The Public vs. Private debate gets louder-and-louder each year, but for the second straight year, there are more public schools in our final national Top 50 rankings than private schools. The final tally for 2016 is the same as 2015 when we expanded our national rankings created with our proprietary algorithm from 25 to 50 teams — 29 public schools, 21 private schools.

The top public school in the nation in 2016 is Georgia Class AAAAAAA champ Grayson.  The Rams’ only loss this season was against IMG Academy (Florida) that occurred during the team’s season opener.  IMG finished #3 in our national rankings, while Grayson finished #4.

Related: FINAL National Top 50

Texas Class 6A Division I champ Lake Travis finishes as the #2 team in the High School Football America Public School Top 25, followed by Corona Centennial (California) at #3, Roswell (Georgia) at #4 and DeSoto (Texas) at #5.

Joining Roswell in the Public School Top 25 from Georgia — Valdosta at #16 and Mill Creek at #17.

FINAL 2016 High School Football America Public School Top 25

#1 Grayson (Georgia) 14-1

#2 Lake Travis (Texas) 15-1

#3 Corona Centennial (California) 11-2

#4 Roswell (Georgia) 14-1

#5 DeSoto (Texas) 16-0

#6 Cass Tech (Michigan) 14-0

#7 The Woodlands (Texas) 15-1

#8 Allen (Texas) 14-1

#9 Hoover (Alabama) 12-2

#10 Saguaro (Arizona) 14-0

#11 Edna Karr (Louisiana) 14-0

#12 South Pointe (South Carolina) 14-1

#13 Cocoa (Florida) 11-1

#14 Cibolo Steele (Texas) 15-1

#15 Chandler (Arizona) 13-2

#16 Valdosta (Georgia) 14-2

#17 Mill Creek (Georgia) 13-1

#18 Colerain (Ohio) 11-1

#19 Carol City (Florida) 11-3

#20 Carmel (Indiana) 10-4

#21 Center Grove (Indiana) 12-2

#22 Warren Central (Indiana) 10-2

#23 Union (Oklahoma) 11-2

#24 Clinton (Mississippi) 14-1

#25 Maine South (Illinois) 11-3