Top 25 most dominant Florida high school football programs of last 20 years

Powered by 12 state championships, St. Thomas Aquinas (Fort Lauderdale) is the most dominant high school football team from Florida over the last 20 years.

Based on our methodology, the Raiders amassed 1,127 points from 2004 to 2023 to edge Central (Miami), which finished second with 818 points.

Central won nine state championships since 2004 and finished in the national top 25 on nine occasions.

The methodology includes:



• Top 25 finishes in the MaxPreps state computer rankings (25 points awarded to the No. 1 team, 24 for No. 2 and so on).

• Top 25 finishes in the MaxPreps national computer rankings (50 points for No. 1, 49 for No. 2 and so on).

• State championships (20 points).

• State championship game appearances (10 points). 1. St. Thomas Aquinas (Fort Lauderdale), 1,127
State championships: 2008 (5A), 2010 (5A), 2012 (7A), 2013 (7A), 2014 (7A), 2015 (7A), 2016 (7A), 2019 (7A), 2020 (7A), 2021 (7A), 2022 (3M), 2023 (3M)
State runner-up: 2004 (5A), 2005 (5A), 2006 (5A), 2018 (7A)
State top 25: 2004 (12), 2005 (8), 2006 (8), 2007 (6), 2008 (1), 2009 (5), 2010 (1), 2011 (12), 2012 (4), 2013 (17), 2014 (1), 2015 (3), 2016 (2), 2017 (15), 2018 (3), 2019 (1), 2020 (2), 2021 (4), 2022 (3), 2023 (3)
Nationally ranked: 2008 (1), 2010 (4), 2014 (8), 2015 (21), 2016 (7), 2019 (5), 2020 (14), 2021 (9), 2022 (6), 2023 (9)

2. Central (Miami), 818
State championships: 2010 (6A), 2012 (6A), 2013 (6A), 2014 (6A), 2015 (6A), 2019 (6A), 2020 (6A), 2021 (5A), 2022 (2M)
State runner-up: 2011 (6A)
State top 25: 2004 (25), 2009 (7), 2010 (3), 2011 (7), 2012 (1), 2013 (2), 2014 (3), 2015 (2), 2016 (13), 2017 (6), 2018 (5), 2019 (3), 2020 (4), 2021 (6), 2022 (1), 2023 (13)
Nationally ranked: 2010 (15), 2012 (14), 2013 (8), 2014 (14), 2015 (14), 2019 (21), 2020 (18), 2021 (20), 2022 (2)

3. Booker T. Washington (Miami), 467
State championships: 2007 (4A), 2012 (4A), 2013 (4A), 2014 (4A), 2015 (4A), 2019 (4A)
State runner-up: 2011 (4A)
State top 25: 2004 (11), 2005 (10), 2006 (13), 2007 (1), 2011 (14), 2012 (2), 2013 (1), 2014 (2), 2015 (19), 2016 (17), 2019 (6)
Nationally ranked: 2007 (25), 2012 (15), 2013 (4), 2014 (13)



4. Chaminade-Madonna (Hollywood), 435
State championships: 2005 (2A), 2017 (3A), 2018 (3A), 2019 (3A), 2021 (3A), 2022 (1M), 2023 (1M)
State runner-up: 2016 (3A), 2020 (3A)
State top 25: 2004 (7), 2005 (7), 2017 (7), 2018 (13), 2019 (13), 2020 (8), 2021 (5), 2022 (4), 2023 (2)
Nationally ranked: 2021 (24), 2022 (10), 2023 (2)

5. Lakeland, 432
State championships: 2004 (5A), 2005 (5A), 2006 (5A), 2018 (7A), 2022 (4S), 2023 (4S)
State runner-up: 2008 (5A)
State top 25: 2004 (1), 2005 (1), 2006 (1), 2007 (15), 2008 (5), 2009 (11), 2010 (10), 2018 (2), 2019 (9), 2022 (5), 2023 (7)
Nationally ranked: 2004 (22), 2005 (21), 2006 (21), 2018 (19), 2022 (14)

6. Armwood (Seffner), 410
State championships: 2004 (4A), 2011 (6A), 2013 (6A), 2014 (6A), 2015 (6A), 2017 (6A), 2018 (6A)
State runner-up: 2005 (4A), 2010 (4A), 2013 (6A), 2014 (6A), 2015 (6A), 2017 (6A), 2018 (6A)
State top 25: 2004 (3), 2005 (4), 2006 (9), 2007 (4), 2008 (9), 2009 (15), 2010 (5), 2011 (2), 2013 (12), 2014 (9), 2015 (10), 2016 (24), 2017 (5), 2018 (16), 2019 (7)
Nationally ranked: 2009 (9)

7. American Heritage (Plantation), 406
State championships: 2013 (5A), 2014 (5A), 2016 (5A), 2017 (5A), 2020 (5A)
State runner-up: 2015 (3A), 2022 (2M)
State top 25: 2004 (24), 2013 (4), 2014 (5), 2015 (9), 2016 (4), 2017 (2), 2018 (17), 2019 (12), 2020 (5), 2021 (18), 2022 (7), 2023 (12)
Nationally ranked: 2017 (6), 2020 (21), 2022 (12)

8. Cocoa, 389
State championships: 2009 (2A), 2010 (2A), 2016 (4A), 2022 (2S), 2023 (2S)
State runner-up: 2017 (4A), 2018 (4A), 2021 (4A)
State top 25: 2007 (20), 2008 (4), 2009 (2), 2010 (4), 2012 (16), 2016 (5), 2017 (12), 2020 (17), 2021 (9), 2022 (17), 2023 (4)
Nationally ranked: 2009 (22), 2023 (17)

