Prep Rally: The fight to determine the top football team begins this week

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Prep Rally. My name is Eric Sondheimer. It’s Mater Dei vs. St. John Bosco week. It’s Game 1 in what has become an annual two-game football series to decide No. 1 in Southern California.

Big game week

Receiver Marcus Brown of Mater Dei will be a key player in Friday’s game against St. John Bosco.

(Craig Weston)

Tickets will be hard to come by for Friday’s Trinity League showdown matching unbeaten Mater Dei (7-0) and host St. John Bosco (6-1). All you need to know is that since 2016, every Division 1 title has been won by one of the two. And they’ve had to play twice during that span every season except 2021 when Servite crashed the party and won a semifinal game over the Braves.

One player to keep watch for is senior receiver Marcus Brown of Mater Dei. He missed his sophomore season with a broken collarbone but has come back the last two seasons to be a go-to receiver for quarterback Elijah Brown (no relation). The two have been clicking together since sixth grade.

Here’s the link to a profile of Marcus Brown and setting the stage for the biggest game of the high school football season so far.

There’s other big games this week. Warren is playing Downey in the first 11-man high school football game at SoFi Stadium. Mission Viejo is hosting San Clemente in its annual South Coast League title decider. Dorsey is playing at Crenshaw in a City Section rivalry game. On Thursday night, Vista Murrieta is playing at Corona Centennial.

Football rewind

Narbonne rallied for a 22-21 win over Banning in a game that was marred by a post-game fight. Here’s the report.

Valencia, a winner of 11 straight Foothill League title until losing out in 2021 and 2022, is back dominating. Here’s the report after a 42-14 win over West Ranch.

St. Francis came through with a 28-21 double overtime win over Paraclete to keep alive its Angelus League title hopes. It was a tough week because two football players escaped serious injury when hit by a car near campus.

Loyola won a key league game over St. Paul 25-11 to put itself in position to claim a playoff spot. Ike Sanders had two sacks, Scott Taylor had a sack and Sean Morris rushed for 220 yards in 26 carries.

Dymallly knocked off Crenshaw to move into position to win its first Coliseum League title. Here’s the report.

Julius Gillick had a record night rushing for Edison with 315 yards against Huntington Beach.

Here’s top individual performances for Week 7.

Here’s City Section top 10 rankings.

Here’s this week’s top 25 rankings by The Times.

Here’s the complete scores list.

Here’s the Week 8 schedule.

Tight end power

Tight end Decker DeGraaf of Glendora

(Craig Weston)

For those who think tight ends are becoming extinct at the high school level, let me introduce you to Decker DeGraaf, who is 6 feet 5, 235 pounds and a senior at Glendora High.

“It’s an awesome time to be a tight end,” he says. “It’s thriving at the upper levels.”

DeGraaf has a point. Travis Kelce of the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs and George Kittle of the Super Bowl contending San Francisco 49ers are doing their best to promote the position.

Southern California has produced the likes of Hall of Famer Tony Gonzalez (Huntington Beach, Chiefs) and Bob Klein (St. Monica, Rams). Rob Gronkowski became so popular with the New England Patriots he parlayed his success into commercials and media exposure.

The rise of spread offenses at the high school level has left the tight end position losing its luster, though. Tight ends at one time were only used for blocking. Now they’re needed for catching passes. And to move on to the next level, you have to be able to do both.

Luckily at Glendora, DeGraaf is at a school where coach Brandon Rohrer says, “We love tight ends. We’re not as athletic as most teams, but those guys are the great equalizer. Decker can do it all — run, block, catch. He’s a tough matchup for a corner.”

A profile of the Washington-bound DeGraaf.

Coliseum to host event

Los Angeles Coliseum graphic

(Lorena Elebee / Los Angeles Times)

Last football season, Roosevelt played Garfield at the Coliseum with Will I Am providing a halftime concert that drew more than 25,000 fans at the Coliseum.

On Oct. 27, the Coliseum will once again host a high school football game and halftime concert. Called the South L.A. Classic, Dorsey will play King/Drew in a 7:30 p.m. game that will feature a halftime concert by Warren G and Xzibit. There’s also a JV game at 4:30 p.m.

Tickets will be $15 and available via Ticketmaster starting this week.

Loyola athlete gives back

Loyola water polo player Chris Petrossian meet students at school in Armenia.

(Buddies Across Borders)

Junior water polo player Chris Petrossian of Loyola High spends a lot of time in the pool. He’s also a straight-A student of Armenian descent who came up an idea to help students in Armenia. He created Buddies Across Borders, a program to tutor students in remote villages.

