Tag: Mater Dei

It’s modern day confusion for Pat McAfee over Mater Dei’s name

Confusion reigns on the Pat McAfee Show over how to pronounce Mater Dei.

Adam ‘Pacman’ Jones and Pat McAfee couldn’t figure out how to pronounce Mater Dei, a football powerhouse program in California. The confusion happened on a recent episode of the Pat McAfee Show on ESPN.

Insert a joke here about the value of a West Virginia education (McAfee and Jones are former stars at West Virginia).

(All joking aside, West Virginia is a very good university and is among the best in offering graduate degrees online as well as having renowned programs in engineering and nursing)

The moment on the Pat McAfee Show was a modern day ‘Who’s on first?’ You’ll get the pun in a moment.

But Jones and McAfee’s discussion about Mater Dei (Santa Ana, California) led to more confusion than answers. The confusion centered on how to pronounce the prep football program’s name.

 

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Mater Dei finished third in the nation in the final USA TODAY High School Sports Super 25 and is tied for the most Super 25 championships all-time with De La Salle (Concord, Calif.)

They were the high school home after all of Bryce Young and Matt Leinart among others.

The program wins, a lot, and is always loaded with top recruits. In the class of 2025 for instance, four-star defensive back Daryus Dixson and four-star wide receiver Marcus Harris are among the stars on this year’s Mater Dei team.

Mater Dei finished last season 13-1.

High school coach, former USC player ejected after throwing shoe in protest of non-call

Keith Wilkinson, the JSerra head coach and former USC player, threw his shoe in protest of a non-call during the team’s loss to Mater Dei.

JSerra Catholic High School (Calif.) boys basketball head coach Keith Wilkinson, a former USC player, was ejected from the team’s game against Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) after throwing a shoe in protest of a non-call.

With 3:12 remaining in the game, JSerra got a steal and came up the court for a fast-break opportunity. The player went up for a layup and drew contact from the defender. The replay shows the defender reaching for the ball, and the video tweeted by Orange County Register’s Dan Albano looks like he may have made contact with the arm.

The referee did not call a foul, to which Wilkinson was furious. Mater Dei led 72-65 at the time.

The referees immediately blew the whistle, and Wilkinson began arguing. He was ejected and threw his other shoe directly at the ground.

It was an important regular-season game for JSerra against Trinity League rival Mater Dei. JSerra started the season 15-1 before entering league play and falling to St. John Bosco 67-51.

On Friday, the Lions fell 78-67 against Mater Dei, losing its third game of the season, while the Monarchs improved their record to 16-1. They are now 17-1 after beating St. John Bosco on Saturday.

Wilkinson, who played at USC from 2005-2009, told the OC Register that he does not regret the incident, which came in a physical game.

“My mentor Tim Floyd would have thrown a chair,” he said.” As mad as people think I am, that was more to have my kids back.”

“I obviously got very frustrated with the foul call situation,” he added. “I threw my shoes because I figured it won’t cost me as much as a chair. If I threw a chair, and the chair dented the wood here, they would probably charge me and sue me.”

“It’s just not fair to our kids,” he added. “I’m tired of the whistle being so against us in these games, especially against Mater Dei — at home and here.”

Wilkinson is suspended for one game, according to the OC Register.

Mater Dei redeems regular-season loss to St. John Bosco with championship win

Mater Dei won the CIF-SS championship by taking down St. John Bosco by 28 points — the same differential as the regular-season shutout.

It hasn’t been since 2017 that the winner of the regular-season game between Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) and St. John Bosco (Bellflower, Calif.) also won the championship game between those two teams. Over the last five years, the teams have rematched in the title game three times; the result was flipped all three times.

This year, the sixth season since 2017, it looked like there could be a flip in the script. No. 5 Mater Dei was shut out in the regular-season contest, and if No. 3 Bosco had truly figured out the Monarchs, the regular-season winner would wrap up the title game.

It was not to be. Mater Dei rolled over St. John Bosco 35-7 on Friday night, defeating them by the exact same margin in which the Monarchs lost to the Braves a month and a half ago. The Monarchs are back at the top of the California Interscholastic Federation-Southern Section (CIF-SS) as champions for the second time in the last three years.

Mater Dei’s defense set the tone early with a first-quarter pick-six when three-star linebacker Abduall Sanders returned an interception 52 yards for the first points of the game.

