SAN DIEGO – The University of Southern California football team, which won the DIRECTV Holiday Bowl at Petco Park in San Diego Friday, Dec. 29, included Chaparral High School graduate Justin Dedich and Murrieta Mesa High School graduate Kyon Barrs. Dedich and Barrs are both seniors. Dedich was the Trojans’ starting center during the 2023 season and Barrs was a nose tackle. The Trojans concluded their year by defeating Louisville in a 42-28 game.
“Just excited our team came together and got the ‘w’ today,” Dedich said.
“We came out here, we did what we had to do,” Barrs said. “I’m proud of my guys.”
Dedich and Barrs both played in all of USC’s 13 games during the season, which resulted in an 8-5 record including a 5-4 performance in PAC-12 play. As an offensive lineman, Dedich has no individual statistics, but the Trojans gained 4,329 passing yards and 1,741 rushing yards during the season for a total offense of 6,070 yards, or 466.9 per game. Barrs, who was the Trojans’ nose tackle when Bear Alexander was being rested, had seven solo tackles and 11 assisted tackles for a total of 18.
During his Chaparral High School days, Dedich was a goalkeeper on the Pumas’ soccer team as well as an offensive lineman and defensive lineman on the football team. In 2016, Cal-Hi Sports named him to the all-state junior first team for football. As a senior in 2017, he was on the all-CIF first team, the USA Today all-California first team and the maxpreps.com all-American second team.
Dedich graduated from Chaparral High School a semester early and enrolled at USC for the spring 2018 semester. The Trojans opened their 2018 season at home against the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Dedich had some plays as a blocking back in that 43-21 Trojans victory but saw no other game action that year and was able to obtain redshirt status for that season to preserve four years of eligibility. In 2019, he was a center in seven USC games, including as a starter in two of those.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association decided that the 2020 season, which was affected by the coronavirus outbreak, would not count against any player’s maximum seasons of eligibility, and Dedich played two games at center that year including one as a starter. USC was 4-8 in 2021 and the Trojans were not invited to a bowl game, but Dedich appeared in all 12 games as a center or guard and started four games as the Trojans’ left guard.
USC had 14 games for the 2022 season including the PAC-12 championship game and the Cotton Bowl, and Dedich played in all of those games except the home game against Arizona State. In 2022, Dedich started 11 games at right guard, one at left guard and one at center. He was chosen as an all-conference player at the honorable mention level.
During his high school career, Barrs had 180 tackles including 12 1/2 sacks, and he made 90 tackles as a senior. In 2018, the Rams were third in the Southwestern League standings and the league’s coaches gave Barrs all-league recognition.
Barrs began his college career at the University of Arizona and played in 11 games as a true freshman in 2019, five games in 2020, and 10 games including seven starts in 2021. He had 33 tackles including five sacks in 2021 and was on the all-conference second team. In 2022, Barrs had 12 starts with Arizona and made 39 tackles. He transferred to USC for his senior year.
Other than in 2020 and 2021, the Holiday Bowl has been played in San Diego since 1978. The games were initially played at what was originally San Diego Stadium, and the Bowl was first played at Petco Park in 2022.
“Just a huge honor to play,” Dedich said.
“God is good. I’m just happy to be out here in San Diego,” Barrs said.
The team offensive statistics for USC included 443 yards of total offense with some lost yardage on kneel downs to run out the game clock. Quarterback Miller Moss threw for 372 yards, including six touchdowns, which set a Holiday Bowl record and a USC bowl game record, and the Trojans added 71 rushing yards on 19 carries. Barrs had three solo tackles and two assisted tackles. Article contributions made by Valley News Sports Editor, JP Raineri.
Joe Naiman can be reached by email at jnaiman@reedermedia.com.
