Mater Dei’s opponent hasn’t been seen by a San Diego team in 65 years.
Such are the Southern California playoffs.
The Crusaders open defense of their state Division II-AA title this week on the road against the Downey Vikings, who upset San Diego, 24-7, in the Southern Section championship game in 1957.
That contest, before 12,500 persons in Aztec Bowl, including 22 busloads of red-clad fans from the community southeast of Los Angeles, represented a bitter conclusion to a great season for the favored, 11-0 Cavers. (Search 1957: “Downey Gives Cavers Bellyache”).
Mater Dei wasn‘t around to feel their pain.
The school would open three years later as Marian in the South Bay hamlet of Nestor, about the time San Diego was exiting the Southern Section.
Marian became Mater Dei on a new campus in Chula Vista in 2007, the same year San Diego schools could again participate in what became the Southern California and state playoffs.
SUPERSTARS
Downey also defeated San Diego, 35-21, at Long Beach Veterans’ Stadium in 1956, one of the most memorable seasons in CIF history.
The Vikings tied Anaheim, 13-13, for the Southern Section championship before more than 41,000 persons in the Los Angeles Coliseum.
Downey star Randy Meadows and Anaheim’s Mickey Flynn had created such a buzz that when the two were united on the South team the following summer in the North-South Shrine all-star game almost 86,000 persons packed the Coliseum.
CRUSADERS RALLY
Mater Dei coach John Joyner and quarterback Dominic Nanquil held their team together after an 0-4 start and it responded with nine wins in a row, including the Division I championship.
The Crusaders, trailing, 29-28, to Mission Hills, marched 83 yards to Nanquil’s 30-yard pass to Jerry McClure with three seconds remaining in the game for a 34-28 win before 4,500 persons at Southwestern College.
Downey (12-2), runner-up to Downey Warren in the Gateway League, defeated Cypress, 40-7, for the Southern Section D-IV championship. The Vikings’ losses were in the opening game, 41-10, to Newport Beach Corona del Mar and 47-22 to Warren.
The Vikings have a calpreps.com rating of 44 to Mater Dei’s 43.6. The website gives the host team a 58 per cent chance of winning, although Mater Dei is ranked 33rd in the state by Cal-Hi Sports and the Vikings 43rd.
VIKINGS VINTAGE
Downey High is large and old. It opened in 1901 under the name of Las Nietos Valley Union High but the name was changed in 1919. According to Wikipedia, the school has 4,340 students.
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA PLAYOFF BRACKETS
| DIVISION | TEAM | OPPONENT | CALPREPS | MAX PREPS | CAL-HI SPORTS |
| I-AA | Lincoln (11-1) | @Chatsworth Sierra Canyon (10-4) | 60/62.4 | 7/9 | 12/10 |
| II-AA | Mater Dei (9-4) | @Downey (12-2) | 43.6/44 | 34/33 | 33/43 |
| II-A | Granite Hills (11-2) | Rancho Cucamonga Etiwanda (9-5) | 39.4/37.6 | 45/57 | 48/On the bubble |
| III-AA | University City (11-2) | @San Jacinto (12-2) | 27.6/34.8 | 106/68 | NR/NR |
| V-AA | Blythe Palo Verde Valley (13-1) | Pasadena Muir (8-6) | 12.6/9.3 | 218/244 | NR/NR |
| VI-AA | Classical (10-3) | Lancaster (9-5) @Del Norte | 0/–3.4 | 348/394 | NR/NR |
