High School

Mater Dei, St. John Bosco will play in Division 1 final for seventh time since 2016

Mater Dei and St. John Bosco will head into November 29's Division 1 final with three wins each in the championship series.

Tarek Fattal

St. John Bosco (left) and Mater Dei during coin flip at the LA Memorial Coliseum in the 2023 CIF Southern Section Division 1 final. Mater Dei prevailed 35-7.
St. John Bosco (left) and Mater Dei during coin flip at the LA Memorial Coliseum in the 2023 CIF Southern Section Division 1 final. Mater Dei prevailed 35-7. / Photo: Heston Quan

The Southern California juggernauts will meet again, again.

Mater Dei beat Corona Centennial 38-7 on the road and St. John Bosco topped Orange Lutheran 20-17 at home in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 semifinals Friday night to create - yet again - another Mater Dei vs. St. John Bosco Division 1 final on Friday November 29 at Veterans Stadium in Long Beach.

The matchup between the two powers will mark the seventh time they'll meet in the Division 1 final since 2016. Only twice since 2016 has the Division 1 final not been Mater Dei vs. St. John Bosco. There were no championships in 2020 due to COVI, and in 2021, Servite played Mater Dei in the D1 championship game.

Heading into next week's final, the championship series is split right down the middle, 3-3. This year's edition of the Division 1 final will serve as the ultimate rubber match.

Six of the last eight seasons, Mater Dei (11-0) and St. John Bosco (11-1) have played twice. The first always coming in Trinity League play, and each second-time matchup coming in the Division 1 final.

In that span, Mater Dei is 6-2 in Trinity League play against the Braves. In the six seasons the two have played twice, five have resulted in a swap of victories. Only in 2017 did Mater Dei win the league matchup and the final.

In fact, losing the Trinity League matchup humorously seems to be a recipe to go on and win the Division 1 title, which happened in 2016, '18, '19, '22 and '23.

Mater Dei defeated St. John Bosco earlier this season 59-14.

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Tarek Fattal, SBLive Sports
TAREK FATTAL

Tarek Fattal has been covering high school sports since 2015 in Southern California and primarily in Los Angeles, covering notable athletes such as Bronny James, Kayvon Thibodeaux and Alyssa Thompson. He was with the LA Daily News for eight years, which included being the beat reporter for the UCLA men's basketball team. Tarek can be seen on TV regularly on CBS/KCAL as a sports analyst with Jim Hill.

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