BELLFLOWER — The St. John Bosco football team is striving to do something it has never done before. The Braves, who are the defending CIF Southern Section Division 1 and CIF State Open Division champions, are trying to win back-to-back titles for the first time in program history.
“We’re not afraid to talk about our accomplishments or what we want to try to accomplish during the season,” St. John Bosco coach Jason Negro said when asked about his Trinity League championship team’s prospects in the playoffs. “I think that’s a theme that we have had within this program, we set a pretty high standard and a commitment to being excellent.
“I told them at the beginning of this run, look we have an opportunity to do what no other Bosco team has ever done and that’s going back-to-back championships at the Division 1 level and we have three games to get there. However, you have to understand it’s a one-game approach.”
The first step of that journey begins when No.1 seed St. John Bosco (9-1) hosts No. 8 San Clemente (9-1) in the quarterfinals of the CIF-SS D1 playoffs on Friday.
Two of the team’s standout players on defense have been junior Max Amasio and sophomore Dutch Horisk, who have combined for 20 sacks this season in 10 games.
“This team is going to run with our D-line, especially me and him,” Amasio said. “I feel like I have to be that leader that everybody is going to want on this team, and I have to be able to hold our D-line accountable for our mistakes and the things that we do good and the things that we continue to do bad.
“I feel like me as a leader, I have to be able to step up more, especially because it’s playoff mode. Every game is not guaranteed. We have one guaranteed game, which is this week, Friday.”
Amasio, a 5-foot-8, 255-pound defensive lineman, had 41 tackles, eight tackles for loss and a team-high 10 sacks during the regular season.
“I feel like I’m ready,” Amasio continued. “Both of us, we’re ready, mentally, physically. I feel like we’re ready. We prepared for 10 weeks straight just to be in this position and to be where we’re at and to go claim what’s ours, defend what’s ours.”
Horisk, a 6-foot-3, 235-pound defensive lineman, is second on his team with 64 tackles, six tackles for loss and a team-high 10 sacks during the regular season.
“Both of us come physically attributed but definitely playing with a dude like (Amasio) is trust on the field,” Horisk said. “That’s the biggest thing for us. When I know the dude next to me is going to do his job, I can play free and loose, so definitely playing with Max has taught me how to play free and loose and definitely elevated our game to make use feed off of each other.”
St. John Bosco 2025 DL Max Amasio and 2026 DL Dutch Horisk each had 10 sacks in the regular season and 100+ combined tackles. @MaxAmasio & @dutch_eat believe their Trinity League championship defense can play even better in the CIF-SS Division 1 playoffs. #LongBeachVarsityReport pic.twitter.com/HyRGJnzj2P
— John W. Davis (@johnwdavis) November 9, 2023
Negro said Amasio and Horisk deserve credit for leading the Braves defensive line as underclassmen.
“You have to give credit to those young guys, Max and Dutch, most namely as you said, for getting into position to come out here and have a chip on their shoulder and try to prove a lot of people wrong,” Negro said. “I think up to this point, that’s what they’ve been able to do.
“When you look at us statistically through 10 games this year over 10 games last year, I think we’re 12 sacks more in 2023 than we were in 2022, so even though we lost a lot of really talented guys, we’re still in a position to play good (with the) defensive line up front.”
Horisk, who started on last year’s CIF-SS championship team as a freshman, knows just like Amasio that the next game is not promised, so he’s focused on playing up to his potential against San Clemente.
“It’s win or go home,” Horisk said. “So taking that experience to come on this field and leave it all out here because the next game is not promised is definitely the biggest thing I’m going to take this year.”
Jason Negro previews St. John Bosco’s CIF Southern Section Division 1 quarterfinal game against San Clemente and highlights the play of his team’s defensive line, in particular 2025 DL Max Amasio and 2026 DL Dutch Horisk. #LongBeachVarsityReport pic.twitter.com/RuLCnerJOK
— John W. Davis (@johnwdavis) November 9, 2023
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