Prep Rally: A look at the high school football bowl games

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Prep Rally. My name is Eric Sondheimer. The high school football championship bowl games were announced Sunday. First week are regionals, then come championship games Dec. 8-9 in Southern California. Let’s take a look.

Let’s go bowling

Mater Dei teammates spray water in the air to celebrate their 35-7 win in Division 1 final.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

It will be Mater Dei (12-1) taking on San Mateo Serra (12-0) in the CIF state championship Open Division bowl game on Dec. 9 at Saddleback College. Let’s be blunt: Running clock is expected for the third consecutive season. Serra lost to Mater Dei two years ago 44-7 and lost to St. John Bosco last season 45-0. Serra coach Patrick Walsh watched Mater Dei on television last week and said, “It might be as good or better than any roster I’ve seen. They’ve got players going to Georgia, Alabama, Texas, Oregon.”

Serra has a better team than last season and returns much of its defense. The only question is whether Serra’s most famous alumnus, Tom Brady, has any eligibility left.

Most other state playoff teams (every section champion is allowed to participate) will play regional games this week trying to reach one of the three state final sites at Saddleback, El Camino College or Pasadena City College.

City Section Open Division champion Birmingham will be on the road to San Diego to face Del Norte, coached by Green Bays Packers Super Bowl champion linebacker Nick Barnett.

Here’s the pairings for the state playoffs.

Football rewind

Darvens Joseph of Fairfax makes the winning 32-yard touchdown catch in overtime for a 20-14 win over Chatsworth in the City Section Division II championship game.

(Craig Weston)

There was drama during championship weekend in high school football.

Mater Dei made up for a 28-0 loss to St. John Bosco in the Trinity League final by routing the Braves at the Coliseum 35-7 in the Division 1 final. Here’s the report.

Mission Viejo defeated Servite to win the Division 2 championship. Here’s the report.

One of the craziest games was in Division 6, where Simi Valley defeated Mira Costa in overtime after the lights went out. Here’s the report.

Rio Hondo Prep had to stop a two-point conversion attempt by Santa Monica to win the Division 9 final 29-27.

In the City Section, Birmingham continued its domination, winning the Open Division title for the fourth straight season. Quarterback Kingston Tisdell has made 162 passes without an interception. Here’s the report

Fairfax pulled out a 20-14 overtime win over Chatsworth in the City Division II final with a winning touchdown catch by Darvens Joseph. Here’s the report.

Banning won a 13th City title in the Division I game against Crenshaw. Here’s the report.

L.A. Jordan won its first City title since 1980 by defeating Washington Prep in the Division III final. Here’s the report.

Here’s the complete scorelist from weekend finals.

Here are the top individual performances.

Football explainer

St. John Bosco coach Jason Negro has guided his team to the Division 1 final nine times in the last 10 seasons.

(Craig Weston)

How did St. John Bosco and Mater Dei become football superpowers?

Once upon a time, multiple schools in the Southern Section realistically could dream of winning a Division 1 championship.

It was the days when public and private schools had equal chances. In the late 1970s, Fountain Valley, Loyola, South Hills, Los Altos and Edison won titles. In the 1980s, Riverside Poly, Fontana, Crespi, Servite and St. Paul claimed crowns. In the 1990s, Long Beach Poly, Bishop Amat, Mater Dei and Eisenhower became champions. In the early 21st century, Orange Lutheran, Santa Margarita, Corona Centennial and Poly ruled the Southland.

Now it’s just two. Here’s the timeline of how and why a shift has taken place.

Cross-country

Junior Emmanuel Perez of Cathedral won his second straight Division IV state championship in cross country.

(Cathedral)

The state cross-country championships at Woodward Park in Fresno allowed several defending champions to improve on their performances.

No one was better than Sadie Engelhardt of Ventura. She set a Division II state record to repeat as champion, joining Emmanuel Perez of Cathedral in Division 4 boys and Evan Noonan of Dana Hills in Division 3 boys.

Here’s the report.

Bryce James transfers

Bryce James is back at Sierra Canyon.

(Gregory Payan / Associated Press)

Bryce James has returned to Sierra Canyon after being enrolled at Sherman Oaks Notre Dame. The junior son of the Lakers’ LeBron James should become eligible this week.

Here’s the report.

Basketball

Redondo Union is the site this week for a tournament featuring quality teams. Unbeaten Harvard-Westlake faces unbeaten La Mirada on Tuesday night and unbeaten JSerra faces unbeaten Eastvale Roosevelt.

Freshman Grayson Coleman led unbeaten Calabasas to a tournament title last week. Here’s a report. Westlake has started 4-0. Here’s a look at the Warriors. Justin Pippen continues to rise as a guard for Sierra Canyon. Here’s a look.

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

In girls basketball, No. 1 Etiwanda was taken to double overtime during a trip to Texas and beaten by Duncanville.

Sierra Canyon and Mater Dei are still unbeaten. Sage Hill won the Redondo Union tournament, beating Ontario Christian in the championship game.

Notes

Newbury Park defensive back Jaden Mack has committed to Northern Arizona. . . .

Outfielder Taj Brar of Hart has committed to Biola. . . .

Lucas Reynolds is the new boys water polo coach at Corona del Mar. He had been associate coach. . . .

Quarterback Anthony Wolter of St. Bonaventure has committed to Nevada. . . .

Standout receiver Zacharyus Williams of Gardena Serra has committed to Utah. . . .

Receiver Hayden Eligon of Los Alamitos has committed to Northwestern. . . .

Anthony White, the football coach at Santa Ana College and a former high school coach in Southern California, has died after a fight with cancer. He was 42. He helped turn Buena Park High’s football program into a winner. . . .

Ed Prange, the boys’ basketball coach at Loara for 33 years, has died. He was 59. He won more than 400 games at Loara. . . .

Former El Camino Real and UCLA baseball standout Ryan McGuire has joined Santa Margarita’s coaching staff. He also played in the majors. . . .

Mater Dei won a state championship in girls’ tennis.

From the archives: Ethan Garbers

UCLA quarterback Ethan Garbers throws a pass against USC.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

It was a game Ethan Garbers dreamed about for years and years as a child. The former Corona del Mar quarterback led UCLA to a victory over USC one week ago, cementing himself a place in Bruin lore.

Garbers once guided Corona del Mar to a 16-0 season in 2019. He originally enrolled at Washington before transferring to UCLA, where there was no guarantee he’d ever get to start at quarterback. Through the ups and downs, he persevered.

Here’s a 2019 story on Garbers facing challenges in high school while waiting to get his chance.

Here’s a 2018 story on Garbers succeeding his brother at quarterback at Corona del Mar.

Recommendations

From Los Angeles Times, a story asking whether former Camarillo and UCLA star Jaime Jaquez Jr. will be the next Latino basketball star.

From Bakersfield.com, a story on a high school team that lost its football playoff game because of an extreme error by the officials, then couldn’t get the error reversed on appeal.

From the New York Times, a story on football players who started playing at age 6 and died by 30.

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