Mater Dei has not beaten Centennial of Corona since 2024.
Read that again, because for most of the last decade it would have been a typo. Then understand that the second of those two losses came in the Southern Section Division 1 semifinals last November, that Mater Dei lined up for a 46-yard field goal to win it with nine seconds on the clock, and that the kick was blocked.
That is how the Monarchs' season ended. Friday at 7:00 at the Santa Ana Bowl they get the same opponent again, and MaxPreps has made it the national Game of the Week.
The two games, because they explain everything
September 12, 2025. Centennial 43, Mater Dei 36. Centennial led 28-0 after a quarter and 33-7 at half. Mater Dei scored 29 unanswered in the third to go up 36-33. Centennial tied it with a field goal, and then Malaki Davis, a sophomore at the time, scored his third touchdown of the night with 2:27 left.
Mater Dei turned it over seven times. Five fumbles, two interceptions, and a safety on top. It was the first time a team not named St. John Bosco had beaten Mater Dei since 2015.
November 21, 2025. Centennial 28, Mater Dei 27. Dominick Catalano threw for 290 yards, Keawe Browne caught the go-ahead touchdown from 24 yards out with 90 seconds left, and the kick to win it got blocked.
Centennial went to the Division 1 final after that and lost to Santa Margarita 42-7. Matt Logan's read on that night afterward was four words long.
"We weren't prepared to play football that night."
Which makes what happened three weeks ago the story
Centennial played Santa Margarita again on August 29. This time it lost 21-20, on an extra point that Santa Margarita's Jake Martin got a hand on.
Forty-two to seven, then one point on a blocked kick. Same two teams, ten months apart. Santa Margarita is second on our board and has an argument for first in the country. Centennial's only loss this season is by a single point to them.
Logan, after that game: "The defense played phenomenal. We were not on the same page on offense."
He would know what a defense playing phenomenally looks like. He has been at Centennial since 1997 and came into this season with 307 career wins, twelfth-most in California history.
Jaden Walk-Green does everything
If you watch one player Friday, watch Centennial's safety.
Last season Walk-Green had 125 tackles and 10 interceptions, which led the state of California, and he returned five of them for touchdowns. He was a SPIN All-American and our Defensive Player of the Year, and Cal-Hi Sports named him California's Defensive Player of the Year in January. He is a four-star committed to Washington since June.
He also kicks. Four field goals and 63 extra points last year, in between the picks.
And in that September win over Mater Dei he had two interceptions, including the one that ended it inside two minutes, plus a first-quarter pick-six, plus two made field goals. One player, three phases, in the game that started all of this.
He plays center field and bats leadoff in the spring. He has also played hockey, lacrosse, basketball, soccer, golf and skied. His explanation to the Los Angeles Times last November was short: "Why not? Try everything."
Lex Mailangi has started at Mater Dei since he was fourteen
The Monarchs' line is anchored by a four-year starter, which at a program that reloads like this one does not happen by accident. Mailangi is 6-3 and 345 pounds, committed to Oregon since June, and he has taken varsity snaps at left guard, left tackle and center.
247Sports has him as a three-star and 802nd nationally. We think that number is wrong by a distance. He has NFL size, NFL feet and the ability to play all five spots on the line, and the list of high school linemen in this class who can genuinely do that is very short.
His own description of himself, given to Ryan Wright in December: "I feel like I'm well-rounded. I have tackle feet. I have strong hands and a good base."
And on the toughest matchup he has had, against St. Frances Academy of Baltimore: "He was the first real five-star I had gone against in my years of playing football."
247Sports, for its part, calls him a wide bulldozer who will leave Mater Dei as a multi-year starter and projects him as a Power Four starter in a zone running scheme. They and we agree on everything except the number.
The rest of the talent on the field
Quentin Hale is Centennial's four-star receiver, ranked 50th nationally and eighth among receivers, committed to USC in February. He transferred in from Cathedral in Los Angeles, where he caught 62 passes for 872 yards and 12 touchdowns last season. Through two games here he has 15 catches for 256 yards and three scores.
Logan's scouting report on him, delivered to the Los Angeles Times in August, is the best line anybody has produced this season.
"Our quarterback is absolutely dynamic, and [Hale] is unbelievable. If you were gonna build a receiver on a Madden game, he'd be the guy."
The quarterback is Jaden Jefferson, a senior committed to Hawaii who has thrown for 7,672 yards and 84 touchdowns in his career. He has 489 passing yards and four touchdown throws in two games, plus two more on the ground. Miles Schirmer, a 6-5 edge headed to California, had three sacks against Santa Margarita.
Mater Dei answers with Danny Lang, a four-star corner ranked 35th in the country and third at his position, committed to USC in March. Montana Toilolo and Mike Davis Jr. are both going to UCLA. Matamatagi Uiagalelei is going to Washington.
And the most productive player on the roster cannot legally drive to the game. Asir Nembhard is a sophomore running back with roughly 320 rushing yards and six touchdowns in his first two varsity games, including 203 and three scores at Orem. He is unrated by the services and already holds offers from Oregon, UCLA and Arizona.
The part Mater Dei has to answer
The Monarchs are 3-0 and have outscored American Fork, Orem and Valor Christian 101-59. Two of those wins came in Utah.
They are also playing three quarterbacks. Senior Cameron Pooley, junior Russell Sekona, who transferred in from Leuzinger, and freshman Paytyn Guess have all taken snaps. Last year's backup left for Mission Hills. Nobody has separated.
Raul Lara is in his third year at Mater Dei and arrived with a resume that does not need defending: 142-30 in thirteen years at Long Beach Poly with five section titles and four Coach of the Year awards. But Mater Dei finished 8-3 last season, eight returning defensive starters are carrying a young skill group, and the quarterback job is still open in week four.
No Mater Dei coach or player has said anything publicly about any of it this season. We checked the papers and we checked X. Not a word.
What Friday settles
We have Centennial 10th and Mater Dei 13th, which puts a one-loss team above an unbeaten one, and the reason is on the schedule rather than in the record. Centennial has played Santa Margarita and Servite. Mater Dei has played Utah, Utah and Colorado.
Friday is the first night either of them finds out something.
Reporting drawn from the CIF Southern Section, the Los Angeles Times, MaxPreps, Cal-Hi Sports, 247Sports, USA TODAY Sports and Ryan Wright's Recruiting News Guru.
