![The Sporting News High School Football Game of the Week: SN No. 1 St. John Bosco [CA] at SN No. 15 Santa Margarita [CA] image](https://library.sportingnews.com/styles/crop_style_16_9_mobile_webp/s3/2025-10/St%20John%20Bosco%20at%20Santa%20Margarita.png.webp?itok=gf6Ru0PF)
The SN No. 1 St. John Bosco [Bellflower, CA] Braves will visit the SN No. 15 Santa Margarita [Rancho Santa Margarita, CA] Eagles Friday night in The Sporting News High School Football Game of the Week.
The Braves are the nation's consensus No. 1 team, holding down the top spot in seven of the rankings that comprise The Sporting News Composite Rankings. That includes the No. 1 position in The Sporting News High School Football Top 25.
Santa Margarita, meanwhile, returned to the SN Top 25 this week after defeating the former SN No. 4 Mater Dei [Santa Ana, Ca] Monarchs, 7-6, last Friday night. The Eagles climbed all the way to No. 11 from No. 22 in the composite rankings, following the win.
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SN No. 1 St. John Bosco at SN No. 15 Santa Margarita
LAST WEEK'S GAME OF THE WEEK Gainesville [GA] Red Elephants 28, Milton [GA] Eagles 16
Friday, October 17, 2025
Trabuco Hills High School, Mission Viejo, CA | 10 p.m. EST (7 p.m. PST local)
TV/Streaming: NFHS Network
Local Media Coverage: Los Angeles Times High School Sports
School Athletics Websites: St. John Bosco Athletics | Santa Margarita Athletics
School Social Media: Bishop Gorman Football on X.com @StJohnBoscoHS | Santa Margarita on X.com @SMCHSEagles
The Background
St. John Bosco is in its fourth week at the top of The Sporting News High School Football Top 25. The Braves are 7-0, and they've only had one game that was close – a 21-14 win over the St. Frances Academy [Baltimore, MD] Panthers back on September 5. They've won every other game by at least 29 points, averaging 46.71 points per contest while surrendering just 8.86 points per game.
On the flip side, Santa Margarita has yet to even score 46 in a game this year, but their defense has been elite. In three games against Top 25 teams from Mission Viejo, Bishop Gorman, and Mater Dei, the Eagles gave up a combined 28 points. For the season, their defense is giving up just 12.57 points per game despite the lack of help at times from an offense averaging just 21.29 points per game.
Top Recruits
- St. John Bosco has nine seniors listed on 247sports.com's Class of 2026 prospects for California led by two future 4-star SEC wide receivers in Madden Williams (Texas A&M) and Daniel Odom (Oklahoma). A third wideout, Carson Clark, is a 3-star committed to San Jose State, and TE Na'o Tito is a 3-star prospect bound for Sacramento State. Cornerback Joshua Holland, EDGE Dutch Horisk (Oregon), DL Laneselota Olive-Enos (6-1, 266 lbs., Portland State), LB Matthew Muasau (uncommitted), and IOL Adrian Tavui (6-4, 295 lbs., uncommitted) round out a deep class. Top Class of 2027 junior prospects include 4-star defensive backs Jailen Hill and Isala Aisa Wily-Ava, and nine 3-star prospects led by S Dillon Davis, CB Jacob Whitehead, RB Maliq Allen, and LB Ethan Coach. None of the juniors are committed, yet.
- Santa Margarita has eight ranked senior prospects of its own led by 4-star DL Simote Katoanga (6-5, 240 lbs., USC). Wide receiver Trent Mosley (USC) is also a 4-star, and 3-star prospects include CB Jayden Crowder (uncommitted), S Logan Hirou (UCLA), DL Manoah Faupusa (6-2, 360 lbs., Arizona), IOL Niniva Nicholson (6-3, 285 lbs., Arizona State), QB Trace Johnson (Tulane), and LB Ivrick Carrigan (uncommitted). The Eagles also have one ranked prospect in the Class of 2027 in DL Isaia Vandermade (6-2, 270 lbs., uncommitted).
When St. John Bosco has the ball ...
