Leading Off: Springing Ahead

It was a warm evening in April, not autumn, and the stands were two-thirds empty, not the full house the game usually draws. Otherwise all felt normal when St. John Bosco and Mater Dei, two of the nations top high school programs, met in Santa Ana last month. The SoCal powerhouses capped off California's pandemic-created spring season, and the unofficial State Championship Game was also a college recruiter's dream - more than 50 of the players in uniform have offers to play for FBS schools. Soon they'll be starring around the country, but on this night, all that mattered to them was this: Mater Dei 34, Bosco 17