Top football games on Friday night

A look at the top high school football games in the Southland on Friday night:

Bellflower St. John Bosco (7-0, 2-0) vs. Santa Ana Mater Dei (6-1, 2-0) at Santa Ana Stadium, 7:30 p.m.

Mater Dei has been winning more impressively behind a stellar defense that includes the best secondary in Southern California. But IMG Academy demonstrated that opponents can run on the Monarchs, and that’s what St. John Bosco will try to do to open up its passing game. St. John Bosco’s defense has been giving up a lot of points in recent games. Dealing with receiver Bru McCoy will not be fun. The pick: Mater Dei.

Palisades (5-2, 1-1) at Venice (5-2, 2-0), 7 p.m.

This game is important toward City Section Open Division playoff seeding. The Dolphins will have to figure out how to pressure Venice quarterback Luca Diamont to force him into making mistakes. Venice’s defense needs to step up and shut down the Dolphins’ rushing attack. The pick: Venice.

eric.sondheimer@latimes.com

Twitter: @latsondheimer