Barkley, Mater Dei set to start season in the spotlight

Two of the storied high school football programs in Southern California will officially kick off the season tonight.

Mater Dei, with its nine CIF-Southern Section titles, will face Carson, an 11-time L.A. City section champion, at Veterans Stadium (6 p.m.) in the season opener for both teams.

(Click here for the entire opening week schedule, as well as the rest of ocvarsity.com's football coverage.)

If the game needed any extra hype, it will be televised nationally by ESPN2.

Mater Dei is the top-ranked team in the county in the Register's preseason top 25. The Monarchs have 10 starters returning from last year's team that went 9-2 but was eliminated in the CIF-SS Pac-5 quarterfinals by Crespi of Encino.

Monarchs senior quarterback Matt Barkley, the reigning Gatorade national player of the year, is coming off of a season in which he set the single-season county record for passing yards with 3,560 yards. He enters the season ranked eighth in the county in career passing yards with 6,612.

Former Capistrano Valley and Mater Dei quarterback Todd Marinovich (1984-87) is the all-time county leader in passing yards with 9,182.

One of the key question marks for the Monarchs this season is at the receiver position and how they will replace the production of Robbie Boyer, Carlo Valdes, Andrew Abbott and Ryan Mumma. The quartet combined for 177 receptions for 3,183 yards and 33 touchdowns.

The task of replacing those numbers will fall to Christian Maldonado, Victor Blackwell and Derek Campbell among others.

On the other side of the field are the Colts. Carson lost to Birmingham of Van Nuys in last year's city section championship, 41-6. Carson has won 11 city championships and has sent 18 players to the NFL.

The Colts are coached by former Lakewood coach Mike Christensen, who is entering his third year as coach.

The Colts went 11-3 last season. Carson returns eight starters (four on offense and defense) from last year's team, including tight end Morrell Presley who committed to USC before his junior year.

Carson will be led by quarterback Daniel Torres who replaces Dominique Blackman (Washington).

Presley is ranked No. 47 in the ESPNU 150 Class of 2009. He will also play defensive end this season.

Mater Dei isn't the only Pac-5 power that Carson will play this season. The Colts will also face defending Pac-5 champion Long Beach Poly on Sept. 26.

Contact the writer: dcalhoun@ocregister.com