St. John Bosco's schedule includes home game vs. Mater Dei
BELLFLOWER » St. John Bosco football released its 2023 schedule on Thursday, and it includes nonleague games against nationally ranked teams from Florida, Hawaii and Maryland and a home game against Trinity League rival Mater Dei on Oct. 13.
“We're going to take a humble approach to 2023,” St. John Bosco coach Jason Negro said. “We know we have our work cut out for us and we better get to work because we have a very daunting task ahead of us.”
The Braves were the 2022 national champions with a 13-1 record. They won the CIF Southern Section Division 1 championship by beating Mater Dei and defeated San Mateo Serra to win the CIF State Open Division crown.
They will begin next season with five nonleague games against out-of-state opponents.
Negro believes the schedule will keep the Braves in the conversation for the 2023 national championship.
“It's a challenge,” Negro said, “and we're always looking for ways and opportunities for us to put stress on our student-athletes, in order to test how much they can endure during the season.”
The Braves will begin their Trinity League season Sept. 29 with a road game against Santa Margarita.
“Our goal is to win every game on our schedule,” Negro said.
Bosco's spring practice schedule will be highlighted by its College
Showcase on May 10 at 4 p.m.
Spring practices will conclude with the team's annual spring game May 18 at 5 p.m.
The Braves had 19 seniors (Class of 2023) sign national letters of intent to play college football. Negro is confident that the younger players in the program will be up for the challenge of winning back-to-back national championships, something Bosco has never done.
“If things go right and you win the games at the right time of the year, then you have an opportunity to be in that conversation,” he said.
“At St. John Bosco, one of my number one priorities is to try to provide the student-athletes within our program great experiences and to embrace the cultures of which we have within our program,” Negro said. “I think for us to be able to not only host the Kahuku Red Raider Nation (in 2022) but for us to go onto the island and take our notoriety or prestige that we have within our program and allow their community to experience that game that we got to experience here last year, is just a great way for us to show our appreciation for them and to show the appreciation to our families and the kids in our program that we do have a lot of excitement for them and want to celebrate their Polynesian descent. It's a great way to bring two really cool communities together.”
“When you get those games at home, it obviously allows your fan base to have a little bit more intimate setting,” Negro said. “Our stadium is pretty unique and when this place is packed, it's a pretty electric environment and playing big games there gives us a little bit of an advantage, we feel.”
2023 SCHEDULE NONLEAGUE vs. Liberty, Nevada, Aug. 18 at St. Thomas Aquinas, Florida, Aug. 26 vs. Miami Norland, Florida, Sept. 1 vs. St. Frances, Maryland, Sept. 8 at Kahuku, Hawaii, Sept. 16
TRINITY LEAGUE at Santa Margarita, Sept. 29 vs. Servite, Oct. 6 vs. Mater Dei, Oct. 13 at JSerra, Oct. 20 at Orange Lutheran, Oct. 27