Prep Rally: Hungry before a high school football game? Here’s where to eat

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Prep Rally. My name is Eric Sondheimer. Eating barbecue before high school football games is as much part of routines as loud music and singing the national anthem, so it’s only right that I offer 10 barbecue destinations around Southern California to visit before games.

Heavenly brisket

Brisket and mac & cheese from A.J.’s Tex Mex BBQ in Valley Village.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

Brisket that melts in your mouth. Mac & cheese so tasty you want a second helping. Baby back ribs so good that you lick the sauce from your fingers. Cornbread so alluring you want more and more. Hamburgers so big who needs French fries.

Welcome to the world of Texas barbecue available for high school football fans on Friday nights in Southern California. It’s barbecue food at its smoky best for tailgating in a parking lot or for pigging out in a pregame meal.

With help and guidance from Nick Garcia, a barbecue connoisseur and strength coach at Sherman Oaks Notre Dame, let me offer 10 destinations near high schools in the Southland for your fall and winter pregame dinner option. The focus is on brisket, and the best places have quality meat, great bark and the fat in the meat is perfectly rendered.

Here’s the list. Enjoy and thank me later.

Texas, here we come

Allen High’s stadium, with a capacity of 18,000, will be hosting St. John Bosco on Friday night in Texas.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

St, John Bosco football players are packed and ready to head to Texas for a Friday night season football opener against Allen High in the school’s beautiful stadium that seats 18,000.

Last season, Mater Dei opened with a game against Duncanville in Texas and won. The Braves will be favored going against a team with a first-year head coach, but it will be a challenge, with a big crowd, big band and players fired up to take on the visitors from California.

Pierce Clarkson is ready for his senior year at quarterback. The Braves’ strength could be their defensive line, led by heavily recruited Matayo Uiagalelei.

Coach Jason Negro believes this team can win a Division 1 championship. He expects to be at full strength with a number of transfer students expected to be cleared by game time.

St. John Bosco made it to seven consecutive Division 1 finals until being upset by Servite in last year’s semifinals.

“If we do things we expect to do, we can be right back where are expectations are,” Negro said.

Big news came out last week that St. John Bosco and Mater Dei are in negotiations to play their Oct. 7 game at SoFi. St. John Bosco has signed off. Mater Dei, which would have to give up playing at Santa Ana Stadium, still has not decided.

Football rewind

Orange Lutheran wide receiver Longevity Khanrad Pritchett makes a leaping catch past Gardena Serra defensive back Cordell Montgomery.

(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)

The best game of the opening week was Orange Lutheran rallying from a 20-3 deficit to defeat Gardena Serra 27-26 at Orange Coast College. Here’s the rundown.

Dijon Stanley of Granada Hills flashed his speed in a 54-0 win over Arleta. Here’s the rundown.

Here’s a look at some of the top individual performances, let by quarterback Ryan Staub of West Ranch throwing for six touchdowns.

Diamond Bar’s Maddox Bernardino had 12 receptions for 267 Yards and three touchdowns in a win over Esperanza.

Here’s the link to a roundup from the Daily Pilot featuring victories by Corona del Mar and Newport Harbor.

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

Here’s the link to the Week 1 schedule.

Hall of Famers selected

The 1979 yearbook from Granada Hills High showing John Elway in his high school football days.

(Los Angeles Times)

The Rose Bowl Legacy Foundation announced its inaugural class of 100 players and 13 coaches selected for the new California High School Football Hall of Fame that will be unveiled at the Rose Bowl in November.

Players and coaches were nominated by the public and suggested by media sources for their contributions to high school football in California. A panel voted to endorse the first group of honorees.

The list is filled with some of football’s greatest players who made their mark in California high school sports, from John Elway (Granada Hills) to Tom Brady (San Mateo Serra). There’s also Jackie Robinson (Pasadena Muir), Frankie Albert (Glendale), Ronnie Lott (Rialto Eisenhower), Reggie Bush (La Mesa Helix) and Richard Sherman (Compton Dominguez).

