MaxPreps Top 25 high school football rankings

By Zack Poff Dec 9, 2018, 12:00am

Mater Dei stays at No. 1 after winning second consecutive CIF Open Division state championship.

Video: Xcellent 25 High School Football Rankings
Lakeland and Dutch Fork both join the Top 25 after winning state titles.

For the second consecutive year Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) beat De La Salle (Concord, Calif.) to win the CIF Open Division state championship. This year it was a little tougher.

The 35-21 victory gave Mater Dei its seventh win over a team that was ranked in the Top 25 at one point in the season. 2020 USC commit Bryce Young had over 300 yards of total offense and the No. 1 rated athlete from the Class of 2019, Bru McCoy, finished his high school career with over 100 yards receiving and a touchdown. The win was a historic one for head coach Bruce Rollinson as it gave him his 300th career victory.

See the video above for a complete look at this week's Xcellent 25 rankings presented by the Army National Guard.
Lakeland moves to No. 19 after winning the Florida 7A state title.
Lakeland moves to No. 19 after winning the Florida 7A state title.
Photo by Annette Wilkerson
A couple big movers this week included teams from the Lone Star State who clinched a spot in the UIL Texas 6A Division I semifinals.



Duncanville (Texas) was the biggest riser moving from 15 to nine after beating an undefeated Carroll (Southlake) team 51-7. The Panthers have now outscored the opposition 667-61 through their first 13 games. Up next for Duncanville is  Allen (Texas), the defending 6A-DI state champs. The Eagles have won 30 consecutive games and check in as the No. 2 team in the country. They cruised past Midway (Waco) 51-7 to advance to the semifinals for seventh straight year.

North Shore (Houston) moved up three spots to No. 7 after improving to 14-0 and advancing to the semifinals for the first time since 2015 when the Mustangs beat Sam Ehlinger and Westlake (Austin) in the 6A Division I state championship game. The top-rated running back from the Class of 2020 Zachary Evans continues to show why he's one of the best players in the country regardless of class. He accounted for five touchdowns in their 38-21 win over Cy-Fair (Cypress). Up next for the Mustangs is Garrett Wilson and a 13-1 Lake Travis team with a spot in the state championship on the line.

Two new teams joined the Top 25 this week.

Lakeland (Fla.) jumped all the way up to 19 after beating St. Thomas Aquinas (Fort Lauderdale) 33-20 in the 7A state championship game. It was the seventh state title for legendary head coach Bill Castle and his first since 2006. They finished the 2018 season 15-0 and won every game by double digits.

Dutch Fork (Irmo, S.C.) has been one of the first five teams out for the last few weeks and they get in after winning the 5A state championship thanks to a dominant second half to beat T.L. Hanna (Anderson) 59-20. This was the Silver Foxes third straight state title and you could make a strong case this team was the best of those three.

In total, six teams in the Top 25 won state titles this week. We already mentioned Mater Dei, Lakeland and Dutch Fork.



No. 15 St. Joseph's Prep (Philadelphia) won the 6A state title beating Harrisburg 40-20 to win its fourth state championship since 2013.

No. 21 University Lab (Baton Rouge, La.) ran the table for the second consecutive year and capped it off with a 55-46 win over St. Thomas More (Lafayette) to claim the Division II state championship. 2019 Pittsburgh commit Michael Hollins had a monster game accounting for nearly 300 scrimmage yards and five scores.

No. 22 Cardinal Gibbons (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) won its first state title in school history cruising past North Marion (Citra, Fla.) 48-10 to win the 5A championship and they end the 2018 season winners of 13 straight.