No. 1 St. John Bosco shows no signs of slowing down. The Braves would have been excused if they were looking forward to this week's match up with Mater Dei (7 p.m. on FOX Sports West), but Bosco dominated JSerra to the tune of 48-7. It says a lot about St. John Bosco when its quarterback, Josh Rosen, was considered to have a subpar game and they win by 40 plus. Bosco knows better than to take Mater Dei lightly after the Monarchs were upset last week.
No. 2 Serra has reclaimed the No. 2 spot after sliding out of it in the first weeks of the season with a lackluster start. However, there hasn't been anything lackluster about the Cavaliers the last several weeks. After blowing out No. 10 Chaminade two weeks ago, Serra did the same to Cathedral on Friday. Serra takes on an undefeated St. Francis team this week that has made its debut in the Top 20.
No. 3 Mission Viejo answered the question we asked them on High School Spotlight two weeks ago: Would anyone in the South Coast League play the Diablos within three touchdowns? More and more, that answer looks like no. Tesoro seemed to be the only team in the South Coast who might challenge Mission Viejo, but the Titans were run over by the Diablos who weren't quite at full strength. Mission Viejo will cruise the next two weeks and enter the Pac-5 playoff undefeated, and relatively untested.
No. 4 Mater Dei drops from No. 2 to No. 4 after the Monarchs were upset by Santa Margarita on PrepZone Friday night. Should Mater Dei have fallen farther after losing to a 3-4 Eagles team that had been beaten badly by St. John Bosco and Servite the last two weeks? Maybe. But Mater Dei dominated Servite just three Fridays ago as well. The Monarchs defense was outstanding, but the offense showed signs of vulnerability, lacking a running game and failing to convert pass plays when they needed to against Santa Margarita. Mater Dei has a chance for redemption this week against No. 1 St. John Bosco.
No. 5 Servite pulled out a miracle win against a good Orange Lutheran team. The Lancers took a 19-13 lead with under two minutes to play. A blocked extra point on the go ahead score proved to be the difference as Servite hit a 40 yard touchdown pass as time expired to win 20-19. Servite gets a reeling JSerra team before their showdown with St. John Bosco in two weeks.
No. 6 Long Beach Poly was off last week, and in a sense, it would've been off the last month after piling up four consecutive wins by a combined score of 137-0. The question this week against Millikan isn't if the Jackrabbits will win, but if they can keep their impressive four-game shutout streak going.
No. 7 Rancho Cucamonga is another team that needed some late magic to avoid the upset as the Cougars pulled out the win against Los Osos to move to 8-0 on the season. There should be no such drama this week as Rancho should blow out Alta Loma in preparation for its trip to Upland which will be the last regular season game before the Inland Division playoffs.
No. 8 Vista Murrieta is showing the form that had the Broncos open the season at No. 6 before falling to Cathedral Catholic of San Diego. The Broncos have dominated league play, including a 49-14 win over a good Murrieta Valley team. Vista Murrieta gets Murrieta Mesa this week, and expect another blowout.
No. 9 Hart was impressive in its 38-3 victory over Saugus last week. The Indians have been solid the last two weeks and will need to be at their best to beat a surging Valencia team, which is coming off of an impressive win against Canyon.
No. 10 Chaminade was going to be a handful for anyone to try and beat after the Eagles were embarrassed by Serra two weeks ago. It was St. Paul who had the misfortune of playing an angry Chaminade team. The 64-13 score showed that Chaminade wasn't going to dwell on their loss to Serra very long. The Eagles will have one eye on the Serra/St. Francis game, as St. Francis is next week's opponent, while they are blowing out Harvard-Westlake on Friday.
CIF-SS: Top 20, Week 9
1. (1) St. John Bosco (8-0)
2. (3) Serra (8-0)
3. (4) Mission Viejo (8-0)
4. (2) Mater Dei (7-1)
5. (5) Servite (5-3)
6. (6) Long Beach Poly (7-1)
7. (7) Rancho Cucamonga (8-0)
8. (9) Vista Murrieta (7-1)
9. (8) Hart (8-0)
10. (10) Chaminade (6-2)
11. (11) Oaks Christian (7-1)
12. (12) Alemany (7-2)
13. (13) Corona Centennial (6-2)
14. (14) Notre Dame (6-3)
15. (15) Orange Lutheran (6-2)
16. (16) Bishop Amat (5-3)
17. (17) La Habra (7-1)
18. (20) Westlake (7-2)
19. (NR) St. Francis (8-0)
20. (NR) Palos Verdes (6-2)
In: St. Francis, Palos Verdes
Out: Tesoro, Canyon
