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A running back from Mater Dei High School – the co-kings of So Cal football (along with St. John Bosco) – doing his thing…

A FEW THOUGHTS REGARDING THE FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS THIS YEAR

A couple of weeks ago, I posted the previews of our two So Cal college football teams, UCLA and USC, on this blog.

Last week I previewed our two NFL teams who happen to share the same venue in Inglewood, the Rams and the Chargers, on this same blog.

Now I reckon it’s time to say some words about SoCal’s high school gridiron scene which is not only in full swing, the season having started in mid-August for some programs and late August for the rest of the 721 high schools that field football teams in the CIF Los Angeles (156 teams) and Southern Sections (565 teams),

It’s approaching the midpoint of the campaign with the fifth game of a ten-game regular season coming up this week.

However,

I suppose that some people – officials, principals, coaches, pundits, and parents – see Southern California’s high school football scene in particular as a joke in a way, and they’d have a legitimate reason for having that opinion.

The reason?

As far as who will win the ultimate prize of a Open Division CIF Southern Section and state championship in December, much as has been the case for the past several years no one else has a real shot except for two private schools;

  • Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, and…
  • St. John Bosco High School in Bellflower.

Those two schools are ranked first and third, respectively, in the nation according to Max Preps and pretty much everyone else who does rankings;

If there has been any time in the past ten years where Mater Dei’s Monarchs and St. John Bosco’s Braves haven’t been ranked lower than third in the national polls, I would very much like for someone to tell me of such.

As an illustration of this private school football dominance, only three public high schools are ranked in the CIF Southern Section’s top ten according to Max Preps – Corona Centennial at #3, Long Beach Poly at #5, and Mission Viejo at #10.

Of course Mater Dei and St. John Bosco, and all the other private school programs, have an unfair advantage, have always had an unfair advantage, and will continue to have an unfair advantage in the sense that unlike public high schools like Corona Centennial and Long Beach Poly, who can only draw players from their school districts,

Schools and programs like Mater Dei and St. John Bosco has the luxury of getting students and athletes from anywhere, as there are players that travel up to 90 minutes and even two hours each way to get to those two schools, and more or less all the other private schools for that matter.

Add to that the notion of the private schools, because of large financial donations from parents, alumni, and boosters, having better facilities than the majority of their public school counterparts,

And it’s no wonder that no one in the CIF Open Division wins championships in football but Mater Dei and St. John Bosco, or have won it in a long time.

Which has personally turned me off somewhat as far as getting excited about the season, me watching Mater Dei, St. John Bosco, and Las Vegas (NV) Bishop Gorman, another affluent private school who happens to be ranked second in the country, blow out their opponents on Bally Sports Net.

The worst part of all this, at least in my view?

Is the fact that unless the powers that be separate all high school sports competition into private school and public school divisions,

The private schools will continue to dominate and win everything, with even (in this case) the best public school football programs having two chances at CIF and state championship glory:

  • Slim, and…
  • None

As such…

One contest I am looking forward to and plan on covering is the annual showdown game between Culver City and my alma mater Santa Monica, or “Samohi”, on October 27th.

At 4-0, those Vikings have another huge showdown match with undefeated Palos Verdes on September 29th that I just might check out and cover for this blog.

And of course I’ll certainly look into covering any playoff games that Samohi, Culver, or any of the other Westside schools in particular may be involved in, especially if it’s a second round game or beyond.

We’ll have to see how things unfold before I make any commitments.

Some gridiron action…