Nearly 70 percent of the Braves' offensive production has come via the airways while the ground game has been handled by a committee approach. While they've no doubt seen Santa Margarita's stingy defense on film, that isn't likely to alter their approach much, and you can be sure St. John Bosco will look to play its own style of football against the Eagles. That means a heavy dose of sophomore QB Koa Malau'ulu, who has completed 72 percent of his pass attempts for 1,226 yards with 20 touchdowns and only 1 interception. He's good at spreading the workload among his receivers with four Brave wideouts catching at least 16 passes on the season. Williams is the top target with 24 catches for 467 yards and 6 touchdowns, but Clark (16-293, 6 TDs), Odom (21-316, 4 TDs), and sophomore WR DJ Tubbs (16-328, 5 TDs) all have made house calls on a regular basis. Allen (27-219, 3 TDs) leads a trio of running backs that all have at least 22 carries with each of them averaging more than 8 yards per attempt.
Santa Margarita has proven, repeatedly, that it can frustrate some of the nation's top offenses, shutting down the likes of Mission Viejo (7 points), Bishop Gorman (14 points), and Mater Dei (6 points) without any help from their offense in those games. Carrigan is one of the biggest playmakers with 7 tackles for loss, but the Eagles have 42 stops behind the line with nine players recording multiple TFLs.
When Santa Margarita has the ball ...
As dominant as Santa Margarita's defense has been, the offense is still a work in progress. The Eagles have scored 17 or fewer points in four of their seven games, and it starts with the quarterback Johnson who's only managed 8 touchdown passes despite averaging nearly 26 attempts per outing. Still, he's managed to pass for 1,410 yards with a 64.1 percent completion percentage, and Grant Mosley has been his top option with 22 receptions for 306 yards and 3 touchdowns. They're more likely to rely on the run game than Bosco with sophomore Jaion Smith rolling up 488 yards to date on the ground with 6 touchdowns.
While Santa Margarita's defense has drawn praise for its performance in big games, Bosco's defense has also been an elite unit, albeit against a lighter schedule than the Eagles' have faced to date. Many of the Braves' defenders have seen a lot of rest in the second half of blowouts so their cumulative totals aren't huge, but Muasau has still managed to collect 7 tackles for loss. Additionally, 34 of his 38 tackles have been of the solo variety. Junior Josiah Poyer has added 6 TFLs of his own, and Horisk, Wily-Ava, and Olive-Enos all have logged double-digit tallies in that category as well. Hill, meanwhile, has snagged 4 interceptions with 3 additional passes defensed to lock down his side of the field.
Keys to the game
St. John Bosco wins if they score at least 20 points and shut down Santa Margarita's passing game on the other side. This game feels like another potentially low-scoring affair, and the Braves haven't played as many high-quality opponents as the Eagles. A defensive slugfest could go either way in the end, but ultimately, Bosco has more weapons than their hosts, and if they can maintain possession and dictate the action, Santa Margarita will likely find it difficult to score enough to win this one.
Santa Margarita wins if Johnson elevates his game at home and finds ways to extend drives and give the Eagles more scoring opportunities. The Eagles lost, 7-3, to Mission Viejo and, 14-0, to Bishop Gorman while finding a way to beat Mater Dei, 7-6, with an equally inept offense. That isn't likely to work against Bosco, but their defense is good enough that if they can find a way to scratch out 17 points at home, it might be enough.
Looking Ahead
Santa Margarita can throw the national championship picture into disarray with an upset here, and could, improbably, make a run at the Top 10 by season's end. But a loss would drop the Eagles to 5-3, and likely back out of the Top 25 in what has already been a topsy-turvy season in which they've been knocked out of the rankings twice already only to fight their way back in.
St. John Bosco, of course, has a lot more to look forward to with a win. A loss wouldn't necessarily knock the Braves completely out of the national title conversation, but a win would cement their status as the nation's best team just two weeks before their big regular-season rivalry finale against Mater Dei.
Series history
St. John Bosco has won the last 15 games in this series with Santa Margarita's last victory against the Braves coming in a 28-20 win on November 4, 2011.
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