L.

It doesn't matter what the records say.

St. John Bosco can walk in unbeaten. Mater Dei can walk in with two losses. Flip it around, and it still doesn't matter. When these two programs meet, it feels like two undefeated teams colliding every single year. The schedules, the rankings, who played whom and who ducked whom — all of it gets left in the parking lot.

When the ball is kicked, it's 0-0. Evenly matched. That's how it has felt in every one of these games I've sat in the stands and watched.

This year, the records really are identical. Both teams are 7-2. Both lost to Bishop Gorman. Both lost to Santa Margarita. Both sit at 3-1 in Trinity League play. According to MaxPreps, both defenses have allowed exactly 167 points.

Mirror images. One night to break the tie.

Kickoff is Friday, Oct. 30, at 7 p.m. at Santa Ana Stadium.

This one is personal

I've watched this game on both campuses. In Santa Ana, it's electric. In Bellflower, it's electric too, but Bosco at home has its own feel: the way the Braves come out of the tunnel, the way they start the game, and the way Mater Dei answers when it takes the field.

Then the whistle blows. The ball goes up. And for a split second, the whole stadium goes silent.

After that, it's about who wants it more.

Play to play, hit to hit, pass to pass, run to run, it's personal. It reminds me of those old Titans-Ravens wars, Eddie George running straight into Ray Lewis. Every snap was about inches. You give me an inch, I take an inch. You give me a foot, I take a foot. Then I take your will to keep coming. That's what Bosco vs. Mater Dei feels like every single year.

And it runs deeper than the 22 guys on the field. Look into the stands. Students. Parents. Grandparents. Alumni who graduated decades ago and still feel like they're suiting up. I've seen friends and family members who won't sit next to each other for four quarters on this night. They wait all year for it. They bleed for it.

That's a rivalry.

Ten years of haymakers

This series started in 1966, and for decades it belonged to Mater Dei. That changed when Jason Negro, a Bosco alum, took over the Braves in 2010. Bosco won six straight from 2011 to 2015, and the national rivalry we know today was born.

Since 2016, Mater Dei leads 12-5. But the scoreboard only tells part of it. Most years they meet twice: first in the regular season as Trinity League opponents, then again in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 championship game. Here is how the last ten seasons went:

2016

• Regular season: Mater Dei 26, Bosco 21.

• Division 1 championship: Bosco 42, Mater Dei 28. Quarterback Re-al Mitchell and running backs Terrance Beasley and Demetrious Flowers each rushed for more than 100 yards.

2017

• Regular season: Mater Dei 31, Bosco 21.

• Division 1 championship: Mater Dei 49, Bosco 24. J.T. Daniels threw five touchdown passes, three of them to Bru McCoy, to finish the sweep.

2018

• Regular season: Bosco 41, Mater Dei 18, at Santa Ana Stadium.

• Division 1 championship: Mater Dei 17, Bosco 13. The Monarchs held DJ Uiagalelei to 110 passing yards.

2019

• Regular season: Mater Dei 38, Bosco 24. Bryce Young accounted for five touchdowns.

• Division 1 championship: Bosco 39, Mater Dei 34. Down 28-12 at halftime, the Braves stormed back behind DJ Uiagalelei’s 446 passing yards and five touchdown passes.

2020 season (played in spring 2021)

• Regular season, April 17, 2021: Mater Dei 34, Bosco 17. COVID pushed the whole 2020 season to the spring, and there were no playoffs.

2021 (fall)

• Regular season: Mater Dei 42, Bosco 21. Sophomore Elijah Brown threw five touchdown passes.

• No championship rematch: Servite knocked Bosco out 40-21 in the semifinals.

2022

• Regular season: Mater Dei 17, Bosco 7.

• Division 1 championship at the Rose Bowl: Bosco 24, Mater Dei 22. With 3:08 left, Bosco stopped Jordon Davison a yard short on a game-tying two-point try. It was Bruce Rollinson’s last game after 34 seasons.

2023

• Regular season: Bosco 28, Mater Dei 0.

• Division 1 championship at the LA Memorial Coliseum: Mater Dei 35, Bosco 7, with pick-sixes from Abduall Sanders and Zabien Brown.

2024

• Regular season: Mater Dei 59, Bosco 14, after leading 45-0 at halftime. The 45-point margin is the biggest in series history.

