Two different questions get asked when people search for the “top high school football team” this season — who actually won it all in 2025, and who’s favored to do it in 2026. The answers aren’t the same team, and the gap between them tells a good story about how fast things change at the top of high school football.
2025 National Champion: Buford (Georgia)
Buford closed out the 2025 season 15-0 and was crowned MaxPreps National Champion after beating then-No. 1 Carrollton 28-21 in the Georgia Class AAAAAA title game, becoming the first team from Georgia to finish No. 1 since MaxPreps began naming national champions in 2005. The Wolves did it the hard way, too —
Buford went 5-0 against teams ranked in the national top 100 on the way to the title, with the championship game itself decided by a huge 82-yard go-ahead touchdown run in the final three minutes. It capped a memorable year in suburban Atlanta —
Buford opened the season by beating two-time defending state champion Milton while unveiling a new $62 million stadium, then knocked off a string of ranked opponents on the way to the program’s 15th state title. 2026 Preseason No. 1: St. John Bosco (California)
The national picture flipped fast heading into 2026.
St. John Bosco opened the year at No. 1 in the preseason MaxPreps Top 25 for the third time in the last nine seasons, backed by the nation’s longest active ranking streak — the Bellflower, California program has finished ranked every year since 2013. Buford didn’t fall far —
the defending national champions opened 2026 ranked No. 7 nationally, while St. Thomas Aquinas (Florida) sat at No. 3 and Duncanville (Texas) opened at No. 10, representing the sport’s other traditional power states. Nevada’s Bishop Gorman opened at No. 2, setting up an early-season showdown with St. John Bosco that both programs treated as one of the most anticipated non-conference games of the year.
Why the Top Spot Turns Over So Fast
Unlike college or pro football, high school rosters completely turn over every four years — a national champion in December can lose a dozen Division I signees to graduation by August. That’s exactly what makes preseason rankings so different from final ones: they’re a bet on returning talent and program continuity, not a reflection of who actually won the last title. Want to see how the picture shifts as the season goes on? Check our
Rankings page for the latest Top 10, and our
Scores page for this week’s results.