St. John Bosco vs. Mater Dei: Under the Radar Standouts

Two of the top teams in the country played each other Saturday in the Trinity League championship game at the Santa Ana Bowl. Mater Dei cruised to a 34-17 win over the Braves and there are plenty of great pieces you can read for a traditional game recap. There were dozens of media outlets covering the game. Instead of giving you a scoring summary with some quotes and big picture thoughts, I am going to breakdown the players who stood out on both sides of the ball and some under the radar players who stepped up in the big game. Here are my <a href="https://prepredzone.com/2021/04/st-john-bosco-vs-mater-dei-offensive-standouts/">offensive standouts</a> from the game. Here are my <a href="https://prepredzone.com/2021/04/st-john-bosco-vs-mater-dei-defensive-standouts/">defensive standouts</a> from the game. Below are the under the radar players who impressed me in the game. <strong>Logan Booher, St. John Bosco, 2022</strong> Booher doesn’t even have a profile on some recruiting sites and it baffles me. He isn’t the fastest or most college-ready receiver on Bosco’s team but whenever I would look at the secondary, Booher would be open at least for a second. He is a good route runner and a decent sized guy at 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds. He has good speed but he creates separation with his agility and route running. He is a 4.4 GPA student with an offer from Brown and should be on many other schools’ radar. https://twitter.com/booher_logan/status/1368746838908493824?s=20 <hr /> <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="25302" first="Jairus" last="Satele"], St. John Bosco, 2022</strong> Satele stood out as the most effective defensive lineman on Bosco which is impressive considering the names on that front. He stays low throughout the play, keeps his feet moving and his motor is off the charts. As a pass rusher, he gets skinny and has a good club move. He was constantly in the backfield and making Mater Dei’s freshman quarterback make decisions on run/pass options quicker than he wanted to. He did a good job of eating up double teams which gave his linebackers room to make plays. Satele has offers from Army, Colorado and Kansas. https://twitter.com/KyleMorgan_XOS/status/1383907124405706754?s=20 <hr /> <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="25306" first="Jaxon" last="Harley"], St. John Bosco, 2022</strong> Harley isn’t the highest-profile defensive back on the Braves, but he did a good job defending deep balls to elite Mater Dei receivers. He can be a safety or a nickel corner that Bosco can rely on in man-to-man coverage against anyone. He’s an asset because when the other team motions their best receiver to him, you can bump the man coverage to him instead of having your top corner run with him. He is small at 5-foot-9 and 165 pounds and has offers from Kansas and Nevada. Harley should get some more offers during the fall. https://twitter.com/mikehuntley63/status/1383606256233897985?s=20 <hr /> <strong>Josiah Zamora, Mater Dei, 2021</strong> Zamora has no offers but is just as important to the Mater Dei offense as highly-touted receivers [player_tooltip player_id="25051" first="Kyron" last="Ware-Hudson"] and [player_tooltip player_id="25224" first="CJ" last="Williams"]. He had seven catches for 58 yards with a touchdown. He lines up all over the field and he clearly was a safety blanket for Monarchs’ quarterback Elijah Brown. He was so effective on bubble and short routes that the defense began keying on him which resulted in a deep touchdown for Ware-Hudson. When asked if his performance in a big game like this will effect his recruiting, he said, "Hopefully. It’s out of my hands. Hopefully it does but if not, I’m not too worried about it. It’s in God’s hands." Zamora is a great teammate and player and would be a fantastic addition to any college who needs a late addition to its roster. https://twitter.com/mikehuntley63/status/1383632911128141826?s=20 <hr /> <strong>Zabien Brown, Mater Dei, 2024</strong> There were a ton of high-profile freshmen in this game, but Brown was laying big hits confidently like a senior playing his last game. It’s hard to call him an under the radar guy when he has offers from Penn State and USC, but he wasn’t talked about much in pregame coverage and came to play. He was laying big hits on Bosco receivers on crossing routes and coming up in the running game and making tackles. He will be a fun one to watch for the next three years and is already a national recruit. https://twitter.com/KyleMorgan_XOS/status/1384316413100187650?s=20 <hr /> <strong>Austin Bressler, Mater Dei, 2021</strong> Bressler is a linebacker who doesn’t get a lot of shine because he plays with elite backers like [player_tooltip player_id="25026" first="Raesjon" last="Davis"], [player_tooltip player_id="25234" first="David" last="Bailey"] and [player_tooltip player_id="25279" first="Kerry" last="Eoghan"]. Bressler is a solid high school player who can rush the passer, play spy on the quarterback and come up and stop the run. He is a good athlete who would lead most teams in Orange County in tackles if given the chance. He is 6-foot-2 and 230 pounds and the lack of college offers for him surprises me. He made some big plays against Bosco with a lot of eyes on him so it wouldn’t surprise me if a small school came in and tried to add him to their roster late in the game. https://twitter.com/austin_bressler/status/1383867949094633476?s=20 <hr /> <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="115472" first="Jack" last="Ressler"], Mater Dei, 2024</strong> Another guy who isn’t really a sleeper, but impressed me in limited playing time on Saturday. He’s a freshman who runs crisp routes and is physical enough to shake cornerbacks free in press coverage. He is just under 6 feet and will grow to about 190-200 pounds with good speed and football instincts. Mater Dei receivers coach <strong>James Finley</strong> was raving to me about him after the game and said he will be a big contributor this fall and a national recruit. He has four offers as a freshman from Arizona, Arizona State, Hawaii and Pittsburgh. I look forward to seeing senior quarterback Elijah Brown throwing to senior star receiver [player_tooltip player_id="115472" first="Jack" last="Ressler"] in a few years. &nbsp;