High school football playoffs: CIF Southern Section Division 1 leads top 10 toughest postseason brackets

It's the best time of the year for high school football as every state is now in the playoffs or has already wrapped up. Today, we take a look at the Top 10 toughest postseason brackets in the country. Alaska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming have already finished. Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Utah and Wisconsin finish up this weekend.

Eight different states are represented on our list. Florida and Texas are the only states with multiple brackets featured but California owns the No. 1 spot.

The CIF Southern Section Division 1 bracket is the only one in the country that has four MaxPreps Top 25 teams in it — No. 1 Mater Dei (Santa Ana), No. 4 St. John Bosco (Bellflower), No. 24 Los Alamitos and No. 25 Mission Viejo.

Texas' 6A Division 1 and Division 2 brackets are both included at Nos. 2 and No. 4, respectively. The 6A D1 field has three MaxPreps Top 25 teams in it — No. 9 North Shore (Houston), No. 11 Westlake (Austin) and No. 13 Duncanville.

The 6A D2 field has two MaxPreps Top 25 teams — No. 14 Guyer (Denton) and No. 18 Katy.

Georgia's AAAAAAA field checks in at No. 3 and is one of three playoff brackets in the country that has at least three MaxPreps Top 25 teams in it. No. 6 Buford, No. 20 Mill Creek (Hoschton) and No. 22 Colquitt County (Moultrie) all advanced to the second round with dominant wins in the opening round last week.

All the teams listed in each bracket are either ranked in our MaxPreps Top 25 or expanded top 100 list.

MaxPreps Top 25 teams (4): No. 1 Mater Dei (Santa Ana), No. 4 St. John Bosco (Bellflower), No. 24 Los Alamitos, No. 25 Mission Viejo

Top 100 teams (6): No. 27 Centennial (Corona), No. 32 Long Beach Poly (Long Beach)

Start date: Nov. 4

End date: Nov. 25

Field: 10 teams

MaxPreps Top 25 teams (3): No. 9 North Shore (Houston), No. 11 Westlake (Austin), No. 13 Duncanville

Top 100 teams (7): No. 48 Atascocita (Humble), No. 74 Prosper, No. 80 Martin (Arlington), No. 98 North Crowley (Fort Worth)

Start date: Nov. 10

End date: Dec. 17

Field: 64 teams

MaxPreps Top 25 teams (3): No. 6 Buford, No. 20 Mill Creek (Hoschton), No. 22 Colquitt County (Moultrie)

Top 100 teams (7): No. 59 Carrollton, No. 65 North Cobb (Kennesaw), No. 92 Walton (Marietta), No. 99 Milton

Start date: Nov. 11

End date: Dec. 10

Field: 32 teams

Field: 64 teams

MaxPreps Top 25 teams (1): No. 21 St. Edward (Lakewood)

Top 100 teams (4): No. 30 Archbishop Moeller (Cincinnati), No. 57 Lakota West (West Chester), No. 96 Springfield

Start date: Oct. 28

End date: Dec. 2

Field: 64 teams

MaxPreps Top 25 teams (2): No. 15 Liberty (Peoria), No. 23 Basha (Chandler)

Top 100 teams (6): No. 43 Hamilton (Chandler), No. 46 Chandler, No. 58 Saguaro (Scottsdale), No. 86 Centennial (Peoria)

Start date: Nov. 25

End date: Dec. 10

Field: 8 teams

MaxPreps Top 25 teams (1): No. 8 St. Thomas Aquinas (Fort Lauderdale)

Top 100 teams (4): No. 38 Edgewater (Orlando), No. 77 Dillard (Fort Lauderdale), No. 82 Jones (Orlando)

Start date: Nov. 11

End date: Dec. 17

Field: 32 teams

Field: 32 teams

Top 100 teams (4): No. 42 Hoover, No. 51 Thompson (Alabaster), No. 53 Central (Phenix City), No. 76 Auburn

Start date: Nov. 4

End date: Nov. 30

Field: 16 teams

Top 100 teams (2): No. 40 Edna Karr (New Orleans), No. 47 Catholic (Baton Rouge)

Start date: Nov. 11

End date: Dec. 9

Field: 24 teams