Two things are true about Southern California after this week and they sit slightly against each other.
The Trinity League is still the standard. Five of the ten teams on this board play in it, they went 4-1, and the top of the region is as good as anything in the country.
And we still do not know how good St. John Bosco and Mater Dei are.
The results
| # | Team | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Santa Margarita | Beat Highland (Palmdale, CA) 55-7 |
| 2 | Sierra Canyon | Did not play |
| 3 | Centennial (Corona) | Did not play |
| 4 | Mater Dei | Beat Valor Christian (Highlands Ranch, CO) 38-22 |
| 5 | St. John Bosco | Beat Pittsburg (CA) 26-14 |
| 6 | Mission Viejo | Lost 35-21 at Folsom (CA) |
| 7 | Orange Lutheran | Beat Basha (Chandler, AZ) 23-17 |
| 8 | San Clemente | Beat Chaparral (Temecula, CA) 32-20 |
| 9 | Servite | Lost 22-14 to Centennial (Peoria, AZ) |
| 10 | Cathedral Catholic | Lost 42-13 at Chandler (AZ) |
The league is fine. The two names are the question.
Santa Margarita beat Highland of Palmdale 55-7, the largest margin on this board, a week after winning at Centennial of Corona by a point. Orange Lutheran beat the defending Arizona Open Division champion. That is the top of the Trinity League behaving the way the top of the Trinity League behaves.
Mater Dei beat Valor Christian of Colorado 38-22. St. John Bosco won 26-14 at Pittsburg. Both are wins, both are over real opponents, and neither is the kind of result those two programs have spent the last several seasons producing in early September.
We are not calling that a decline. We are saying we have not seen the evidence yet, and that at this point in most seasons we would have. Two wins that require the fourth quarter are two wins. They are not a statement, and Bosco and Mater Dei have historically made the statement by now.
Every loss came from somewhere else
Mission Viejo lost at Folsom, the second-ranked team in NorCal. Servite lost at home to Centennial of Peoria. Cathedral Catholic lost by 29 at Chandler.
Two of the three were to Arizona schools that are not in that state's top two. Southern California did not lose a game to Southern California this week, because no two teams on this board played each other. Everything we learned, we learned from outside.
The two who sat
Sierra Canyon and Centennial of Corona did not play. They are the two teams that moved most on this board last week. A team that does not play drifts, and that is Monday's problem.
Boards are Monday.
