MaxPreps Top 10 High School Football Games of the Week

The opening weekend of high school football brought with it a nice slate of games, but the second edition of the MaxPreps Top 10 Games of the Week is flat-out loaded with intriguing matchups.

Five of top six teams in the latest MaxPreps Xcellent 25 National Football Rankings – and 10 ranked teams overall – get the star treatment in this week's preview.

On Friday night, No. 3 St. Thomas Aquinas (Fort Lauderdale) will take on fifth-ranked American Heritage (Plantation) at Sun Life Stadium. The outcome likely will dash any national title hopes for the loser and begin to break down a logjam of Florida teams atop most of the national polls.

Down in Texas, top-ranked Cedar Hill kicks its season off Saturday night against an up-and-coming South Oak Cliff (Dallas) squad loaded with FBS-caliber college prospects. Elsewhere in the Metroplex, second-ranked Allen opens up with Guyer (Denton) in a battle of last year's Class 5A/Division I and Class 4A/Division I state champions.

With a 7-3 record last week, Kevin Askeland fired out of the gates to a one-game lead in our season-long predictions contest. Jamie DeMoney and Leland Gordon share second place, one game behind Askeland. Stephen Spiewak and Colin Ward-Henninger hold down fourth place with four out of 10 correct picks. Mitch Stephens has some catching up to do after selecting only two winners in the opening week.

Here's a look at this week's Top 10 games along with predictions by MaxPreps staff writers and contributors Mitch Stephens, Stephen Spiewak, Kevin Askeland, Leland Gordon, Colin Ward-Henninger and Jamie DeMoney.


St. Thomas Aquinas (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) vs. American Heritage (Plantation, Fla.)

What to watch: There's still an entire season to play before we talk seriously about crowning a national champion, but it's likely that at least one of the Florida teams currently ranked in the Top 10 of the MaxPreps Xcellent 25 will be eliminated from consideration this weekend. Friday night at Sun Life Stadium, No. 5 American Heritage hopes to derail third-ranked St. Thomas Aquinas' bid for a third national title in the seven seasons. Senior Torrance Gibson – the nation's second-ranked athlete prospect according to 247Sports – accounted for six touchdowns while quarterbacking the Patriots to a nationally televised 49-23 preseason win against Dwyer (Palm Beach Gardens) last week. The 6-foot-4, 195-pounder is one of six seniors with FBS scholarship offers and is among 12 returning starters overall from last year's Class 5A state championship team. On the other side, St. Thomas Aquinas has 10 starters back from a 10-3 team that failed to win a state crown for only the third time since 2007. The number of players on the Raiders' roster holding FBS offers is approaching 20, thanks in part to an influx of talented transfers during the offseason. Senior Jordan Scarlett, a Miami recruit who played at University (Fort Lauderdale) last year, ran for 94 yards and a touchdown on only six carries during last Friday's 31-7 preseason win against Dillard (Fort Lauderdale).

This game will be featured on Qwixcore, featuring live scoring updates

Just the facts: St. Thomas Aquinas leads the nation for the most former players selected in the NFL Draft in the past 21 years. There were 19 Raiders alums selected since 1993, including four draft picks last May. … American Heritage has a sister school with the same name located up the coast in Delray Beach. The teams will play each other for only the second time in 11 years on Oct. 24.

Mitch Stephens: St. Thomas Aquinas 35, American Heritage 21
Kevin Askeland: St. Thomas Aquinas 40, American Heritage 14
Jamie DeMoney: St. Thomas Aquinas 31, American Heritage 23
Stephen Spiewak: St. Thomas Aquinas 28, American Heritage 14
Leland Gordon: St. Thomas Aquinas 34, American Heritage 24
Colin Ward-Henninger: St. Thomas Aquinas 28, American Heritage 14