High school football rankings: No. 1 Mater Dei goes wire-to-wire to earn MaxPreps National Champion honors

Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) finishes the year where it began — the No. 1 team in the MaxPreps Top 25 high school football rankings. The Monarchs are the MaxPreps National Champion for the second time in five years, going wire-to-wire just as they did in 2017.

Mater Dei has finished ranked in the top 10 every year since 2016, compiling a 71-3 record during that span.

The Monarchs went 12-0 in 2021, winning 11 games by at least two scores. They outscored the opposition 548-152 and were the only team in the country to have more than two wins against MaxPreps Top 25 opponents. They beat No. 5 Servite (Anaheim) twice, No. 6 St. John Bosco (Bellflower), No. 10 Centennial (Corona) and No. 21 Duncanville (Texas).

They beat Serra (San Mateo) 44-7 on Dec. 11 in the CIF Open Division state championship to win their third state title since 2017.

Offensively they were led by sophomore quarterback Elijah Brown, who threw for 2,581 yards and 30 touchdowns while completing over 74 percent of his passes. USC-bound running back Raleek Brown rushed for 1,123 yards and 15 touchdowns and had his best games against top competition, rushing for 649 yards and five scores against MaxPreps Top 25 opponents. Four-star wide receiver C.J. Williams led the way for a very talented receiving corps with a team-leading 51 receptions for 830 yards and 12 touchdowns.

Defensively, four-star linebacker David Bailey led the way for a very talented unit. He finished the year with 54 tackles, 20.5 tackles for loss and 15.5 sacks. They had one of the best offensive lines in the country led by junior B.J. Tolo and sophomore DeAndre Carter.

Despite losing five-star cornerback Domani Jackson to a season-ending injury one game into the season, the Monarchs still had one of the best secondaries in the country with seniors Josh Hunter and Cameron Sidney to go with sophomore Zabien Brown.

Past MaxPreps National Champions

2008 — St. Thomas Aquinas (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.)

2007 — St. Xavier (Cincinnati)

2006 — Southlake Carroll (Southlake, Texas)

2005 — Southlake Carroll (Southlake, Texas)

Record: 12-0 | Last week: 1

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