Friday Night heights: No. 1 Mater Dei vs. No. 2 Bishop Gorman
Nationally-broadcast game features CFB, NFL stars of tomorrow
So, the NFL is launching its 2024 season, the presidential candidates are due to debate (microphones willing) and the new 12-team playoff setup has college football all atwitter. Or is that now all-aXd?
But the hardest ticket to get this weekend is in Southern California for a high school football game featuring No. 1-ranked Mater Dei (1-0) against visiting No. 2 Bishop Gorman (2-0) of Nevada at the Santa Ana Bowl on Friday at 7 p.m.
How big is this one? It will be well-watched live on NFHS Network, and the broadcast will be nationally televised to 11 regional networks via Bally Sports.
Both teams are coming off a bye week and rested.
Barring the crazy notion that one of the other hundreds of U.S. high schools will crash the party, this game should have a significant impact on which team is crowned the mythical high school football national champion. In 2023, Mater Dei and Bishop Gorman went undefeated, winning everything in their respective states, which left various outlets with the decision to choose a national champion.
Mater Dei was widely recognized as the national champion last year, although MaxPreps picked Bishop Gorman. According to the Las Vegas Sun—yes, that’s the school’s local paper—that would be its fourth natty since 2014. But High School Football America (HSFA) also crowned the Monarchs national champs last season.
There was no unanimity, reminiscent of what it was like in college football back in the day when multiple teams claimed a national title.
Mater Dei has won the last three meetings, in 2022 (24-21), 2018 (42-0) and 2017 (35-21).
Counting the juniors (class of 2026) and seniors (2025), Hall of Football ratings indicate the game will feature 21 players with three to five stars. Mater Dei has 13. MD has the two highest-rated players: wide receiver Chris Henry Jr., who will be the No. 1 overall recruit in 2026 (Ohio State commit), and offensive tackle Kodi Green, who will be the No. 38-ranked player in 2026 (Oregon). Bishop Gorman counters with five-star wide receiver Derek Meadows, No. 41 overall in 2025.
Up to 38 players are rated with at least three stars on some hometown lists in Vegas and SoCal.
Gorman, Mater Dei player ratings by Hall of Football
See HOFB dynamic ratings — the way you want them.
Past action between these two teams
Let’s hear from the hometown media.
Steve Fryer of the Orange County Register:
After Mater Dei beat St. John Bosco last year in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 football championship game, Mater Dei coach Frank McManus said: “We’ll lace ’em up in the middle of Bristol and take ’em on!”
He was talking about Bishop Gorman of Las Vegas, which finished last season as the No. 1 team in the nation in rankings by MaxPreps and several others.
Mater Dei and Bishop Gorman are playing each other this week, not in the street outside of the Mater Dei campus, but a few blocks away.
They will play at Santa Ana Stadium on Friday at 7 p.m. The teams played each other in 2022 when Mater Dei beat the Gaels 24-21 in Las Vegas. The Monarchs scored 10 points in the fourth quarter for a comeback win.
Mater Dei, now coached by ex-Long Beach Poly coach Raul Lara, is No. 1 in the MaxPreps national rankings. The Monarchs won CIF-SS and CIF State championships last season.
Bishop Gorman is No. 2 in the Maxpreps rankings. The Gaels won a Nevada state championship last season and take a 27-game winning streak into this week.
Both teams are coming off of a bye week. Between them the teams have 21 players committed to NCAA Division I football schools.
Mater Dei opened its season with a 42-25 win over Centennial of Corona which began the season as a national Top 10 team. Centennial was without standout quarterback Husan Longstreet.
Bishop Gorman started with a 33-7 home victory over Kahuku of Hawaii and followed with a 29-21 win at St. Thomas Aquinas of Florida, the No. 8 team in the Maxpreps rankings.
The Monarchs and Gaels have what you’d expect from the nation’s Nos. 1 and 2 teams: humongous-for-high-school linemen, speed and talent at the skill positions and coaches who have championship rings and college-sized coaching staffs.
Bishop Gorman is averaging 236 yards a game passing and 224 yards a game rushing. That’s good balance, and certainly a challenge for the Mater Dei defense.
Another challenge Gorman presents is its defense’s ability to attack. Edge rusher Prince Williams (6-3, 255) had 10 sacks in 11 games last year as a sophomore and has one sack and seven quarterback hurries in two games this year.
The prediction here is that Mater Dei wins a close one.
Why? Since you asked …
Mater Dei quarterback Dash Beirely. In the Centennial game he overthrew a couple of open receivers on deep balls. That’s OK – he could have been over-amped given the situation, which was his first game for Mater Dei after transferring from Chaparral of Temecula and a home game against a nationally ranked opponent. He will be far more settled down, and accurate, against Bishop Gorman.
