High school football rankings: Mater Dei finishes No. 1 in media composite top 25

Four of seven media outlets put California state champion in the top spot.

Thumbnail image of this articles writer: Steve Montoya
By
Dec 19, 2023, 2:00pm
After winning California's Open Division state championship, Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) is the consensus pick as the No. 1 high school football team in the country for the 2023 season. Rankings from seven different media outlets were used to generate a composite look at the national top 25 with CalPreps, High School Football America, SB Live and Blue Star Media all picking the Monarchs as their top-ranked team.

MaxPreps and USA Today both had Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas) at No. 1, putting the Gaels at No. 2 in the composite rankings.

National HSFB picked IMG Academy (Bradenton, Fla.) as its national champion. The Ascenders finished No. 4 overall in the media composite.

The media composite top 25 takes into account a wide range of approaches to high school football rankings by seven different outlets. That includes computer algorithms by CalPreps and High School Football America as well as expert rankings from MaxPreps, USAToday, Blue Star Media, SB Live and National HSFB.

To be considered for the rankings a team must be recognized by two or more media outlets. Teams were assigned a score of 40 for each media outlet that did not recognize them as part of their top 25, rewarding teams that received consensus acclaim.
Mater Dei celebrates its win over Serra in California's Open Division state championship game. The Monarchs earned the final No. 1 ranking from four of seven media outlets polled for the media composite top 25. (Photo: Steven Silva)
Mater Dei celebrates its win over Serra in California's Open Division state championship game. The Monarchs earned the final No. 1 ranking from four of seven media outlets polled for the media composite top 25. (Photo: Steven Silva)
Media composite top 25

1. (Last week No. 1) Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.)
Average rank: 1.7
MaxPreps Top 25: 3
CalPreps: 1
High School Football America: 1
SBLive: 1
Blue Star Media: 1
National HSFB: 2
USAToday: 3

Average rank: 3.1
MaxPreps Top 25: 1
CalPreps: 4
High School Football America: 5
SBLive: 4
Blue Star Media: 2
National HSFB: 5
USAToday: 1

Average rank: 3.8
MaxPreps Top 25: 2
CalPreps: 8
High School Football America: 2
SBLive: 3
Blue Star Media: 6
National HSFB: 4
USAToday: 2

Average rank: 4.1
MaxPreps Top 25: 4
CalPreps: 7
High School Football America: 4
SBLive: 5
Blue Star Media: 3
National HSFB: 1
USAToday: 5

Average rank: 4.8
MaxPreps Top 25: 5
CalPreps: 2
High School Football America: 8
SBLive: 2
Blue Star Media: 4
National HSFB: 9
USAToday: 4

Average rank: 5.7
MaxPreps Top 25: 6
CalPreps: 3
High School Football America: 3
SBLive: 12
Blue Star Media: 5
National HSFB: 3
USAToday: 8

Average rank: 7.5
MaxPreps Top 25: 8
CalPreps: 5
High School Football America: 10
SBLive: 7
Blue Star Media: 7
National HSFB: 10
USAToday: 6

Average rank: 8
MaxPreps Top 25: 7
CalPreps: 14
High School Football America: 7
SBLive: 6
Blue Star Media: 9
National HSFB: 6
USAToday: 7

Average rank: 12.7
MaxPreps Top 25: 9
CalPreps: NR
High School Football America: 6
SBLive: 10
Blue Star Media: 8
National HSFB: 7
USAToday: 9

Average rank: 13.1
MaxPreps Top 25: 10
CalPreps: 24
High School Football America: 9
SBLive: 11
Blue Star Media: 14
National HSFB: 14
USAToday: 10

Average rank: 15
MaxPreps Top 25: 15
CalPreps: 12
High School Football America: 17
SBLive: 16
Blue Star Media: 18
National HSFB: 15
USAToday: 12

Average rank: 17.1
MaxPreps Top 25: 16
CalPreps: NR
High School Football America: 11
SBLive: 8
Blue Star Media: 15
National HSFB: 17
USAToday: 13

