Mater Dei High (Calif.) coach Bruce Rollinson says he's tired of the hype. He's ready to play football.

When his No. 10 Monarchs host No. 1 De La Salle High this Saturday (Sept. 23, 7 p.m.) at Edison Field, he'll get his wish. Mater Dei (2-0) enters the contest as the best football team Southern California has to offer, while the visiting Spartans (2-0) drive into Anaheim with a winning streak that predates the Gulf War.

It's NorCal vs. SoCal. No. 1 in the Bay Area vs. No. 1 in Orange County. No. 1 in the nation vs. No. 10 in the nation. All of this isn't lost on Rollinson.

"That's everybody's hype on the outside," says Rollinson. "We try to consider ourselves one of the top programs, and hopefully we will represent the Southern California faction of football to the best of our ability."

For Mater Dei to pull off a win, though, it will take no less than a Herculean effort. The Monarchs are 0-2 against De La Salle, including last year's brutal 42-0 drubbing at University-Pacific in Northern California. De La Salle won two years ago in front of 20,000 fans, 28-21.

But the Spartans (2-0) already have proven to be semi-human this year. It took three big defensive stops inside the five-minute mark for De La Salle to hold off Buchanan High (Clovis, Calif.), 30-24, in the Spartans' first game of the season. Last week, they bounced back to their old ways, pounding Marian Catholic, 49-7, for their 102nd straight win.

De La Salle brings to the table offensive threats in efficient quarterback Matt Gutierrez and reliable wide receiver Demetrius Williams, a tandem that burned Mater Dei last year for three passing touchdowns. Williams caught six of the seven passes Gutierrez completed last week against Marian Catholic for 99 yards.

On defense, the Spartans feature linebacker Kevin Simon, who like his predecessor, D.J. Williams (now at the University of Miami), is garnering

	Simon will lead No. 1 De La Salle's defense this weekend against No. 10 Mater Dei HS.

national attention. Throw in 6-foot-5, 295-pound Robin Meadow in the mix and Mater Dei finds itself lining up against a team that held Marian Catholic to 21 yards of total offense last week. Can these two Division I prospects rally the defense against the best team in Southern California?

"We look at it as a challenge for our season," says Terry Eidson, De La Salle's defensive coordinator. "It gives the kids a reason in their offseason program to work as hard as they do. It gives us a chance to play a great football team in a pro venue in front of 20,000 fans. That's what makes it work, and that's what makes it fun."

That's not to say preparing for a team that shared the California Interscholastic Federation Division I Southern Section title last year with Long Beach Poly High is fun.

De La Salle head football coach Bob Ladouceur has intentionally kept a low profile in the days preceding NorCal-SoCal Bowl III by avoiding the national media. Both teams have been looking ahead to this weekend's game since last spring, and Eidson has made his VCR and clipboard his best friends in preparing for an offense that runs a smorgasbord of formations and loves to spread out the field.

"I told my wife the other day, 'Now you know what it'd be like if I was coaching college,'" says Eidson. "She told me, 'Yes, and that's why I'm glad you're not.'"

Eidson and the Spartans will have to contend with Mater Dei's Matt Leinart, who was described by coach Randy Blankenship of Fallbrook High (Fallbrook, Calif.) as the "best high school quarterback I've ever seen" and someone who "will be playing on Sundays."

Leinart and the Monarchs beat Fallbrook, the No. 1 team in San Diego, 28-21, in Week 1. They took out Loara High, 31-6, last week.

"Basically, I'm trying to present it this way," says Rollinson. "We got a free shot at these guys. I don't feel any pressure. They have to travel. We have to travel to a stadium that's 15 minutes away and a place where we've played numerous times.

"We spent some time in the offseason preparing for this game, so now it's time to pin our ears back and see what happens."