Cathedral Catholic has become a fixture in California's state football finals
The Carmel Valley school has played for a CIF state title five times since 2008 — and keeps a decades-old rivalry with St. Augustine alive along the way.
Cathedral Catholic High School didn't exist at its current Carmel Valley campus until 2005 — the school's lineage actually traces back to Cathedral Girls High (founded 1943) and University High School (founded 1957), which merged in 1970 and eventually moved to Del Mar Heights Road. In the two decades since, the football program has turned into one of the most consistent in California.
The Dons reached the CIF Division 1-AA state championship game again in December 2025, falling 42–28 to a Folsom team that jumped out to a 21–0 first-quarter lead. It was Cathedral Catholic's third loss in a state final to Folsom specifically, against one win — a 33–21 Dons victory in 2021 — in a rivalry that has repeatedly decided the state's top Division 1 program.
Closer to home, Cathedral Catholic's longest-running rivalry is with St. Augustine High, a series the San Diego Union-Tribune has covered as one of the city's most storied for decades. The Dons' mascot and program identity have carried over from University High School, whose alumni and traditions still show up in how the current school frames itself.
For San Diego prep football, the annual question isn't really whether Cathedral Catholic makes a deep playoff run — it's who finally stops them before the state final.