Average rank: 17.4
MaxPreps Top 25: 13
CalPreps: 9
High School Football America: NR
SBLive: 15
Blue Star Media: 13
National HSFB: 12
USAToday: 20

14. (NR) Milton (Ga.)
Average rank: 18
MaxPreps Top 25: 11
CalPreps: 21
High School Football America: 18
SBLive: 22
Blue Star Media: 21
National HSFB: 19
USAToday: 14

Average rank: 20.1
MaxPreps Top 25: 14
CalPreps: 6
High School Football America: 16
SBLive: NR
Blue Star Media: 17
National HSFB: 8
USAToday: NR

Average rank: 20.4
MaxPreps Top 25: 12
CalPreps: 16
High School Football America: NR
SBLive: 13
Blue Star Media: 11
National HSFB: NR
USAToday: 11

Average rank: 21.5
MaxPreps Top 25: 21
CalPreps: NR
High School Football America: 22
SBLive: 9
Blue Star Media: 16
National HSFB: 20
USAToday: 23

Average rank: 21.5
MaxPreps Top 25: 19
CalPreps: 20
High School Football America: 13
SBLive: 21
Blue Star Media: NR
National HSFB: 16
USAToday: 22

19. (19) Cocoa (Fla.)
Average rank: 21.7
MaxPreps Top 25: 17
CalPreps: NR
High School Football America: 12
SBLive: 17
Blue Star Media: NR
National HSFB: 11
USAToday: 15

20. (24) Kahuku (Hawaii)
Average rank: 25.5
MaxPreps Top 25: NR
CalPreps: 11
High School Football America: 15
SBLive: 20
Blue Star Media: NR
National HSFB: 13
USAToday: NR

Average rank: 25.7
MaxPreps Top 25: 25
CalPreps: 23
High School Football America: 23
SBLive: NR
Blue Star Media: 20
National HSFB: 24
USAToday: 25

Average rank: 27.2
MaxPreps Top 25: 20
CalPreps: NR
High School Football America: 14
SBLive: NR
Blue Star Media: NR
National HSFB: 18
USAToday: 19

T23. (NR) Aledo (Texas)
Average rank: 27.7
MaxPreps Top 25: NR
CalPreps: 19
High School Football America: NR
SBLive: 19
Blue Star Media: 19
National HSFB: NR
USAToday: 17

Average rank: 27.7
MaxPreps Top 25: 23
CalPreps: NR
High School Football America: 19
SBLive: NR
Blue Star Media: 23
National HSFB: 25
USAToday: 24

25. (25) Bixby (Okla.)
Average rank: 30.2
MaxPreps Top 25: NR
CalPreps: NR
High School Football America: NR
SBLive: 24
Blue Star Media: 10
National HSFB: NR
USAToday: 18

Ranked by three media outlets
Westlake (Austin, Texas) — MaxPreps Top 25, 25; Blue Star Media, 12; USA Today, 21
Colquitt County (Norman Park, Ga.) — CalPreps, 22; SB Live, 18; Blue Star Media, 24
Walton (Marietta, Ga.) — MaxPreps Top 25, 18; CalPreps, 25; Blue Star Media, 22

Ranked by two media outlets
Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth, Calif.) — CalPreps, 10; National HSFB, 22
Norland (Miami, Fla.) — High School Football America, 20; USA Today, 16
Thomas County Central (Thomasville, Ga.) — CalPreps, 17; National HSFB, 23
Clay-Chalkville (Pinson, Ala.) — MaxPreps Top 25, 22; SB Live, 25

Ranked by one media outlet
Mission Viejo (Calif.)— CalPreps, 15
Mililani (Hawaii) — CalPreps, 18
Central (Miami) — High School Football America, 21
DeMatha (Hyattsville, Md.) — National HSFB, 21
Lakeland (Fla.) — High School Football America, 24
American Heritage (Plantation, Fla.) — Blue Star Media, 25
Archbishop Hoban (Akron, Ohio) — High School Football America, 25

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