9. Northwestern (Miami), 341
State championships: 2006 (6A), 2007 (2), 2017 (6A), 2018 (6A), 2019 (5A)
State runner-up: 2008 (6A)
State top 25: 2006 (2), 2007 (2), 2008 (7), 2009 (17), 2010 (19), 2011 (19), 2012 (24), 2016 (6), 2017 (4), 2018 (9), 2019 (4), 2020 (12), 2021 (22), 2022 (13)
Nationally ranked: 2019 (24)



10. Plant (Tampa), 331
State championships: 2006 (4A), 2008 (4A), 2009 (5A), 2011 (8A)
State runner-up: 2010 (5A), 2016 (7A)
State top 25: 2006 (3),2007 (14), 2008 (2), 2009 (3), 2010 (8), 2011 (3), 2012 (21), 2013 (14), 2016 (7), 2017 (20)
Nationally ranked: 2009 (23), 2011 (13)

11. Trinity Christian Academy (Jacksonville), 253
State championships: 2010 (1A), 2013 (3A), 2014 (3A), 2015 (3A), 2016 (3A), 2020 (3A), 2021 (2A)
State runner-up: 2009 (1A)
State top 25: 2009 (25), 2010 (25), 2013 (10), 2014 (7), 2015 (5), 2016 (12), 2018 (14), 2020 (7)
Nationally ranked: N/A

12. Columbus (Miami), 236
State championships: 2019 (8A), 2022 (4M), 2023 (4M)
State runner-up: 2018 (8A)
State top 25: 2007 (22), 2008 (23), 2010 (23), 2011 (24), 2014 (13), 2015 (6), 2018 (8), 2019 (10), 2020 (11), 2021 (20), 2022 (6), 2023 (8)
Nationally ranked: 2022 (23)

13. Bolles (Jacksonville), 234
State championships: 2004 (3A), 2006 (2A), 2008 (2A), 2011 (4A)
State runner-up: 2013 (4A), 2016 (4A), 2019 (4A), 2020 (4A)
State top 25: 2004 (2), 2006 (6), 2008 (8), 2009 (12), 2011 (8), 2012 (22), 2014 (18), 2016 (19), 2020 (25)
Nationally ranked: N/A

14. Madison County (Madison), 223
State championships: 2007 (2A), 2017 (1A), 2018 (1A), 2019 (1A), 2021 (1A)
State runner-up: 2004 (2A), 2011 (3A), 2012 (3A), 2023 (1R)
State top 25: 2004 (13), 2007 (8), 2010 (11), 2011 (16), 2012 (12), 2017 (19), 2018 (20)
Nationally ranked: N/A

15. Apopka, 217
State championships: 2012 (8A), 2013 (8A), 2014 (8A)
State runner-up: 2019 (8A), 2021 (8A), 2022 (4M)
State top 25: 2007 (18), 2009 (13), 2012 (7), 2013 (6), 2014 (6), 2015 (25), 2019 (8), 2021 (8), 2022 (16)
Nationally ranked: N/A



16. Cardinal Gibbons (Fort Lauderdale), 187
State championships: 2018 (5A), 2020 (4A), 2021 (4A)
State runner-up: N/A
State top 25: 2016 (14), 2017 (10), 2018 (7), 2019 (18), 2020 (3), 2021 (7), 2022 (25)
Nationally ranked: 2020 (22)

17. Venice, 183
State championships: 2017 (7A), 2021 (8A)
State runner-up: 2022 (4S), 2023 (4S)
State top 25: 2011 (20), 2016 (11), 2017 (3), 2018 (10), 2019 (23), 2020 (20), 2021 (1), 2022 (12), 2023 (11)
Nationally ranked: N/A

18. Mainland (Daytona Beach), 176
State championships: 2023 (3S)
State runner-up: 2022 (3S)
State top 25: 2004 (5), 2006 (10), 2008 (15), 2011 (18), 2013 (8), 2014 (8), 2015 (11), 2016 (9), 2023 (6)
Nationally ranked: N/A

19. Dwyer (Palm Beach Gardens), 169
State championships: 2009 (4A)
State runner-up: 2013 (7A)
State top 25: 2008 (13), 2009 (1), 2010 (20), 2011 (9), 2013 (3), 2016 (18)
Nationally ranked: 2009 (4)

20. Manatee (Bradenton), 165
State championships: 2011 (7A)
State runner-up: 2009 (5A)
State top 25: 2009 (14), 2010 (9), 2011 (1), 2012 (5), 2013 (11), 2014 (24)
Nationally ranked: 2011 (8)

T-21. Carol City (Miami), 136
State championships: 2016 (6A)
State runner-up: N/A
State top 25: 2015 (17), 2016 (3), 2017 (16), 2018 (4)
Nationally ranked: 2016 (10)



T-21. Norland (Miami), 136
State championships: 2011 (5A)
State runner-up: 2023 (2M)
State top 25: 2010 (12), 2011 (4), 2022 (19), 2023 (5)
Nationally ranked: 2011 (19)

23. Jefferson (Tampa), 129
State championships: 2010 (3A)
State runner-up: 2004 (3A)
State top 25: 2004 (10), 2005 (24), 2006 (19), 2009 (19), 2010 (2)
Nationally ranked: 2010 (8)

24. St. Augustine, 128
State championships: 2005 (3A)
State runner-up: 2007 (3A), 2023 (3S)
State top 25: 2005 (2), 2006 (18), 2007 (9), 2008 (24), 2010 (13), 2017 (9), 2023 (19)
Nationally ranked: N/A

25. American Heritage (Delray Beach), 126
State championships: 2007 (1A), 2009 (1A), 2011 (3A)
State runner-up: 2010 (1A)
State top 25: 2009 (21), 2011 (6), 2012 (10), 2014 (11)
Nationally ranked: N/A