It started with videoconference and teaching via computer. Then last summer, he traveled to the Armenian border to meet some of the students his program was helping. It’s an area that has undergone changes as Armenia and Azerbaijan continue a dispute that resulted in thousands of casualties in 2020.

Here’s a report.

Girls’ volleyball

Huntington Beach’s (l-r) Olivia Foye, Haylee LaFontaine, Kylie Leopard and Dani Sparks have been starters for three years.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

Mater Dei and Mira Costa have alternated the No. 1 spot in the Southern Section Division 1 girls’ volleyball rankings since the season started, but lurking right behind them in the weekly top 10 poll is Huntington Beach, which clinched the Surf League title Thursday with its four-set win at Newport Beach.

The Oilers (27-6) are as battle tested as any team in the Southland and have yet to lose a best-of-five match. Only one Southern Section opponent has managed to beat them — Mira Costa won a quarterfinals matchup at the Durango Classic in Las Vegas. They suffered a close defeat to San Diego Cathedral in the Dave Mohs Tournament semifinals and their other four losses are to teams from out of state — Cornerstone Christian and Prestonwood Christian from Texas and Iolani and Punahou from Hawaii.

Here’s a report on the Oilers’ rise.

Mira Costa and Palos Verdes had a dramatic, five-set match in the Bay League won by Mira Costa 15-13 in the final set.

Mira Costa won the Redondo/Mira Costa Power Classic tournament championship, defeating Marymount in the championship game. Charlie Fuerbringer was named tournament MVP.

Hart won the silver division title, defeating Sherman Oaks Notre Dame in the final.

Glendale won the Sylmar tournament gold championship, defeating GALA in the final. Carson defeated Grace Brethren in the silver division championship.

Girls’ flag football

Esperanza is 17-0 in flag football. Girls’ basketball coach Jimmy Valverde is coaching the team.

Birmingham and San Fernando, both unbeaten, play Thursday in what should be a competitive City Section game.

Long Beach Poly continues to roll with an 8-1 record.

Newbury Park won the tournament championship at Hueneme, defeating Rio Mesa in the final.

Cross-country

Dana Hills boys and JSerra girls were the big winners at the Clovis Invitational.

Anthony Fast Horse of Ventura ran the fastest boys’ time at 14:32.5. Emmanuel Perez of Cathedral finished second at 14:42.6. Perez tied the L.A. County record on the state meet course. Dana Hills won the team title.

Sadie Engelhardt of Ventura took the girls’ individual title with a time of 16:39.3. JSerra won the girls’ team title.

The next big races will come at Mt. SAC in two weeks.

Notes . . .

Saddleback College, Pasadena City College and El Camino College will be the sites where all 15 CIF state championship football bowl games will be played Dec. 8-9. . . .

Basketball center Dylan Benner of St. Bonaventure has committed to Army West Point. He’ll be a four-year varsity player. . . .

Mater Dei long snapper Rylan Vagana has committed to Texas Tech. . . .

Sierra Canyon girls’ basketball player Kayla Malek has committed Pomona-Pitzer. . . .

Standout girls’ basketball player Allison Clarke of Rosary has committed to Loyola Marymount. . . .

Nogales has forfeited three football games for using ineligible players. It remains to be seen if there will be any additional punishment for knowingly playing an ineligible player who was under review by the Southern Section. . . .

Sierra Canyon guard Isaiah Elohim has committed to Arkansas. . . .

Melissa Seidemann has resigned as girls’ water polo coach at Corona del Mar. . . .

Newport Harbor had a big water polo win over Huntington Beach. Here’s a report. . . .

Linebacker Stacy Bey of Rancho Cucamonga has changed his commitment from San Diego State to Arizona. Teammate Rahim Wright has also committed to Arizona. . . .

From the archives: Michael Wilson

Michael Wilson with the catch for Chaminade in 2017.

(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

The first two NFL touchdowns for former Chaminade receiver Michael Wilson happened last weekend. The rookie for the Arizona Cardinals got them against the San Francisco 49ers.

Wilson is the latest multisport former high school standout to make it in the NFL. He was a point guard for Chaminade in the powerful Mission League before focusing on football and heading to Stanford.

Here’s a 2017 story about Wilson’s football talents.

Here’s a 2015 story about Wilson’s basketball talents.

Recommendations

From the Washington Post, a story showing transfer issues aren’t just limited to California.

From Statelinesportsnetwork, a story on Georgia separating public and private schools in football playoffs.

From the Los Angeles Times, a story on a high school that refuses to play football games against boys teams that have girls playing.

From the San Diego Union-Tribune, a story on what happened when six basketball players went out for football.

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