The top team from the Trinity League facing off against the top team of the East Bay-Mountain League. This one is going to be fun. See, Mater Dei has been nothing but explosive throughout their season. Back-to-back 12-win run and followed that up with a No.1 NAT rank and No.1 CA rank. Under HC Raul Lara, Mater Dei has transformed into one of the big teams on the varsity football scene. But then again, don’t just assume that De La Salle will make it easy. The Spartans have had their fair share of luck this season with a 12-win run but a NAT of 21 and a CA rank of 9.

But guess what? Lara ain’t scared of the competition. He took to his Instagram to fire up his boys by sharing the game day poster uploaded by the official Mater Dei football Instagram account. “Let’s go!!!” Lara wrote in the caption of his story. See, this CFP State Open Division championship game is going to be such a joyride. If we are to go off of the win over St. John Bosco, Lara won’t be playing around.

See, against the Bosco, the Monarchs had a slow start. Putting up only 3 points in the first quarter through Dominic Zante‘s 28-yard FG. But boy, oh boy, did the game start picking up pace from the 2nd quarter. Mater Dei started off with a touchdown early into the 2nd quarter.

But the Bosco answered right back. Koa Malau’ulu somehow managed to connect with Madden Williams and end up with a 9-yard touchdown. From here on, there was constant back and forth. Mater Dei landed another TD and so did Bosco. However, despite being 14-17, Bosco somehow managed to stop an FG from Mater Dei as Josh Holland stepped right in to put a stopper on the 34-yard attempt.

The second half of the game was all for the Monarchs. They managed to stop Bosco at 21 points while they secured the W with 31 points on the board. Now, let’s break this entire thing down. See, despite Mater Dei being the No.1 team in their league, a No.10 opponent put up quite the challenge for them. But Lara and his boys pulled through. Can we expect the Spartans to do the same?

De La Salle bringing out the best

See, a few days back, Zack Poff pointed out some interesting things about the Monarchs. “Their offensive line, defensive line, secondary—it’s all probably the best in the country,” Poff mentioned back on MaxPreps Podcast.

From what we saw during the Bosco game, that praise stands solid, but then again, it doesn’t mean the Spartans don’t have their tricks. See, QB Toa Faavae is someone you have to keep your eyes on.

This senior managed to snag 500+ yards under his belt, along with 14 touchdowns during the 12-win season run. His ability to run from the defense and just slip right in to make solid plays is something the Monarchs have to watch out for.

Also, the defense is no joke. This is the first time since 2019 that the Spartans have managed to snag an undefeated record, and they did it all on the back of their quarterback and the defensive line. If you give these guys the opportunity, they gonna make a massive run for it.

Let’s see how Lara deals with this!!