Football: Has Mater Dei really turned the corner?
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The Thursday night Trinity League opener matching Santa Ana Mater Dei (3-2) and Bellflower St. John Bosco (4-1) at Santa Ana Stadium will be a decisive game in telling everyone whether the Monarchs’ three-game winning streak is more an illusion of having turned the corner.
If the Trinity League is all about matchups, then Mater Dei must prove it can beat an athletic team with speed, something it couldn’t do against Carson and Corona Centennial. St. John Bosco is similar, so that’s what makes the Trinity opener so intriguing.
St. John Bosco has rarely won these games in the past, which is probably why the school hired Jason Negro as its new coach. The Braves like to tease their fans about being good, then struggle to win when it counts. They last beat Mater Dei in 2002. This game counts, so there’s a lot riding on how each team performs and what it will say about the rest of the season.
I’ll be blogging from Santa Ana Stadium. Kickoff is 7 p.m.
-- Eric Sondheimer