No. 8: Gardena Serra vs. Corona Centennial
Rivals.com is counting down 10 can't-miss matchups this fall in high school football -- games so loaded with future Division I talent that it's basically a preview of a future college football Saturday.
Checking in at No. 8 today: Gardena (Calif.) Serra vs. Corona (Calif.)
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Centennial at the Honor Bowl on Sept. 5.
Serra Key Prospects
Brandon Burton
ATH Brandon Burton -- Alabama, Arizona, Florida State, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma and UCLA round out Burton's top seven.
DE Wole Betiku -- Florida, Florida State, Notre Dame, Penn State, Texas A&M and UCLA is Betiku's top six but USC is quickly emerging as a top team.
DB CJ Pollard -- Pollard is committed to USC.
ATH Khalil Tate -- Tate is committed to Arizona.
LB Blake Walls -- Walls is committed to San Jose State.
WR Isaiah Diego-Williams -- The transfer from San Juan Capistrano (Calif.) JSerra Catholic is waiting for his first offer.
LB Tysyn Parker (2017) -- Numerous Pac-12 schools are interested but Parker has no offers yet.
WR Kobe Smith (2018) -- Illinois is Smith's first offer.
DB David Eure (2018) -- Eure is waiting for his first offer.
Centennial Key Prospects
Javon McKinley
WR Javon McKinley -- McKinley has scheduled official visits to Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oregon and Tennessee so far.
OL Daniel Juarez -- Juarez is committed to California.
RB J.J. Taylor -- Taylor is committed to Arizona.
DB Camryn Bynum -- Bynum is committed to Cal.
DB Kentrell Love -- Love is committed to Washington.
DB Desmond Williams -- Williams is committed to Boise State.
Looking Ahead
Khalil Tate
There will be a ton of Pac-12 crossover in this early-season matchup, a revenge
game for Serra which lost to Centennial in a 68-64 playoff shootout last season.
Tate and Taylor could be teammates at Arizona down the road but they'll be in
heavy competition that night. Juarez should be matched up against Betiku all
night. With Betiku, UCLA looks like the leader but USC is coming on strong so
those two could be matched up in the coming years. There could also be some
post-game chatter with Burton, McKinley and Ulloa all uncommitted and looking at
some similar schools.
Quotables
CJ Pollard
Serra assistant coach Marvin Pollard:
"We're very excited to get this challenging game. That 68-64 shootout had
both coaching staffs on the edge. It was like playing chess and whoever had the
ball last was going to win. We had our opportunities but they came out with the
victory.
"Our kids, especially the guys returning from last year's team, are very up for
this challenge. Even though we're missing some key pieces in Rasheem (Green) and
John Houston we think we'll be ready for the challenge. This is definitely the
game on the schedule that we circled, not overlooking any of the other
opponents. This is definitely the game we circled."
