Every team in Southern California has played at least five games this season. TeamFB7 takes a look at how the top teams have fared heading into league play.
It is already the halfway point of the high school football season with a lot more clarity on how the top teams in Southern California stack up against each other.
Here is how TeamFB7 evaluated some of the teams that were in our preseason Top 10.
Grading the Top Teams in Southern California at the Midseason Mark
St. John Bosco (4-1; Preseason No. 1)
Grade: B
The Braves suffered a 10-point loss to Bishop Gorman out of Las Vegas in their season-opener but have fared well since then. St. John Bosco got a nice home win over Roman Catholic of Florida, a road win over Pittsburg and blowout wins over Kahuku and Saint Louis of Hawaii.
Junior quarterback Koa Malau’ulu has been excellent with 218 passing yards per game with 15 touchdowns and 3 interceptions. Sophomore Kuika Moaalii has had a breakout sophomore season with 42 catches for 366 yards with 7 touchdowns and Maliq Allen has rushed for 108 yards per game.
St. John Bosco’s defense has been good as expected as well.
Washington commits Ethan Coach and Isala Wily-Ava lead the team in tackles and four different players have interceptions.
The Braves have their biggest game of the season Oct. 16 when they play Santa Margarita in what may decide the Trinity League championship.
Santa Margarita (5-0; Preseason No. 2)
Grade: A-
Santa Margarita is 5-0 but has only faced one challenging opponent, which is the reason for the A-minus rating.
The Eagles’ defense has been much better than expected considering it lost nearly all of its starters from its Open Division state championship team a year ago. Santa Margarita has shutout three of its opponents and has allowed just 27 points over its five games.
Aydan Steen is the best freshman linebacker in the state and leads the Eagles with 33 tackles and 5 sacks. Kingston Jimmerson and Kaleb Herndon have emerged as top pass rushers and JSerra linebacker transfer Cruz Nuñez has been excellent. Ca’ron Williams is a lock-down corner and freshman Jayden Jack has 2 interceptions.
The offense isn’t as consistent as the defense but has some bright spots.
Adrian Petero has 443 rushing yards and 10 TDs while the offensive line, led by Adam Iloilo Jr., Aaron Klatt and Elyjah Aiava has picked up right where it left off last season. Freshman Kiyan Callis has been the team’s top receiver with 25 catches for 357 yards and 3 TDs along with Grant Van Raaphorst (12-208-1), a transfer from New Jersey. Fletch Palmer (770 passing yards, 6 TDs and 3 INTs) manages the offense well and can hit his receivers in stride.
Santa Margarita should fare well in the Trinity League but the lack of preseason competition is a minor concern.
Centennial (2-3; Preseason No. 3)
Grade: D
The Huskies have one-point losses to both Santa Margarita and Mater Dei and are coming off a shootout loss to De La Salle. This is the first time Centennial has lost three regular season games dating back to at least 2004 when MaxPreps began tracking records.
Jaden Jefferson has played well with 1,174 passing yards, 8 TDs and 4 INTs along with 347 rushing yards and 4 TDs. Quentin Hale has 473 yards receiving with 4 TDs, but it sometimes feels like Centennial is a two-man offense with the aforementioned duo. Braylin Drake, who has dealt with injuries the last two seasons, has a team-high five rushing touchdowns.
The defense has been up and down, largely because it has only forced 2 turnovers this season and has just 2 sacks. Dean Gibson leads the Huskies in tackles with Caleb Bynum. Centennial does have reinforcements coming with Washington commit Jaden Walk-Green returning from injury this week.
The Huskies shouldn’t have a problem running through the Big West-Upper League, but both sides of the ball need some fine tuning for Centennial to be considered a contender in November.
Mater Dei (4-1; Preseason No. 4)
Grade: C-
The story of the season thus far has been Mater Dei’s lackluster offense. Mater Dei has scored just 18 points in its last two games against its two most difficult opponents of the season.
Freshman Paytyn Guess has been the best playmaking quarterback of the three Mater Dei has used and finally got a chance to be the starter in its last game. He was the first Mater Dei quarterback to throw for over 100 yards in a game this season and he did it in the team’s fifth game. Teams have begun to focus on stopping the run against the Monarchs and Asir Nembhard and Mark Allen Jr. have slowed down a bit since.