St. John Bosco was unable to move the ball efficiently in that first half, recording negative-one rushing yards, according to the Los Angeles Times. Mater Dei held the Braves to just one touchdown, a reception by four-star linebacker Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa while tacking on a pair of scores from four-star RB Jordon Davison and WR Kayden Dixon-Wyatt to take a 21-7 lead into the break.

Defense and special teams carried the Monarchs through the second half, as a muffed punt in the fourth quarter gave Mater Dei the opportunity for four-star defensive lineman Tomu Topui, lined up at tight end, to score a 14-yard touchdown. On the first play of the next drive, four-star cornerback Zabien Brown had a pick-six of his own to put the game away.

The LA Times reported that first-year Mater Dei head coach Frank McManus took a more active role in managing the defense during games after the defeat against Bosco in October. He succeeded in helping the unit prepare for this game, and the players put away the Braves. McManus has gotten through the beast that is Bosco, and Mater Dei is set to place its claim as the top team in California once again.

More:

Super 25 scoreboard

St. John Bosco and Mater Dei don’t appear to be evenly-matched programs this year

This was a shocker.

A lot is made of USC’s inability to recruit from St. John Bosco. The inability to secure a commitment from Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa, who ultimately chose Notre Dame over USC and Ohio State, deeply stung the Trojans. USC needs to fortify its Southern California pipeline and keep more key prospects home. Whenever Bosco plays Mater Dei in the big Southern California high school game of the year, USC football is reminded of the challenge it faces to build a fence around its best local prospects.

In some years, Bosco and Mater Dei stand on equal footing, but this year, they don’t appear to be the same. St. John Bosco demolished Mater Dei, 28-0, a few days ago. Mater Dei carried a No. 1 ranking into the game, but the Monarchs looked nothing like an elite team against the Braves, who controlled the action throughout. It will be fascinating to see how both teams respond in the next several weeks of the high school season.

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Follow Fighting Irish Wire for more on Notre Dame after the Irish beat USC.

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Oklahoma fans were right about Lincoln Riley, at least for this specific season.

USC assistants need to be coaching for their jobs against Utah and into November.

Lincoln Riley did not assemble an elite 2023 roster, which surprised us and a lot of other observers.

Is USC ready to win in 2024 with Miller Moss or Malachi Nelson at quarterback? Lincoln Riley has to be honest about how he answers that question.

Brent Venables is coaching Oklahoma far better this year than Lincoln Riley is coaching USC. It’s up to Riley to change that reality against Utah.

No. 9 St. John Bosco shocks No. 1 Mater Dei in shutout victory

St. John Bosco gave Mater Dei its first shutout in more than a decade and created a seismic shift in the Super 25 rankings.

Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) vs. St. John Bosco (Bellflower, Calif.), one of the biggest rivalries in high school football, almost always has massive national champion implications. Typically ranked among the top five teams in the country (and frequently the top two), the Monarchs and Braves trade blows and pry for weaknesses as they try to get the upper hand in the regular season with the expectation that there will be one more matchup for the championship.

There very well may be one more game for the championship.

St. John Bosco created a seismic shift in the national ranking landscape with a victory that was anything but the usual tight-fought battle fans and teams expect. The Braves shut out Mater Dei 28-0, the Monarchs’ first time being shut out since 2011, and completely flipped the tenor of the season.

“We’re still a champion until someone knocks us off,” Bosco head coach Jason Negro said to the Los Angeles Times.

It’s a good reminder. Mater Dei has been ranked No. 1 in the nation all year despite Bosco winning the title last season. The Braves fell further in the rankings after losing to Kahuku (Hawaii) on Sept. 16, suffering a rare loss to a non-Monarchs team.

Any perceived shakiness was proven incorrect. That loss to Kahuku was simply a loss. In dismantling Mater Dei — a team that was not only undefeated so far this season but had not yet trailed in a single game — Bosco re-asserted itself as the top team in California.

Mater Dei quarterback Elijah Brown was held to just 10 completions on 21 passes for 115 yards, and he was picked off by cornerback Frankie Edwards. The Braves defense held Mater Dei below 100 yards in the first half, according to MaxPreps.

On offense, Bosco running back Cameron Jones rushed for 134 yards on 21 carries and had a pair of touchdowns, including a 20-yard reception.

Bosco scored a pair of touchdowns in the second quarter to take a 14-0 lead into the second half.

The Braves pulled a trick play out of its bag in the third quarter, with Stacy Dobbins catching a lateral behind the line of scrimmage, rolling right, and then throwing a touchdown pass to the wide-open Tommy Maher downfield.

