The Brave News

by Aeden Alexander, Sports Editor

In an East versus West coast battle, St. John Bosco cruised to an easy victory over Miami Central in a match-up of nationally ranked powers, winning 35-12.

Friday night lights are back in Bellflower, as this was Bosco’s first full capacity football game since the pandemic began. The atmosphere in Panish Family Stadium was at an all time high.

Not only did these two highly ranked teams match up, but both are big name high school football programs for Nike. Both teams are coming off successful seasons for their programs, as they both seek to continue making headlines. This is especially the case for the Braves, who are yet again a favorite to win the National Title.

To start the game captains from both teams met at the center of the field for the coin flip. Bosco started with an edge over their opponent, as they won the toss and chose to kickoff.

Right away the Braves showed how prepared they were by forcing a fumble off the kickoff, which they recovered around twenty yards away from the end zone. Starting quarterback for the game, junior Pierce Clarkson, quickly figured out Miami’s defensive plan and started off the drive by running the ball straight into the end zone for senior Jabari Bates’ first touchdown of the game. 

With an early lead, Miami Central’s offense came out looking to answer back with a score of their own. Although Bosco’s defense was too fast, too powerful and immediately showed Central that this game wasn’t going to be easy, forcing them to go three and out. Michigan State-commit senior Katin Houser came out the next drive at quarterback, looking to keep the ball rolling with another touchdown of his own.

The Braves continued to do what worked well the first time – play bully ball in the run game – leading to another Jabari Bates rushing touchdown. 

Central’s offense came back on the field and looked to just get something started on that side of the ball. But with the same result as the first drive, the Braves’ defense continued to show just how dominant they are, quickly forcing Central into another punt..

Pierce returned at quarterback, and the Braves started opening the playbook up through the air. Bosco’s offensive line did a stellar job the entire drive, quickly moving the team to the endzone where Pierce connected with Jahlil McClain for his first receiving touchdown of the game. The Braves jumped out to a 21-0 lead in just the first six minutes.

With it still being early in the game, it was far from over, but Central needed to make adjustment before things got ugly. Their next drive, things started to click. They started moving the ball around the field a bit better and picking up some first downs. However, too often, Central was still forced to punt, due to the Braves’ powerhouse of a defense.

The playing field leveled out a tad as the game wore on, but not by much.

The exclamation points on the night were Jabari Bates’ third touchdown of the game as well as a 55-yard receiving touchdown by Chedon James from the hands of Pierce Clarkson, which more than sealed the deal for the home team .

This week Bosco Football is back at Panish Family Stadium taking on Alemany High School, who lost their opening week match up on the road against Lone Peak. Tickets on sale here.