MaxPreps Top 25 high school football rankings

By Zack Poff Dec 10, 2017, 8:30pm

Phil Jurkovec leads Pine-Richland to its first state title as Rams climb in this week's rankings.

Video: Xcellent 25 High School Football Rankings
Two new teams join this week's Top 25.

See the video above for a complete breakdown of this week's Xcellent 25 high school football rankings presented by the Army National Guard.

Here's a look at developments that shaped this week's Top 25:

Pine-Richland (Gibsonia, Pa.) won its first state championship in school history snapping the 27-game winning streak by St. Joseph's Prep (Philadelphia). Philip Jurkovec finished the game with five total touchdowns and led the Rams to a 41-21 win in the Pennsylvania Class 6A state title game. Pine-Richland was this week's biggest mover in the Top 25, watch the video above to see where they landed.



Northwestern (Miami) won its first state title since 2007 knocking off Armwood (Seffner, Fla.) in the Florida Class 6A state championship. When Northwestern needed a big play, Tutu Atwell stepped up, finishing the night with nearly 300 total yards and had one of the best runs of the weekend with an electrifying 53-yard touchdown run that changed momentum of the game.

• No. 3 American Heritage (Plantation, Fla.) won its second consecutive state championship cruising to a 44-15 win in the Florida Class 5A state championship game against Baker County (Glen St. Mary, Fla.). Patrick Surtain is a perfect 28-0 as head coach since taking over before the 2016 season.

• No. 6 Katy (Texas) faces the defending UIL Texas 6A-D1 state champs, No. 23 Lake Travis (Austin, Texas) this weekend with a spot in the state title game on the line and No. 4 Allen (Texas) plays a 13-1 Cedar Ridge (Round Rock, Texas) in the other semifinal matchup.
Philip Jurkovec led Pine-Richland to its first Pennsylvania state football title.
Philip Jurkovec led Pine-Richland to its first Pennsylvania state football title.
Photo by Paul Burdick