• Division 1 championship at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Long Beach: Mater Dei 31, Bosco 24.

2025

• Regular season: Mater Dei 36, Bosco 31, in Bellflower. Unbeaten Bosco led 24-3 late in the second quarter. Ryan Hopkins threw five touchdown passes, four after halftime, to complete the comeback.

• No championship rematch: Orange Lutheran upset Bosco 20-19 in the Division 1 quarterfinals, and Corona Centennial beat Mater Dei 28-27 in the semifinals.

The rematch curse

Here's the caveat that makes this rivalry wild. These two meet twice in most years, once in league play and again with a title on the line. They've done it in seven of the last nine full seasons. In five of those seven, the team that lost the regular-season game won the rematch.

Win Friday, and history says you'd better watch your back in November.

Will it happen again this year? That's the question hanging over Santa Ana.

The 2026 chess match

Koa at the controls. Bosco junior Koa Malau'ulu has been balling. He's slinging it around the yard and running that offense like he owns it, with 4,173 passing yards and 52 touchdowns over his first two varsity seasons coming into this year. The Braves have scored 340 points and just dropped 54 on Servite. One box he hasn't checked: a win over Mater Dei. Friday is his shot.

No. 13, the freshman nobody can predict. On the other side is Mater Dei's No. 13, freshman quarterback Paytyn Guess. He's electric. He won a three-way quarterback battle as a ninth-grader, made the decisive play in a 10-9 win over Corona Centennial, and hasn't looked back. Coach Raul Lara summed him up in two words: "He's dynamic." You never know what's coming. Bootleg, scramble, deep shot. He keeps a defense on its toes every snap. And he isn't carrying the room alone. Cameron Pooley, a Chaminade transfer who committed to Deion Sanders and Colorado in September, has been part of Lara's quarterback plan this fall, giving Mater Dei a Power Four arm it can turn to in any series.

Home-run backs on both sidelines. Mater Dei rolls a stable of backs, and any one of them can take it to the house. Sophomore Asir Nembhard leads the Trinity League with 1,025 rushing yards and scored three times last week against Orange Lutheran. Bosco answers with Maliq Allen, who ripped off a 71-yard touchdown run against Mater Dei as a sophomore and still has that gear.

Trench for trench. Bosco has an offensive line. So does Mater Dei. Bosco has a defensive front that can wreck a game plan. So does Mater Dei. Mater Dei's defense has teeth, too: it broke a 31-31 fourth-quarter tie against Orange Lutheran with a pick-six, then added another with 18 seconds left. Bosco has to protect the football.

Coach vs. coach. In the end, this comes down to two coaches who have been doing this a long time. Jason Negro is in his 17th season at Bosco. Raul Lara, now in his third year at Mater Dei, won five Division 1 titles in 13 seasons at Long Beach Poly before he got there. Whoever rallies his guys best, adjusts fastest and cashes in on the other side's mistakes walks out a winner.

Why Friday matters

Carson Palmer has put his stamp on Santa Margarita. The Eagles sit alone atop the Trinity League at 4-0, are 9-0 overall and rank No. 2 in the MaxPreps national Top 25. But they still have to play their finale at Orange Lutheran.

If Santa Margarita slips, the Trinity League title ends in a tie, and Friday's winner owns a share of it. If the Eagles win, Friday's winner finishes second outright. Add Division 1 seeding in an eight-team bracket and the road to the CIF State Open Division, and this game carries everything you want in a football game. Bosco sits No. 11 and Mater Dei No. 18 in this week's MaxPreps national rankings.

Extra coverage this week

We're bringing in reinforcements. Jordana Lockhart of Team Hustle Productions and the Team Hustle Network will add background, commentary and coverage around the game, with the goal of sitting down with both coaching staffs. First question on the list: is this a rivalry?

Don't answer that. We all know.

Will's call

The whistle makes it 0-0, and I'm riding with the quarterback who's been waiting three years for this one. Bosco 27, Mater Dei 24. Koa gets his win, and the four-game streak ends in Santa Ana.

Now it's your turn. Drop your final score in the comments before kickoff. Will you be there Friday at 7? RepMax will be. Check back Saturday for our full SoCal scores roundup.