St. John Bosco 27 - Eagles 14
MISSION VIEJO, CA., October 17, 2025 – After a thrilling upset of mighty Mater Dei the previous week, Santa Margarita Catholic High School (SMCHS) faced off with the de facto No. 1 team in the nation -- St. John Bosco. The Eagles were looking to shake the high school football world for the second-straight game and although they stood tall, the Braves muscled their way to a 27-14 win.
SMCHS fought back twice from a two touchdown deficit to close within seven points. A drive in the fourth quarter looked promising until clock time and downs thwarted another score.
Highlights
- Trent Mosley took a direct snap and romped 69-yards to the SJB one-yard line on a direct snap form the wildcat. That setup a one-yard rushing touchdown on the next play. The score cut the Braves’ lead to 14-7
- Later, Mosley took another direct snap and ran wide to the right and outpaced a SJB defender to the pylon for a four-yard touchdown to culminate a seven-minute, 80-yard drive. At that point, the Eagles still kept pace, cutting the score to 21-14
- Mosley finished with 94 yards rushing on nine attempts (10.4 average) which is a new career-high on the ground
- With his two scores, Mosley notched his fourteenth multi-touchdown game of his career
- Those two touchdowns give him 48 for his SMCHS career -- third-best on the all-time school list
- Dash Fifita and Manoah Faupusa each collected one sack
- Tonga Uhila blocked at PAT attempt
- Jaion Smith: five pass receptions, now has 15 for the season
| St. John Bosco | 14 | 7 | 6 | 0 | 27 |
| Santa Margarita | 7 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 14 |
SJB – Clark 62 pass from Malau'ulu (Wallace kick)
SJB – Odom 25 pass from Malau'ulu (Wallace kick)
SM – T. Mosley 1 run (Wiegand kick)
SJB – Tubbs 11 pass from Malau'ulu (Wallace kick)
SM – T. Mosley 4 run (Wiegand kick)
SJB – Williams 35 pass from Malau'ulu (kick blocked)
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
Rushing: SM - T. Mosley 9-94, Ja. Smith 14-40; SJB - Keyes 3-24, Hinton 3-23;
Passing: SM - Johnson 13-27-1-96; SJB - Malau'ulu 17-21-0-289;
Receiving: SM - Ja. Smith 5-28, Martin 3-26; SJB - Williams 6-111, Odom 5-91;
Summary by Chuck Nan
Statistics by Shane Mielke
St. John Bosco football beats Santa Margarita to take lead in league race
MISSION VIEJO, CA., October 17, 2025 – Santa Margarita and St. John Bosco played opposing roles Friday for an unexpected clash for first place in the Trinity League football race.
The Eagles entered as a fresh-faced contender with first-year coach Carson Palmer and a major upset of Mater Dei on a growing resume.
The Braves took the field as the established juggernaut that was expected to duel Mater Dei for the league title on Oct. 31 in Bellflower.
Koa Malau’ulu made sure St. John Bosco kept to its script.
The sophomore quarterback passed for 285 yards and four touchdowns as the Braves overcame penalty issues for a 27-14 victory at Trabuco Hills High.
“He’s a really talented football player and we got talented guys around him,” St. John Bosco coach Jason Negro said of Malau’ulu, who completed 16 of 21 passes. “He’s a deliverer. He’s going to get the ball to our best players.”
“We protected really well up front tonight against probably one of the best defenses that we’ve played,” the coach added. “To come down to Orange County three weeks in a row … and put three pretty impressive wins together, I just could not be more proud of the preparation that our kids put in and the staff.”
In moving into sole possession of first place, the Braves had 20 penalties for 156 yards, including at least four for defensive holding. The Eagles were flagged three times for 15 yards.
“We were sloppy at times,” Negro said, “but we’ll fix that.”
St. John Bosco (8-0, 3-0), No. 1 in multiple national rankings, took a 27-14 lead into the fourth quarter after Madden Williams made a leaping 35-yard touchdown grab in coverage with 2:25 left in the third.
The Texas A & M commit finished with six catches for 112 yards.
Santa Margarita (5-3, 2-1), ranked No. 2 in Orange County and eighth in the nation by HSratings, had cut the Braves’ lead to 21-14 with a long scoring drive to open the third quarter.
The Eagles chewed up 7:06 of the clock in driving 80 yards for a 4-yard touchdown run by USC commit Trent Mosley.
The senior drew heavy double teams at wide receiver but rushed for 93 yards and two scores on nine carries.
“Hard-fought game against a very good team,” Palmer said. “There’s no curiosity on why they’re ranked No. 1. We had our chances. We just didn’t make some plays when we had opportunities to but a lot in front of us. Lot to play for.”
“I’m proud of the way we fought,” the coach added.
St. John Bosco grabbed the lead on the third play from scrimmage. Malau’ulu found Carson Clark racing from the slot uncovered in the middle of the field for a 62-yard touchdown pass.
It was a sign of things to come.
On the Braves’ next possession, Malau’ulu tossed a 25-yard touchdown to Daniel Odom to cap a 67-yard drive and put Santa Margarita to chase mode.
“Really good young quarterback,” Palmer, the Heisman Trophy winning QB from USC, said of Malau’ulu.
Santa Margarita received a spark from Mosley late in the first quarter. The senior broke a spectacular 70-yard run to the St. John Bosco 1 to set up his own touchdown plunge.
“Incredible player, incredible person,” Palmer said of Mosley. “He gave us a spark.”
But Malau’ulu stayed hot. Early in the second quarter, he threw an 11-yard touchdown to sophomore wide receiver DJ Tubbs as St. John Bosco opened a 21-7 lead.
Malau’ulu completed his first 11 passes for 184 yards and three touchdowns in a sizzling start.
Santa Margarita defense, which entered allowing 12.6 points, settled down by forcing two punts.
St. John Bosco’s defense was even better. Defensive end Dutch Horisk recorded two sacks and Josh Holland added an interception in the first half for a unit holding teams to 8.9 points.
In the second half, St. John Bosco linebacker Matthew Muasau recorded a sack and Holland broke up a pass near the end zone with 39 seconds left.
Linebacker Dash Fifita and lineman Manoah Faupusa recorded sacks for Santa Margarita.
The Eagles set the stage for Friday by upsetting Mater Dei 7-6 for its first victory against the Monarchs since Oct. 25, 2013. Santa Margarita also snapped an 11-game losing streak to Mater Dei.
While the win shook up the rankings, Negro wasn’t among the surprised.
“No, not really,” he said before kickoff Friday. “(Santa Margarita) had one of the most talented rosters coming back.”
Next week, St. John Bosco plays host to Servite on Friday, Oct. 24. Santa Margarita plays host to Orange Lutheran at Trabuco Hills High on the same day.
By Dan Albano
Friday, October 17, 2025
The Orange County Register