Bosco iced the game in the fourth quarter with a rushing touchdown by Chauncey Sylvester.

With this shutout, St. John Bosco takes possession of first place in the Trinity League with just two games remaining in the regular season. All the momentum will be on the Brave as they seek another championship, one that may have to run through Mater Dei once again.

They’ve shown they’re ready.

Mater Dei will have to reckon with this shutout to the heated rival. In losing in this fashion, the No. 1 team in the nation will be vying to recover from this shock.

The shock ripples across not only California but the national Super 25 rankings.

Even if Mater Dei wins the Southern Section Division 1 championship, in which they may need to face the Braves again, a loss like this will be nearly impossible to recover for national championships consideration.

Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas) is now 9-0 and has dismantled its opposition. Chaminade-Madonna (Hollywood, Fla.) is 7-0 with a handful of strong wins, and Duncanville (Texas) improved to 6-0 with a 51-0 shutout of its own.

That’s not counting St. John Bosco, either, who has found new life with this convincing victory. The Braves are back in contention for national glory.

More from the high school scoreboard:

USA TODAY High School Sports Super 25 football score recap

No. 14 Mill Creek takes down No. 6 Buford — but loses to Lakers basketball?

Cole Leinart, the son of Heisman winner Matt Leinart, to leave Mater Dei

Cole Leinart is set to leave Mater Dei.

Cole Leinart is headed out from Mater Dei, as the son of former Heisman winner Matt Leinart has undertaken a rare mid-season transfer.

According to a report from the Los Angeles Times, Leinart is headed to Newport Harbor (Newport Beach, California). The class of 2026 quarterback has seen limited action so far this season while at Mater Dei (Santa Ana, California).

Mater Dei is the top team in the USA TODAY HSS Super 25.

In two games this season, Leinart was 2-of-3 for 10 yards and a touchdown. In 2022 as a freshman, he saw limited action, appearing in seven games. Newport is currently 2-3 on the season.

Two of their three losses this year have been by a combined four points.

The reason for the transfer, according to Eric Sondheimer of the Los Angeles Times, could well be because of a potential incoming transfer quarterback for Mater Dei next season that could make for a very crowded quarterback room.

Julian Lewis, a USC commit from Georgia, could be headed to Mater Dei next year according to Sondheimer. Lewis is a four-star quarterback.

Leinart currently measures in at 6-foot-3 and 180 pounds and he holds offers from Arizona, Colorado, Pittsburgh and Utah among others.

His father, who won the Heisman Trophy in 2004 while at USC and played seven years in the NFL, was a first-round pick of the Arizona Cardinals in the 2006 NFL draft.

He currently works as an analyst for FoxSports.

 

 

Mater Dei defense scores 2 touchdowns in close win over St. Frances Academy

With Mater Dei’s offense unable to get going against St. Frances Academy, defensive stars Nasir Wyatt and Chuck McDonald took the lead.

Mater Dei’s offense has been dominant this season. Take the 55-8 win over Kahuku on Sept. 9, for instance, when four-star quarterback Elijah Brown threw for four touchdowns and elite running back Jordon Davison rushed for two more. Or the week before, when Brown threw for a whopping seven touchdowns.

On Friday, the defense took care of both sides of the ball. St. Frances Academy’s (Baltimore) defense prevented the Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) offense from getting going at all, not allowing a single offensive score through the first three quarters, but two big touchdowns from the Monarchs’ defensive end helped them maintain a lead through most of the game and remain undefeated against a very tough opponent with a 20-6 victory.

The first touchdown for either side came near the beginning of the second quarter when a scramble for possession resulted in five-star edge rusher Nasir Wyatt corralling the loose ball and taking it home. That 7-0 score would hold through halftime.

St. Frances tied up the game about seven minutes into the third quarter and then got a stop to get back possession.  Their drive was halted immediately and brutally, as the Panthers were reminded that it’s not just Mater Dei offense that has made them the No. 1 team on the Super 25 throughout the season.

Already deep in their own territory, the Panthers gained just four yards before four-star Monarchs cornerback Chuck McDonald picked off a pass and returned it to the end zone to take the lead.

Brown rushed in an insurance touchdown in the fourth quarter, but those two defensive scores were enough to hold the lead. As strong as St. Frances’ defense was, holding Mater Dei’s offense to a single touchdown, the Monarchs’ defense was no less stringent, giving up only one touchdown of their own. Even while the Monarchs scored a season-low 20 points, they got the win and improved to a record of 5-0.

