No. 1 St. John Bosco got off to a bit of a slow start against their visitors from Oregon, but in the end, the Braves pulled away for a comfortable 42-14 win. Playing in Hawaii while everyone else was waiting to start the season has its advantages. The Braves will take their second week off already as they prepare for their showdown with Bishop Gorman on Sept. 26. The Gaels will easily be Bosco's toughest test to date.
No. 2 Mater Dei was idle last week while it scouted this week's opponent Upland. The Monarchs had to like what they saw as the Highlanders were upset by Tesoro. Mater Dei Quarterback Jack Lowary has looked impressive in his early action against Centennial and Villa Park, but he's still relatively untested. Despite the loss to Tesoro, the Upland defense will do a good job of making Lowary and the Mater Dei offense earn their yards.
No. 3 Long Beach Poly earned a hard fought victory over a dynamic Westlake team. The Jackrabbits held junior quarterback Malik Henry in check for much of the game in a 34-24 win. Jackrabbits QB Josh Love was once again impressive as he threw for nearly 350 yards and four touchdowns as the Poly offense took to the air to pull away from Westlake. Poly has a dangerous trip to Corona Centennial this week -- the Huskies looked dreadful against Mater Dei in Week 0, but improved quickly to win a shootout against Orange Lutheran. Last week, Centennial almost knocked off nationally-ranked Bishop Gorman.
No. 4 Servite remained in the Top 5 after a loss to Bishop Gorman to open the season ... and this is why. The Friars walloped a good La Mirada team last week, 56-14. La Mirada had a pair of quality wins coming into the game, but Servite ran roughshod over them. Servite should get more of a challenge this week from 3-0 Edison, but La Mirada was supposed to stand up better as well.
No. 5 Alemany put a second Southern Section loss on City Section power Narbonne's 2014 resume. The Gauchos were beaten two weeks ago by Long Beach Poly, and Alemany poured on a little more misery in a 51-30 victory. Narbonne had to feel like it was deja vu after leading the Warriors in the second half, just like with Poly, only to see the game get away from them in the fourth quarter. After trailing 23-21 to start the fourth, Alemany erupted to turn a close game into a rout. Alemany shouldn't have too much trouble with Dorsey this week before its showdown with Chaminade in two weeks.
No. 6 JSerra throttled defending CIF champion Huntington Beach 63-17 in what looked like a good matchup on paper to start the season. Huntington Beach may have won a CIF title last year, but it was also a 5-5 team which started slow and got hot last year. JSerra has started hot and stayed hot so far in 2014. The schedule only gets tougher from here as the Lions meet St. Bonaventure on Friday while the Trinity League schedule looms beginning Oct. 10.
No. 7 Santa Margarita found a surprisingly stiff challenger in Dorsey in a 21-10 victory. After hanging 56 on Corona Santiago the week prior, the Eagles found the going much tougher against the Dons. Santa Margarita's victory was never in doubt, and we're willing to overlook the relatively close score knowing this was a sandwich game as a trip to Bishop Gorman looms this week. The Eagles felt like they let one slip away from them against Gorman last year, and they've been looking forward to this one for the last 12 months.
No. 8 Chaminade handled a hot Valencia team which was coming off of a blowout win over Huntington Beach two weeks ago. Chaminade was in control of this game throughout and won comfortably, and the Eagles shouldn't break much of a sweat against 0-3 Birmingham this week. It might be league play before we see anyone play the Eagles within four touchdowns.
No. 9 Bishop Amat proved its big win over Aledo (Texas) two weeks was no fluke as the Lancers came home to lay it to Rancho Cucamonga to the tune of 46-17. Amat gets another solid road test against Chino Hills this week whose only loss on the year is to No. 6-ranked JSerra in Week 1.
No. 10 Serra is another team which had a good bounce back game as the Cavaliers handled Carson with relative ease. Two weeks ago, Serra couldn't quite go the distance with nationally ranked Bellevue (Wash.), but the young Serra team should only get better week to week. The Cavs' schedule doesn't get any easier -- they ace Narbonne this week, which has played Poly and Alemany tough in consecutive weeks, and the Mission League schedule is a significant step up in competition from recent years past.
Top 20 in CIF-SS, Week 3
Rank (Last) Team (Record)
1 (1) St. John Bosco (3-0)
2 (2) Mater Dei (2-0)
3 (3) Poly (3-0)
4 (4) Servite (2-1)
5 (5) Alemany (3-0)
6 (7) JSerra (3-0)
7 (8) Santa Margarita (3-0)
8 (9) Chaminade (3-0)
9 (10) Bishop Amat (2-1)
10 (11) Serra (2-1)
11 (14) St. Bonaventure (2-1)
12 (19) Rancho Verde (3-0)
13 (13) Westlake (2-1)
14 (NR) Tesoro (2-1)
15 (6) Upland (2-1)
16 (15) Edison (3-0)
17 (16) Los Alamitos (2-0)
18 (17) Corona del Mar (3-0)
19 (NR) Centennial (1-2)
20 (20) Redlands East Valley (1-1)
In: Corona Centennial, Tesoro
Out: Rancho Cucamonga, Vista Murrieta
