All-County football: Mater Dei’s Elijah Brown is the offensive player of the year
Brown had a 42-2 record as Mater Dei's quarterback and led the team to CIF Southern Section and CIF State championships this season
Mater Dei’s Elijah Brown was named the offensive player of the year by the Orange County Register. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Mater Dei’s Elijah Brown was named the offensive player of the year by the Orange County Register. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)
If quarterbacks are judged on how much they win, Mater Dei’s Elijah Brown was a pretty good quarterback.
Brown was the Monarchs’ starting quarterback for all four of his high school years. The Monarchs were 42-2 with him running the offense.
This season he led Mater Dei to the CIF Southern Section Division 1 championship and the CIF State Open Division championship. Mater Dei was named national champions by a few media outlets.
For his skill and leadership, Brown is the Orange County offensive player of the year.
Brown (6-2, 200) completed 204 of his 290 passes (70 percent) for 2,950 yards and 39 touchdowns with only five interceptions.
He delivered one of his better outings in Mater Dei’s final game, a 35-0 win over San Mateo Serra in the CIF State Open Division championship game. Brown was 18 of 23 for 310 yards passing and four touchdowns.
He threw two touchdown passes when the Monarchs defeated St. John Bosco 35-7 in the CIF-SS Division 1 final, a win that avenged a Trinity League loss to the Braves. It wasn’t his most statistically impressive performance — 10 of 20 passes for 109 yards — but for him, in many ways it will be his most memorable.
“That will probably go down as one of my best games here,” Brown said of the win over St. John Bosco. “As a team, after losing to them 28-0 (in league) and then coming back and beating them like we did, that will be one of my most cherished times at Mater Dei.”
Monarchs coach Frank McManus said Brown’s poise was an asset.
Mater Dei’s Nasir Wyatt, left, and Elijah Brown were named the defensive and offensive players of the year by the Orange County Register. They are holding the CIF State Open Division football championship trophy that their team won the previous week. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Mater Dei quarterback Elijah Brown (12) looks to pass the ball against Serra in the second quarter of their CIF state football championship open division game at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo, Calif., on Saturday, Dec. 9, 2023. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
Mater Dei quarterback Elijah Brown, left, gets the ball down to inside the 1-yard line on a keeper to set up a touchdown against Sierra Canyon in the CIF-SS Division 1 semifinal football playoff in Santa Ana on Friday, November 17, 2023. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)
Mater Dei head coach Frank McManus, left, reacts while preparing to present the trophy to quarterback Elijah Brown, center, after the 2023 CIF Open Division high school football state championship game against Serra Saturday, Dec. 9, 2023, in Mission Viejo, Calif. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
Mater Dei quarterback Elijah Brown throws the Sierra Canyon defense off to rush the ball on a keeper in the CIF-SS Division 1 semifinal football playoff in Santa Ana on Friday, November 17, 2023. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)
Mater Dei’s Elijah Brown was named the offensive player of the year by the Orange County Register. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Mater Dei quarterback Elijah Brown leads the team onto the field before the start of the CIF State Open Division football championship game against Serra in Mission Viejo on Saturday, December 9, 2023. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)
Mater Dei quarterback Elijah Brown, left, keeps the ball for a gain as he tries to get around St. John Bosco free safety Tay Lockett in the CIF-SS Division 1 championship football game the Coliseum in Los Angeles on Friday, November 24, 2023. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)
Mater Dei quarterback Elijah Brown, spots Ajon Bryant in the open and connects with a pass against Servite in a Trinity League football game in Santa Ana on Friday, September 29, 2023. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)
Mater Dei quarterback Elijah Brown, right, runs for big yardage on a keeper as he is chased by Servite defensive lineman James Campbell, left, in a Trinity League football game in Santa Ana on Friday, September 29, 2023. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)
Mater Dei quarterback Elijah Brown is having another tremendous season for the Monarchs who play JSerra this week in a Trinity League game. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer)
Mater Dei football player, quarterback Elijah Brown (12), at Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana on Thursday, July 6, 2023. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Mater Dei quarterback Elijah Brown threw for 298 yards and four touchdowns in the CIF State Open Division championship game. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Mater Dei football players, from left, offensive lineman DeAndre Carter (72), outside linebacker/defensive end Nasir Wyatt (31), quarterback Elijah Brown (12), cornerback Zabien Brown (4), defensive linemen Aydin Breland (42) and offensive tackle Brandon Baker (73) lead the top-ranked Monarchs. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
“His coolness overall,” McManus said. “That’s what separates him from everyone else. He doesn’t get rattled. … The mental piece is the biggest piece with Elijah.
“He’s got a great arm, too. He can throw that deep ball, he can hit the intermediate stuff and he can put zip on the ball when he needs to.”
Brown signed with Stanford on Wednesday. He said he plans to major in business with an emphasis on finance.
Brown, who has a 4.0 grade-point average, is graduating early from Mater Dei and leaves for Stanford on Jan. 5.
“If something happens in football,” he said, “I can always fall back on that Stanford degree and have a life after football.”
Brown’s life during football at Mater Dei certainly was a winning life.