King/Drew football arrives

King/Drew coach Joe Torres congratulates running back Elijah Mosley after a touchdown in their 36-6 win over View Park Friday.

(Luca Evans / Los Angeles Times)

It started Friday with one earth-shattering backflip.

As they sat eating lunch in their classrooms, the noise built outside their windows, King/Drew High English teacher Deonte Townes recalled. Teachers began poking their heads out to see what the commotion was about, almost like Brooklyn natives looking out from their apartments’ fire escapes, Townes chuckled.

It was a pep rally like no other. The cheer squad set up pyramid tosses to thundering cheers. Football players gathered in a dance circle and hit the “Curry Sway.” And senior Jesse Philphott executed a back handspring-into-clean-flip that sent the school into an uproar.

King/Drew football had arrived.

“I’ve never seen the spirit this heavy,” Townes said.

A look at the beginning of a school that could be a team to watch this season.

Girls’ volleyball

Taft stamped itself as one of the best girls’ volleyball teams in the City Section by winning the City Classic tournament over Venice.

Earlier in the week, Mater De defeated Mira Costa in a big Southern Section match. Here’s the report from that match.

Luca Evans begins his weekly girls’ volleyball notebook. Here’s the link to the report.

Notes . . .

Bishop Alemany girls’ volleyball standout London Wijay has committed to Texas A&M. . . .

Malia Peterson from Redondo Union girls’ volleyball has committed to CSU Monterey Bay. . . .

Cathedral soccer player Angel Guerra has committed to Cal Baptist. . . .

Wes Fowler is the new girls’ basketball coach at West Torrance. . . .

Birmingham pitcher Kaden Taque has committed to Cal. . . .

Pitcher-infielder Ty DePerno of West Ranch has committed to UC Davis. . . .

Softball standout Bridget Nemeth of Glendora has committed to Penn State. . . .

Los Alamitos quarterback Malachi Nelson has signed with Klutch Sports for NIL representation. He’s their first high school football client. . . .

Shortstop/pitcher Andrew Parker from Foothill has committed to Cal State Northridge. . . .

Madison Devries has been named girls’ lacrosse coach at JSerra. . . .

Brady Ebel from Etiwanda made the USA 15U national baseball team roster. They are playing Aug. 26-Sept. 4 in Mexico. Also on team Brady Murrietta from Orange Lutheran, John Short from Cypress, James Tronstein from Harvard-Westlake, Josh Woodworth from Ventura. . . .

Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman pledged $500,000 to build a clubhouse at his alma mater, El Modena High. . . .

John McMullen, a Hall of Fame basketball coach at Santa Monica College for 25 years who coached Camarillo to a CIF 3A title in 1972, died on Friday. He was 82. . . .

Sierra Canyon receiver Josiah Phillips has committed to Brigham Young. . . .

Standout Corona Centennial basketball player Devin Williams is scheduled to make his college announcement on Sunday. UCLA has been recruiting him hard, with USC also heavily involved. He has helped the Huskies win back-to-back Southern Section Open Division championships. . . .

Sierra Canyon’s latest basketball transfer is 6-9 Noah Williams from Village Christian.

From the archives: Malik Jackson

Chargers running back Austin Ekeler scores on a 19-yard pass in front of Cleveland Browns defensive tackle Malik Jackson (97)

(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)

Malik Jackson has retired from pro football after a 10-year NFL career and one Super Bowl championship. He has become an assistant coach with at his alma mater, Birmingham High.

He was a standout defensive lineman with the Patriots in 2007 along with his twin brother, Marquis. He went to USC for two years in 2008 and 2009 before transferring to Tennessee and becoming a fifth-round draft pick of the Denver Broncos in 2012.

Here’s a story from 2016 of Jackson scoring a touchdown in Super Bowl 50.

Jackson helped Birmingham win consecutive City titles in 2006 and 2007.

Recommendations

From the Washington Post, a story on how a football team stays cool in hot temperatures.

From the Los Angeles Times, a story on former Westchester, UCLA and NFL linebacker Ken Norton Jr.

From the Los Angeles Times, a story on teen swimmer and Olympic hopeful Kayla Han from La Mirada.

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