Will Mater Dei vs. Bishop Gorman decide 2024 high school football national champion?

No. 1 Mater Dei hosts No. 2 Bishop Gorman in a showdown of national juggernauts eyeing a mythical high school football national championship.

Mater Dei football players warm up before taking on Corona Centennial in 2024 season opener. / Greg Stein

Does anything drum up suspense better than "No. 1 vs. No. 2"? And on national television?

No. 1-ranked Mater Dei will host No. 2 Bishop Gorman of Nevada at the Santa Ana Bowl on Friday at 7 p.m. in a game that can be watched live on NFHS Network and Bally Sports. The broadcast will be nationally televised to 11 regional networks across the country via Bally Sports.

Both teams are coming off a bye week.

• SBLive/Sports Illustrated Power Top 25 national rankings

The result could have a major impact on which team is crowned the mythical high school football national champion at the end of the 2024 season. In 2023, Mater Dei (1-0) and Bishop Gorman (2-0) went undefeated, winning everything in its respective states, which left various outlets with the decision to choose a national champion.

Mater Dei was named SBLive/Sports Illustrated Power 25 nation champion in 2023. MaxPreps named Bishop Gorman the 2023 national champs, its fourth since 2014, according to the Las Vegas Sun. High School Football America also crowned the Monarchs national champs last season, their fourth since 2017. The split from various outlets continued ...

But 2024 could be different. If Mater Dei and Bishop Gorman have similar seasons to 2023 - winning their respective state titles again in 2024 - the outcome of Friday night's matchup could be the deciding factor for a national championship crowning.

Mater Dei has won the last three meetings in 2022 (24-21), 2018 (42-0) and 2017 (35-21).

The game will boast 38 players rated 3-stars or better by 247Sports (Gorman with 20, Mater Dei 18). Both teams have 5-star wide outs in Chris Henry Jr. (Mater Dei, Ohio State) and Derek Meadows (Gorman, LSU). There will be a bevy of Oregon commits, too, in Mater Dei running back Jordon Davison, edge rusher Nasir Wyatt and offensive lineman Kodi Green. Gorman's future Duck is 6-foot-4, 300-pound offensive lineman Alai Kalaniuvalu.

The All-American feel to this game is not unfamiliar to new Mater Dei football coach Raul Lara, who was the coach at Long Beach Poly in the early 2000's, winning CIF titles in 2001, 2004, 2007, 2008 and 2012 - all in the Pac-5 (the highest Southern Section division at the time).

First-year Mater Dei football coach Raul Lara coaching in his debut against Corona Centennial on Thursday, Aug. 22, 2023. / Greg Stein

The talent on the 2024 edition of the Monarchs is bringing back memories for Lara.

"I feel like I have another team that I did at Long Beach Poly in 2001 when I had five All-Americans," Lara said on the CIF Southern Section Sitdown. "This (Mater Dei) team has a lot of talent."

Lara coached the likes of Hershel Dennis, DeSean Jackson and Marcedes Lewis. He later coached Juju Smith-Schuster, who graduated from Poly in 2014.

FIVE TO WATCH FOR MATER DEI

QB - Dash Bierely, Sr. (Washington)
WR - Marcus Harris, Sr. (Oklahoma)
LB - Abduall Sanders, Sr. (Alabama)
CB - Chuck McDonald, Sr. (Alabama)
DL - Tomuhini Topui, Jr.

FIVE TO WATCH FOR GORMAN

OL - Seuseu Alofaituli, Sr. (Miami)
OL - Douglas Utu, Sr. (Texas)
QB - Melvin Spicer, Sr.
ATH - Jett Washington, Jr.
LB - Landon McComber, Sr. (Stanford)

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