Graney: Gorman players not seeking revenge against Mater Dei

Zachariah Branch was there for both games. So was Palaie Faoa. So was Jeremiah Hughes.

So were a handful of other Bishop Gorman football players then in junior high school.

They attended those Mater Dei wins — the 35-21 road loss in 2017 and the 42-0 home defeat a year later — and now get their own taste of playing the Monarchs.

You might think they would do so with revenge on their minds.

You would be wrong.

It’s all about a certain letter on their chest. Especially this week.

“Even before we say a prayer, we say, ‘It’s not about me, it’s about the G,’” said Hughes, a senior cornerback committed to Louisiana State. “It’s about the family. About playing for the alumni and our parents and for each other.

“Those were completely different teams that lost to (Mater Dei). We’re just focusing on being on the same page and playing as one.”

Talking pride

They are separated by nearly 270 miles, parochial football powers that will meet again Friday night at Bishop Gorman when Santa Ana (Calif.) Mater Dei makes the trip north.

More than anything, Bishop Gorman players talked about pride this week. About having a great deal of it in their program, their purpose, their desire to be in such moments.

Gorman coach Brent Browner sees the obvious advantages of playing Mater Dei. It’s one reason you compete in football at Bishop Gorman. It’s part of the program’s DNA when making an annual non-league schedule.

Challenges abound.

“You want to play the best teams in the country and they’re one of the best,” Browner said. “Play the best. They work hard. You work hard. Put it on the field.”

Mater Dei will enter as the country’s No. 2-ranked team; Bishop Gorman is No. 6. Each has its share of packed trophy cases and national championship rings.

It was hot and sticky that night at Santa Ana Stadium five years ago, Bishop Gorman’s 55-game win streak on the line. Branch, now the nation’s top prep receiver headed to Southern California, watched it end.

He knew since age 8 that he would attend Bishop Gorman, that he would one day wear the blue and orange.

“I definitely don’t think we look back on that this week and put much (thought) into it,” he said. “We’re excited. A lot of people are considering us the underdog in this game. But we need to just keep believing every step of the way.

“We’ve wanted to play great teams from the very beginning. To have this at home and that sort of atmosphere will be great.”

The matchup makes too much sense given the similarities between programs. A series should have likely begun before 2017, but television partners got involved and, well, scheduling just didn’t work out. It happens a lot with elite teams.

“I mean, being private schools, the values are built in with that, and I think to be good you’re always trying to pick up different things,” Browner said. “They’ve won a lot of games, so you take a look at what they’re doing right and hopefully you can adjust it to what you like to do.”

Playing as one

The incentives are plentiful, national rankings on the line and bragging rights and, as Hughes said, playing for those who came before.

Bishop Gorman has been so good for so long, it’s not often those standing across from the Gaels are up to their standard.

Not often at all.

“The motivation is playing one of the best teams in the country and the national champions of last year,” Browner said. “That’s all that matters. Things like the streak being broken or any (previous game against Mater Dei) wasn’t something any of these kids were involved with. That’s not what this is about.”

Not an ounce of revenge.

It’s about playing as one.

Playing with pride.

Playing for the G.

“That,” said Faoa, a linebacker headed to Boston College, “means everything.”

Ed Graney is a Sigma Delta Chi Award winner for sports column writing and can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com. He can be heard on “The Press Box,” ESPN Radio 100.9 FM and 1100 AM, from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. Monday through Friday. Follow @edgraney on Twitter.