Bishop Gorman’s football team routinely puts together one of the toughest schedules with top teams from around the country.

It’s never easy for the top teams to align schedules, as was the case with Bishop Gorman and California power St. John Bosco, who have not played since 2016.

The two teams will meet this Friday when St. John Bosco, ranked No. 1 by MaxPreps, plays at No. 2 Gorman at 7 p.m. Friday at Gorman’s Fertitta Field.

“I’ve known (St. John Bosco coach Jason) Negro forever, a good dude. This year, it just worked out,” Gorman coach Brent Browner told the Review-Journal earlier in August.

Browner said the move by the 30 Clark County School District teams to play as independents this fall helped open Gorman’s schedule to allow more flexibility to schedule the top teams, such as St. John Bosco.

“We’ve called (St. John Bosco) other years and they didn’t have the dates (that we had open),” Browner said. “This year, because of (CCSD’s move to independence), we had no dates (locked in), so everything’s open.

“You look at the goods and bads of things that happened, things happen for a reason. If we had the same things (NIAA league alignments as last year) and the (CCSD) stuff didn’t happen, we probably had that date filled.”

Friday begins a grueling stretch in Gorman’s schedule where the Gaels follow by playing road games at Columbus (Florida) on Aug. 29, Lone Peak (Utah) on Sept. 4 and Mater Dei (California) on Sept. 18.

“When you’re making a schedule, two things got to happen,” Browner said. “One, the other team’s got to want to play. Two, they got to have a date where you guys can matchup and play.

“We’ve had times where we reached out to people (in the past) and even this year after all the stuff that happened and (it either didn’t happen) for either lack of (they) didn’t want to play or the dates don’t work.”

Browner said he hopes Gorman and St. John Bosco can reserve a date on each of their future schedules to play one another, similar to what the Gaels have done with Mater Dei the last few years.

“The biggest thing is just trying to time it up and get those things locked in stone, like with Mater Dei, we’ve both just relegated to saving a date every year (to play) and hopefully we can do the same thing with Bosco,” Browner said. “When you’re looking at how we try to make the schedule, I try to play multiple California teams every year because it’s one of the best states.”

While Gorman and St. John Bosco prepare for this year’s matchup, here is a look back at the two previous meetings between the two teams.

2014: Bishop Gorman 34, St. John Bosco 31

The first meeting was delayed by an hour because of lightning and it rained most of the night in Las Vegas. St. John Bosco entered No. 1 by USA Today and had won 19 consecutive games.

The rain didn’t stop Gorman as the then-No. 2-ranked Gaels had a 20-3 lead at halftime and were ahead 34-10 late in the third quarter. St. John Bosco quarterback Josh Rosen helped lead the Braves to close the deficit.

Rosen’s touchdown pass to Kaylin Franklin with 1:12 cut Gorman’s lead to 34-31. The Braves tried an onside kick, but Gorman recovered and celebrated in front of a packed home crowd at Fertitta Field for its 15th straight win.

Gaels quarterback Tate Martell completed 12 of 17 passes for 224 yards with two touchdown passes and a rushing score. Rosen completed 14 of 27 passes for 263 yards.

Gorman finished the season 15-0 and earned the program’s first mythical national championship by finishing No. 1 in USA Today’s final rankings.

2016: Bishop Gorman 35, St. John Bosco 20

Gorman did not get off to a great start in the second meeting. The Gaels entered ranked No. 1 by USA Today and had won 41 straight games.

But at Veterans Memorial Stadium on the Long Beach (Calif.) City College campus, the Gaels fell behind early and trailed 20-7 late in the first half. A key moment occurred when Gorman’s Bubba Bolden came up with a tackle on a St. John Bosco drive that forced the Braves to settle for a field goal.

Martell struck before halftime on a 25-yard score to Brevin Jordan as the Gaels trailed 20-14 at halftime. Gorman outgained St. John Bosco 240-51 on offense in the second half.

Amod Cianelli’s third-quarter touchdown gave Gorman a 21-20 lead. Martell completed 7 of 16 passes for 178 yards and three touchdowns with 111 rushing yards and a fourth-quarter rushing touchdown. Bolden added a late interception to seal the win.

Gorman finished 15-0 and was named national champions for the third time by USA Today and was also No. 1 in MaxPreps’ final rankings.

Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on X.

Up next

Who: No. 1 St. John Bosco (California) vs. No. 2 Bishop Gorman

When: 7 p.m. Friday

Where: Gorman’s Fertitta Field

Stream: MaxPreps’ website and YouTube channel

All-time series: Bishop Gorman 2-0 (34-31 in 2014 and 35-20 in 2016).

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