High school junior Chris Green Jr. plays nose guard for one of the top high schools in the state of California. The Mater Dei Monarchs (10-3 overall) is in the Trinity League and in the Pac-5 division. Schools like St. John Bosco (13-1 overall) and J. Serra Catholic school (7-3 overall) are in both leagues. All three schools are in the top 25 of state rankings, according to Max Preps.
“You play against the best talent in–what I would say–in California,” said Green. “In the Pac-5, you constantly every week want to play someone good.”
Along with athletic skills, Green is academically inclined. In the eighth grade, Green had a 4.3 GPA. His middle school, Gardena Valley Christian School, awarded Green a scholarship. This helped Green attend Mater Dei. Green also earned much recognition for his academic efforts, receiving an award from President Barack Obama for his standardized test scores, according to his father, Chris Green Sr.
“When he was in Gardena Valley, he received the Presidential award for being in the top percentile of all kids testing for math,” said Green Sr. “I think he was in the 99 percentile in mathematics for his age.”
Green aspires to become an engineer. Both of Green’s parents enforce that he prioritizes academics before football.
“We try to push him further than we went,” said Mary Ann Oliver, mother of Green. “We want him to go to a four-year college, graduate because he’s very smart.”
Green’s contributions not only helped the Monarchs to the playoffs, but got the attention of UCLA, Washington State, and Illinois Universities among other colleges. During this season, Green collected 10 solo tackles, according to Max Preps.
Mater Dei was ranked fifth in the state of California and 17th in the nation with only two loses during the season. The Monarchs started their season with a six game winning streak. Their first game was against Bishop Amat (10-3 overall), who is 29th in the nation and is ranked sixth in California, according to Max Preps.
“That basically just drove us and gave us a lot of energy after the Bishop Amat game,” Green said. “[We] stayed together and had fun because we knew we had to make sure we buckled it up for Trinity League.”
Their winning joyride ended during their homecoming game against St. John Bosco, the fourth ranked high school football team in the nation.
Mater Dei reached the playoffs, playing against Lakewood in the first round. Green admitted Lakewood was favored to win the match, although Mater Dei won 14-66, according to Max Preps.
“We knew that they were gonna come to fight, so we had to bring the fight to them,” said Green.
The Monarchs faced the Serra (9-3 overall) in the next round and beat them 28-27.
“We knew we’re playing against a great athlete in Khalil Tate,” said Green. “We had to push it there and come through to win a very special team.”
The Monarchs relied on a play that was ran only during practices to earn their final touchdown.
“Curtis Robinson, a good player on our team, he’s wide open. He catches it for the touchdown,” Green said. “It just shows why you play football and why you love the sport.”
In the Semi Finals, Mater Dei faced Centennial (14-1 overall) who is ranked second in the nation. Centennial defeated Mater Dei 42-36.
Green’s main source of inspiration is his father who played football for Crenshaw high school and at UNLV.
“He knows what it takes,” Green said. “I just want to do better than him.”
