National high school football rankings began in 1959 when Art Johlfs of Minnesota produced his first list with
Washington (Massillon, Ohio) as the No. 1 team.
The total number of teams contained on that first list likely numbered over 100 teams but only the top 10 can be located in newspaper archives. In the coming years, newspapers would publish
Johlf's lists under the name of his company, National Sports News Service. He continued to put out rankings until the late 1970s and essentially ever since his first list in 1959, at least one media outlet has produced national high school football rankings.
Pulling from those rankings, MaxPreps has compiled a list of the teams which appeared the most times in the top 10 since 1959. Not surprisingly,
De La Salle (Concord, Calif.) has 21 top 10 finishes since its first top 10 finish in 1988. The Spartans have finished No. 1 five times.
Valdosta (Ga.), the school with the most all-time wins, comes in at No. 2 with 13 while
Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.), which has finished in the top 10 five times over the past six seasons, is No. 3 with 11.
While there are a number of media outlets that have produced national high school football rankings over the past 40 years, we have limited our sources to just a few. Johlfs and the National Sports News Service is the source from 1959 to 1981. USA Today, which began doing weekly rankings in 1981, is the source from that year to 2007 while MaxPreps is the source from 2008 to the present.
California also comes in as the top overall state with 89 teams (including duplicates) finishing in the top 10. The Golden State is 18 ahead of Texas (71) and 24 ahead of Florida (65). Schools with the most top 10 finishes by decade were also recognized.
In cases where there is a tie in the top 25, the team's total placement points are added up with the low total being the best. In cases where teams had the same total of placement points, the teams with the best finishes broke the tie.
Massillon Washington, taking the field here for its 2022 opener last week against Archbishop Moeller, topped the first set of national rankings in 1959.
Photo: Jeff Harwell
Years (Placement): 1988 (10), 1992 (3), 1993 (7), 1994 (2), 1995 (3), 1996 (3), 1997 (6), 1998 (1), 1999 (3), 2000 (1), 2001 (1), 2002 (1), 2003 (1), 2007 (3), 2010 (3), 2011 (10), 2012 (4), 2013 (8), 2014 (3), 2015 (3), 2018 (9).
2. Valdosta (Ga.) — 13
Years (Placement): 1960 (8), 1961 (2), 1962 (1), 1965 (6), 1966 (2), 1969 (1), 1971 (1), 1980 (7), 1982 (2), 1984 (1), 1986 (1), 1990 (8), 1992 (2).
3. Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) — 11
Years (Placement): 1965 (3), 1991 (10), 1994 (1), 1996 (1), 1997 (8), 1998 (2), 2016 (9), 2017 (1), 2018 (2), 2019 (2), 2021 (1).
4. Archbishop Moeller (Cincinnati) — 10
Years (Placement): 1975 (4), 1976 (1), 1977 (1), 1979 (1), 1980 (1), 1981 (5), 1982 (1), 1983 (7), 1985 (8), 2013 (10).
5. South Panola (Batesville, Miss.) — 8
Years (Placement): 2003 (9), 2004 (7), 2005 (6), 2006 (9), 2007 (9), 2009 (10), 2010 (1), 2014 (7).
6. Washington (Massillon, Ohio) — 7 (22)
Years (Placement): 1959 (1), 1960 (7), 1961 (1), 1964 (2), 1965 (2), 1970 (2), 1982 (7).
7. Permian (Odessa, Texas) — 7 (30)
Years (Placement): 1965 (7), 1972 (4), 1980 (5), 1982 (6), 1984 (6), 1989 (2), 1991 (2).
8. St. John Bosco (Bellflower, Calif.) — 7 (32)
Years (Placement): 2013 (3), 2015 (6), 2016 (5), 2017 (8), 2018 (3), 2019 (1), 2021 (6)
9. St. Thomas Aquinas (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) — 7 (38)
Years (Placement): 1992 (7), 2005 (10), 2008 (1), 2010 (2), 2016 (6), 2019 (3), 2021 (9).
10. Central Bucks West (Doylestown, Pa.) — 7 (44)
Years (Placement): 1985 (10), 1986 (9), 1987 (7), 1991 (3), 1997 (4), 1998 (7), 1999 (4)
11. St. Ignatius (Cleveland) — 6 (15)
Years (Placement): 1988 (5), 1989 (1), 1992 (4), 1993 (1), 1995 (2), 2008 (2).
12. Allen (Texas) — 6 (24)
Years (Placement): 2008 (5), 2012 (5), 2013 (2), 2014 (1), 2017 (3), 2018 (8).
13. Don Bosco Prep (Ramsey, N.J.) — 6 (25)
Years (Placement): 2002 (8), 2003 (2), 2006 (7), 2009 (1), 2010 (6), 2011 (1).
14. IMG Academy (Bradenton, Fla.) — 6 (26)
Years (Placement): 2015 (7), 2016 (3), 2017 (2), 2018 (5), 2019 (8), 2020 (1).
15. Independence (Charlotte, N.C.) — 6 (26)
Years (Placement): 2001 (6), 2002 (3), 2003 (4), 2004 (2), 2005 (3), 2006 (8).
16. Trinity (Louisville, Ky.) — 6 (42)
Years (Placement): 1973 (4), 1977 (7), 1990 (6), 2002 (4), 2011 (2), 2017 (9), 2020 (10).
17. East St. Louis (Ill.) — 5 (22)
Years (Placement): 1979 (9), 1983 (4), 1984 (2), 1985 (1), 1989 (6).
18. Coral Gables (Fla.) — 5 (10)
Years (Placement): 1963 (6), 1964 (1), 1967 (1), 1968 (1), 1969 (1).
19. Berwick (Pa.) — 5 (10)
Years (Placement): 1983 (1), 1988 (3), 1992 (1), 1995 (1), 1996 (4).
20. Katy (Texas) — 5 (20)Years (Placement): 1997 (7), 2000 (6), 2007 (4), 2012 (2), 2015 (1)
21. Long Beach Poly (Calif.) — 5 (22)Years (Placement): 1997 (2), 1998 (5), 2000 (2), 2001 (3), 2004 (10).
22. Union (N.J.) — 5 (25)Years (Placement): 1984 (5), 1985 (5), 1987 (6), 1991 (4), 1992 (5).
23. North Shore (Houston) — 5 (27)Years (Placement): 2003 (5), 2015 (10), 2018 (1), 2019 (4), 2020 (7).
24. Chicago Mt. Carmel (Ill.) — 5 (31)Years (Placement): 1960 (2), 1967 (10), 1988 (6), 1990 (7), 1996 (6)
25. Southlake Carroll (Texas) — 4 (10)Years (Placement): 2004 (1), 2005 (2), 2006 (1), 2011 (6)
Best team by decade
1960s: Valdosta — 6 top 10 finishes
1970s: Archbishop Moeller — 4
1980s: Archbishop Moeller — 5
1990s: De La Salle — 8
2000s: South Panola — 6
2010s: De La Salle — 7
Top 25 states
1. California — 89 top 10 finishes
2. Texas —
71
3. Florida —
65
4. Ohio —
47
5. Pennsylvania —
45
6. Georgia —
41
7. Illinois —
32
8. New Jersey —
22
8. Indiana —
22
10. Tennessee —
18
10. Louisiana —
18
12. Oklahoma —
13
13. Maryland —
12
14. North Carolina —
11
14. Michigan — 11
16. Virginia —
10
17. Missouri —
9
17. Kentucky — 9
19. South Carolina —
8
19. Mississippi — 8
21. Washington —
6
21. New York — 6
21. Massachusetts — 6
24. Colorado —
5
25. Alabama — 4
