High school football junkies, Mission Viejo High School in Southern California is the place to be this Labor Day holiday weekend. The Honor Bowl 2016 will be played there Thursday through Saturday with six big games featuring four teams in the High School Football America National Top 50 and three teams in the High School Football America SoCal Top 25.
The event is more than just football, as The Honor Group, a 501c3 non-profit organization that produces the high school football showcases, raises money and awareness for our military veterans. In addition to three top-notch all-California games, featuring two 2015 CIF champs, this year’s schedule also includes three games pitting East coast high school football powers against Southern California powers.
Headlining the six games will be an all-Top 25 match-up in the Saturday night’s as #3 IMG Academy (Florida) will square-off with #24 Corona Centennial (California). IMG is fresh-off its nationally-televised win over nationally-ranked Grayson in Georgia last Saturday, while Corona Centennial won a 56-49 shootout with Arizona-power Chandler, also on Saturday.
The action gets started Thursday night with San Diego’s Cathedral Catholic taking-on four-time CIF champ Central Catholic from Modesto.
The Friday card features #33 St. Joseph’s Prep from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania taking-on Oaks Christian, ranked #6 in the latest High School Football America SoCal Top 25. SJP features all-purpose running back D’Andre Swift, who is ranked as the 37th top college football prospect, according to the 247Sports Composite Rankings.
The nightcap Friday features host Mission Viejo, the defending CIF Division I-AA state champs, takes on Oak Hills, which won the CIF Southern Section East Division championship last year.
In addition to the Corona Centennial/IMG Saturday finale, the schedule features #15 St. Joseph Regional (Montvale, New Jersey) squaring-off with Serra (Gardena), ranked #20 in the High School Football America SoCal Top 25, and 2015 Division I-A runner-up Clayton Valley facing CIF Southern Region finalist Helix (La Mesa, CA).
“With IMG, St. Joseph’s Prep and St. Joseph Regional traveling from the east coast, the event is well on its way achieving its next goal of becoming the country’s premier national high school football showcase that helps our nation’s military veterans while educating our outstanding student-athletes about the sacrifices made every day by those that serve America,” said Mark Soto, founder of The Honor Bowl.
You can listen to more about the event from Soto in the video below.
Thursday and Friday, High School Football America will have a preview of all of the six games.
You can purchase your tickets by clicking here.
