For the second straight year, a player with ties to the Palisades is in the Super Bowl. And for the second straight year, his first name is Matt. A year after offensive lineman Matt Willig played for the Carolina Panthers in Houston, Matt Ware will don a Philadelphia Eagles’ jersey for Sunday’s Super Bowl XXXIX in Jacksonville, Florida. But while Willig is an NFL veteran, Ware has reached the pinnacle in his rookie year. A 6-2, 210-pound cornerback, Ware played in 12 games this season, making 12 unassisted tackles and one assisted tackle and breaking up one pass for the NFC Champion Eagles, who will be decided underdogs by kick-off time against the defending Super Bowl champion New England Patriots. Ware is No. 21 on the Eagles’ roster. Ware, who lives on the Palisades-Malibu border in Sunset Mesa, played for the Westside Bruins and was later an All-CIF and All-American quarterback and safety at Loyola High, where he was named Division I player of the year as a senior. He was also on the Cubs’ baseball and track teams, leading Loyola’s CIF champion 4 x 100 relay team. Ware started at cornerback and free safety at UCLA in 2001’becoming the first freshman in school history to start every game. He started all but one of his 35 games as a Bruin, making 117 tackles and intercepting eight passes.
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