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Consistent greatness over the past decade has piloted Norfolk Catholic to the peak of MaxPreps' most dominant Nebraska football programs pyramid. After winning four state titles, and finishing as a runner-up two times, the Knights are the only Cornhusker State school to claim a spot in each of the state's MaxPreps final Top 25 rankings since 2008.
Norfolk Catholic finished atop MaxPreps' Nebraska rankings a year ago, and claimed Top 5 finishes in 2010, 2012 and 2015. Jeff Bellar's program claimed three straight Class C1 state football championships beginning in 2010, and took the top prize again last year.
David City Aquinas, winner of four Class C2 state championships during the same time span, comes in at No. 2 after winning its final two championships in 2014 and 2015. The Monarchs accumulated 240 points, 38 behind the Knights, after finding a spot in nine of MaxPreps' final Top 25 rankings over the past 10 seasons. The Monarchs finished in the Top 5 in 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2015.
Since Norfolk Catholic has dropped into the Class C2 ranks this year, the Knights and Monarchs could meet up at some point in the playoffs. Omaha Skutt Catholic, Omaha North and Millard North round out this week's Top 5 in the Nos. 3, 4 and 5 spots respectively. All four 11-Man classes are represented in this week's Top 10.
MaxPreps has developed its own system in determining which football programs compete at the highest level over an extended period of time. Here is how points are accumulated:
1. 20 points for a state title
2. 10 points for finishing as a state runner-up
3. Other points are based on a team's Top 25 standing in the final MaxPreps Nebraska Computer Rankings. For instance, if a school claimed the top spot, it received 25 points, while a No. 25 ranking was good for one point.
Nebraska's dominant 11-Man football programs of the past decade
1. Norfolk Catholic (Norfolk) – 278 points
State titles: 4
Runner-ups: 2
Top 25 state rankings: 2008 (9), 2009 (9), 2010 (3), 2011 (7), 2012 (2), 2013 (17), 2014 (9), 2015 (5), 2016 (20), 2017 (1).
2. Aquinas (David City) – 240 points
State titles: 4
Runner-ups: 1
Top 25 state rankings: 2009 (20), 2010 (14), 2011 (5), 2012 (4), 2013 (14), 2014 (4), 2015 (3), 2016 (10), 2017 (10).
3. Skutt Catholic (Omaha) – 217 points
State titles: 2
Runner-ups: 3
Top 25 state rankings: 2009 (6), 2012 (7), 2013 (1), 2014 (3), 2015 (7), 2016 (5), 2017 (6).
4. Omaha North – 215 points
State titles: 3
Runner-ups: 2
Top 25 state rankings: 2008 (4), 2009 (23), 2012 (5), 2013 (3), 2014 (1), 2016 (7), 2017 (4).
5. Millard North (Omaha) – 167 points
State titles: 3
Runner-ups: 0
Top 25 state rankings: 2010 (2), 2011 (12), 2012 (1), 2013 (19), 2014 (18), 2015 (4), 2016 (19).
6. Millard West (Omaha) – 155 points
State titles: 1
Runner-ups: 2
Top 25 state rankings: 2008 (1), 2009 (5), 2010 (15), 2012 (22), 2013 (9), 2014 (25), 2015 (8), 2016 (14), 2017 (20).
7. Aurora – 152 points
State titles: 2
Runner-ups: 1
Top 25 state rankings: 2008 (5), 2009 (2), 2010 (6), 2011 (25), 2012 (23), 2013 (15), 2015 (6), 2016 (24).
8. Elkhorn – 144 points
State titles: 1
Runner-ups: 2
Top 25 state rankings: 2008 (18), 2009 (4), 2010 (9), 2011 (3), 2012 (18), 2014 (7), 2016 (21), 2017 (24).
9. Millard South (Omaha) – 130 points
State titles: 1
Runner-ups: 2
Top 25 state rankings: 2008 (3), 2009 (1), 2010 (4), 2011 (22), 2012 (10).
10. Elkhorn South (Omaha) – 124 points
State titles: 2
Runner-ups: 0
Top 25 state rankings: 2013 (20), 2014 (21), 2015 (1), 2016 (1), 2017 (3).
