Alaskan high school football doesn’t get the same national attention as Texas or Georgia, but the competition at the top of the state is just as fierce, and this year, one program is looking to make history. Here are the state’s top five preseason teams heading into the 2026 season.
No. 1: Soldotna Stars
Soldotna begins the 2026 season exactly where it left off last year: at the top of the standings. The Stars had a perfect 10-0 season in 2025, come into this season riding a 13-game winning streak, and are looking for their fourth consecutive state title. This kind of sustained dominance is rare anywhere in the country, let alone in a state with a football player population as small and dispersed as Alaska’s.
One of the season’s marquee matchups will be a non-conference showdown between Soldotna and Wyoming’s Star Valley, a program that also boasts four straight Class 3A state titles. A matchup like that gives Alaska’s top team a true test against out-of-state competition, something rarely achieved with in-state games.
The rest of the state’s top programs prepare to spend the season chasing Soldotna, with the Kenai Peninsula and South-Central Alaska expected to generate much of the competition at the top of the standings. The Alaskan football scene is organized by divisions rather than a single ranking, and Division I programs—the state’s largest schools—typically dominate the season-long debate about who is truly number one statewide.
How the Alaskan Season Is Structured
The Alaska School Activities Association’s (ASAA) 2026 football schedule lists practices beginning July 29 and the first games of the season on August 13, making Alaska’s season one of the earliest to start in the nation. Division II and III teams finish their regular seasons on October 10, while Division I teams play a slightly longer schedule until mid-October, before the playoffs begin and culminate in the championship weekend. The finals will be held at Wasilla High School and Colony High School, depending on the standings.
After the Season
Alaska’s standings tend to change rapidly due to the small number of games played between the top teams and the rest: a single loss can completely alter the top five in a state this size. We will track these changes as the season progresses.
Check our Rankings page for updates to Alaska’s Top 5 as the season progresses, and our Scores page for results from around the state.