Mater Dei receiver Chris Henry Jr. He is 6-foot-6 with speed. That makes him practically unrecoverable although the Gaels might have a good matchup for Henry if they put 6-3 sophomore cornerback Hayden Stepp on him with some assistance from 6-3 junior safety Jett Washington, a nephew of Kobe Bryant. Henry had two receptions for eight yards against Centennial; expect to see him more involved in the offense Friday.
Mater Dei tight end Mark Bowman. He had a team-high three catches for 43 yards and a touchdown against Centennial. Bowman looks and plays like the sort of tight end that seems to exist at San Clemente High every year. He’s got the right size for the position at 6-4 and 220, he finds the open spaces on the field and he has great hands. Get him a half-dozen catches to open things up for the wideouts Henry, Marcus Harris, Gavin Honore and Kayden Dixon-Wyatt.
Mater Dei linebacker Nasir Wyatt. He is going to spend some rewarding moments in the Bishop Gorman backfield, and he will be important to keeping Gaels quarterback Melvin Spicer from escaping for big-gain runs. Move Wyatt around as much as possible to make the Gaels offense unsteady.
If all of those things happen, it’s a Mater Dei win.
Of course, this is quite the opponent for the Monarchs. Bishop Gorman is capable of making whatever it wants to happen, happen. And the Gaels might be a tad more fired up than usual if they interpreted McManus’ challenge as a suggestion that Bishop Gorman was ducking the Monarchs.
We shall see.
Alex Wright, Las Vegas Review-Journal
Friday’s highly anticipated matchup between Bishop Gorman and Mater Dei (California) will be the 14th game ever between the top two teams in the national high school football rankings.
The Gaels (2-0), the defending national champions, are ranked No. 2 by MaxPreps and USA Today. Mater Dei (1-0) is No. 1. The meeting between the two teams at 7 p.m. Friday in Santa Ana, California, will serve as a de facto high school football national championship game.
MaxPreps national football editor Zack Poff said it should be “one of the best games over the last decade.”
“The winner of this game controls their own destiny when it comes to finishing No. 1, ” Poff said. “It’s going to be hard to leap (whoever wins).”
A close loss wouldn’t eliminate Gorman from national title contention, Poff said. The Gaels could still have a path if Mater Dei stumbles in Trinity League play.
Gorman jumped the Monarchs in the rankings last season after Matei Dei lost to St. John Bosco (California). The Gaels also finished fourth in the national rankings in 2022 despite losing to the Monarchs. Still, the easiest way for Gorman to win its fifth mythical national championship is to win Friday against “the most complete team in the country, ” according to Poff.
Here are three things to know about Mater Dei entering the showdown:
1. ‘Loaded with talent’ It’s no surprise, but the Monarchs are full of highly touted recruits who will soon play for Division I programs. Poff said Mater Dei is “loaded with talent” at every position.
The wide receivers in particular stand out. The group is led by five-star Ohio State commit Chris Henry Jr. It also features four-star Oklahoma commit Marcus Harris and junior four-star Kayden Dixon-Wyatt. Senior running back Jordan Davison is another featured player in the Monarchs’ offense. The Oregon commit rushed for 122 yards and a touchdown in Mater Dei’s season-opening 42-25 win against Centennial (Corona, California) on Aug. 22. Poff said the Monarchs are deep on defense, too. “They’ve got a very good defensive line, the linebacking (group) is good, and their secondary is big time with (senior cornerback) Daryus Dixson, who’s a Penn State commit, ” Poff said. “They also have (junior cornerback) Chuck McDonald III, who’s an Alabama commit.”
2. New quarterback Mater Dei, like Gorman, is breaking in a new starting quarterback this season. Washington commit Ashton Beierly has taken the reins of the Monarchs’ offense after four-year starter Elijah Brown graduated. Beierly, a senior, completed 10 of 19 passes for 110 yards in Mater Dei’s opener. He also rushed for 51 yards. Beierly started at Chaparral (California) the past three seasons.
“It’s hard to replace a guy like (Brown). I think they’re still getting comfortable with the new quarterback, but (Beierly), he’s a stud, ” Poff said. “I think he’s going to have a good senior year to close out his high school career.”
Beierly threw for 4,782 yards and 41 touchdowns in three seasons at Chaparral. He also has a strong offensive line to protect him. Poff said the Monarchs’ group up front is the second-best in the country, behind only the Gaels’.
3. Change in leadership. In November, Mater Dei coach Frank McManus called out Gorman following the Monarchs’ 35-7 win over St. John Bosco in the California Interscholastic Federation Division I Southern Section title game.
“To be honest, we’re ready to take on Gorman, ” McManus said. “We’ll lace ’em up and play anyone, anywhere. This team, we’re ready to roll.” The school announced in April it fired him after one season. His replacement, Raul Lara, has a long history in Southern California. Lara is best known for going 142-30 in 13 seasons at Long Beach Poly and winning five Southern Section titles.
“This is a guy who’s not afraid of the national stage, ” Poff said.
Better not be. He is on the national stage Friday, on a streaming device near you.