Mater Dei’s defense is still elite, which will keep the Monarchs in contention in the Trinity League. Their linebackers are exceptional with DJ Clanton, Mike Davis and Ezekiel Su’a leading the team in tackles. Clanton has 5 sacks and Su’a has 4 to lead the pass rush. Servite transfer Isaiah Danns has been a top sophomore defensive back and Danny Lang is a lockdown corner
If Mater Dei can get its offense to catch up a little bit to its defense, the Monarchs can still be a title contender.
Sierra Canyon (5-0; Preseason No. 5)
Grade: A
Many expected Sierra Canyon’s defensive line to be the best in the Section and it has been even better than advertised. Sierra Canyon has only allowed over 10 points in a game once this season.
Marcus Fakatou has 9 tackles for a loss with 2 sacks and 11 hurries. Kasi Currie has a team-high 3 sacks and Stephan Harrison has 2 sacks with a pick-six. UCLA commit Myles Baker shuts down his half of the field and has been flying up the field to make plays in the run game.
Demarco Hernandez has been more than a game manager at quarterback this season and is completing 76 percent of his passes for 177 yards per game with 7 TDs and 2 INTs. Cal commit Jaxsen Stokes runs for 102 yards per game (509 overall) and has 7 touchdowns. Micah Slade leads the team in receiving with 17 catches for 235 yards, and highly-ranked tight end Fletcher Taylor is expected to be eligible this week after observing the sit-out period.
This is the best Sierra Canyon defense in years and the Trailblazers are a serious contender to win a CIF championship this season.
Mission Viejo (4-1; Preseason No. 6)
Grade: B
Mission Viejo has played a couple of teams that had no business being on the field with them and a Chaparral team that was missing its starting quarterback. The Diablos lost to Folsom up north and narrowly beat Pittsburg at home.
Sophomore quarterback Brett Burnor has been as good as Mission Viejo could have hoped for with 1,076 passing yards, 16 TDs with only 2 INTs and 4 rushing TDs. Duke commit tight end Luke Karby (26 catches for 458 yards and 6 TDs) leads the team in receiving by a wide margin and Jack Junker has made some big catches.
The return of Cash Gervase at linebacker has been massive for the Diablos and he has 42 tackles. Desmond Maxwell leads the team in tackles from the safety spot and Jojo Reed has been lights out at safety as well.
Mission Viejo’s defense did struggle against Folsom and Pittsburg which may be a red flag come playoff time.
Orange Lutheran (3-2; Preseason No. 7)
Grade: B
Orange Lutheran suffered a heartbreaking loss in its opener to Central of Florida and if they had won that game, people might have a much higher opinion of the Lancers.
The secondary is the strength of the team with King Rich Johnson leading the team with 27 tackles and 3 INTs (including 2 pick-6s). Anhor Johnson and Chauncey Washington II have also been very good in the secondary.
Ezrah Brown has started to separate himself as the team’s top quarterback but Reagan Toki is still in the mix. Sophomore running back Ryan Christianson is running for 112 yards per game with 5 TDS and Chris Flores Jr. is the top receiver with 28 catches for 376 yards and 4 TDs.
Orange Lutheran doesn’t appear to be a CIF championship contender but the Lancers did upset St. John Bosco in the first round last season.
JSerra (4-1)
Grade: B+
JSerra bounced back from its season-opening loss to Sierra Canyon nicely with four straight wins. Two of those wins were against overmatched opponents, but the Lions have nice wins over Crean Lutheran and Bishop Amat.
Hayes Cloutier has thrown for 801 yards and 12 TDs with just 1 INT and has rushed for a team-high 5 scores. Georgetown commit Clark Cokley (27 catches for 334 yards and 2 TDs) is among the Trinity League leaders in receiving and the offensive line, led by Jack Schein and Lincoln Fa’alafi has held up nicely.
Leuzinger transfer Braylin Spencer leads the team in tackles and has 3 interceptions, all with long returns. UCLA commit Godschoice Eboigbodin has 6.5 tackles for a loss and Dylan Fenn always seems to be near the ball on defense.
JSerra lost to the only team it played that gives it a Trinity League level challenge, but this JSerra team is much better than it was a year ago.