The Panthers are now 1-5, but that has been a symptom of scheduling arguably the toughest schedule in the nation. Four of the losses have been to teams ranked in the top-10 — two of whom are ranked among top-3 teams — and the fifth was to an East St. Louis (Ill.) program that briefly appeared in the Super 25 this season.

There’s good news for St. Frances: This is their last game against a nationally ranked team until mid-November. The Panthers will have a chance to rack up some wins and gain momentum ahead of their matchup with IMG Academy (Bradenton, Fla.), currently ranked No. 4 in the Super 25.

As for the Monarchs, they continue to set the pace for the nation. They have pole position and have not shown signs of relinquishing.

2025 4-Star WR Marcus Harris has released his Top 12 program list

2025 4-star wide receiver Marcus Harris has released his Top 12 program list, as the Mater Dei product is clearly on Texas A&M’s radar

Texas A&M’s 2024 recruiting class includes four of the top wide receiver prospects, led by five-star Cameron Coleman. The Aggies’ momentum has continued into the 2025 cycle as Mater Dei (CA) wide receiver Marcus Harris has included Texas A&M in his Top 12 program list.

The Aggies join Tennessee, Georgia, Penn State, Oklahoma, Miami, Auburn, Oregon, Texas, Washington, Florida, and Ole Miss. While Texas and Oklahoma are set to enter the SEC in 2024, they’ll still have to contend with the rest of the conference, who continue to dominate the recruiting ranks.

According to 247Sports, Harris is currently positioned as the 40th-ranked player in the class, the 7th-ranked wide receiver, and the 5th-ranked player in California, coming off his impressive sophomore campaign where he recorded 25 receptions for 644 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns with a 25.8 yard per reception average.

Texas A&M has yet to make a dent in its 2025 recruiting class outside of landing three-star offensive lineman Joshua Moses, but this is just run of the mill for Head Coach Jimbo Fisher, who has consistently finished strong with three consecutive Top 10 recruiting finishes, inching towards a possible Top 5 finish in the 2024 cycle.

Contact/Follow us @AggiesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&M news, notes, and opinions. Follow Cameron on Twitter: @CameronOhnysty.

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USA TODAY Sports Super 25 Regional Football Watchlist: West region

Keep an eye on these teams out West …

The 2023 high school football season has arrived, with teams kicking off across the country in August.

That means the first USA TODAY Sports Super 25 is nearing, which marks another start to an iconic franchise that began back in 1982.

Last year’s Super 25 was one of the tightest races of all time, as St. John Bosco narrowly won out over Mater Dei and Bishop Gorman, among others.

How will things stack up this season? Ahead of the opening Super 25, USA TODAY HSS is looking around the country at the five regions we use to create the national rankings:

Next up is the West region, which comprises of Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming

Georgia adds another great RB recruit with Mater Dei’s Nate Frazier

they have an especially rich history with great running backs.

These days Georgia is recruiting all the best prospects for every position, including the top quarterback in this class. However, they have an especially rich history with great running backs. This past weekend the Bulldogs added yet another potential star to the future of their backfield.

Here’s how Mater Dei (Calif.) four-star running back Nate Frazier announced his commitment to Georgia – echoing head football coach Kirby Smart’s Go Dawgs message on Twitter.

Frazier (5-foot-11, 208 pounds) had offers from 23 other schools, including Alabama, Oregon, Auburn, Cal, Colorado, Miami, Penn State and USC.

Asked why he picked the Bulldogs, Frazier made it clear he’s aware of their awesome tradition at running back. Here’s what he told Chad Simmons of On3 about his commitment.

“If you look at the history of Georgia with their two backfield players like Sony Michel, Todd Gurley, Nick Chubb and D’Andre Swift, all of those guys were around playing with each other at the same time. They all made it to the NFL so if you look at that closely and when they played, if you’re a good player and you go to Georgia, you’re going to play…”

Going by the 247Sports composite rankings, Frazier is No. 4 among running backs in his class, also No. 4 overall in the state of Georgia and No. 51 nationally. However, both On3 and Rivals have him ranked first at his position.

As for the big picture, Georgia remains No. 1 in the nation by a wide margin in the 2024 recruiting rankings.

More football stories

Updated 2024 National Recruiting Rankings: Georgia still No. 1

Florida State steals commitment from five-star safety KJ Bolden