The universe works in mysterious ways.
Don’t believe me?
We’re currently in the middle of a cross-country trip from Southern California to Atlanta, Georgia for Christmas and Sunday as I was finalizing the numbers in our algorithm to name our 2015 national champs, we pulled into Moultrie, Georgia.
Why is that a big deal?
It wasn’t planned that on this day, we would be driving through the small southern Georgia town, which is home to one of the teams in a heated battle for this year’s “mythical” national championship.
With Saturday’s win by former #7 De La Salle over former #1 Corona Centennial in the California Open Division championship game, the door was opened for teams like Colquitt County (Georgia), Bishop Gorman (Nevada), and Katy (Texas) to claim our title as national champs this year.
Related: #7 De La Salle tops #1 Corona Centennial
In what turned-out to be the closest race since we began our using our proprietary algorithm for our national rankings in 2013, Colquitt County is this year’s national champ. The two-time Georgia AAAAAA champs edged-out De La Salle for the top spot with Katy, just a hair behind at #3 and Bishop Gorman at #4.
As most of you know, this is a computer ranking, not an opinion poll, which means that the teams are ranked according to the results of our formula. We know that every fan is proud of his or her team’s accomplishment and we are proud to produce this poll, which we believe is unlike any other out there when it comes to analyzing strength of schedule and results along with eight other items that go into our criteria.
Related: Final The Other 25
Congratulations to all on a great 2015 season!!
High School Football America Top 25
#1 Colquitt County Packers (Georgia)
Record: (15-0)
Previous Rank: #3
Rewind: 2X Georgia AAAAAA champs
Preseason Rank: #9
#2 De La Salle Spartans (California)
Record: (13-1)
Previous Rank: #7
Rewind: beat former #1 Corona Centennial (California) 28-21 for CIF Open Division Championship
Preseason Rank: #1
#3 Katy Tigers (Texas)
Record: (16-0)
Previous Rank: #5
Rewind: beat former #15 Lake Travis (Texas) 34-7 for Texas Class 6A Division II title
Preseason Rank: #11
#4 Bishop Gorman Gaels (Nevada)
Record: (15-0)
Previous Rank: #2
Rewind: 7X Nevada Division I champs
Preseason Rank: #3
#5 Corona Centennial Huskies (California)
Record: (14-1)
Previous Rank: #1
Rewind: lost to former #7 De La Salle (California) 28-21 in CIF Open Division championship
Preseason Rank: #6
#6 St. Edward Eagles (Ohio)
Record: (14-1)
Previous Rank: #5
Rewind: 2X Ohio Division I champs
Preseason Rank: Not Ranked
#7 IMG Academy Ascenders (Florida)
Record: (9-0)
Previous Rank: #6
Rewind: Doesn’t compete for Florida state championship
Preseason Rank: #20
#8 St. John Bosco Braves (California)
Record: (13-1)
Previous Rank: #9
Rewind: CIF-Southern Section Pac-5 Division runner-up
Preseason Rank: #10
#9 Allen Eagles (Texas)
Record: (14-1)
Rewind: Texas Class 6A Division I state semifinalist
Preseason Rank: #2
#10 Center Grove Trojans (Indiana)
Record: (14-0)
Previous Rank: #11
Rewind: Indiana Class 6A champs
Preseason Rank: Not Ranked
#11 Male Bulldogs (Kentucky)
Record: (15-0)
Previous Rank: #12
Rewind: Kentucky Class 6A champs
Preseason Rank: #36
#12 St. Thomas Aquinas Raiders (Florida)
Record: (13-1)
Previous Rank: #13
Rewind: 2X Florida 7A champs
Preseason Rank: #8
#13 DeMatha Stags (Maryland)
Record: (11-1)
Previous: #14
Rewind: Washington Catholic Athletic Conference champs
Preseason Rank: #21
#14 Mission Viejo Diablos (California)
Record: (16-0)
Previous Rank: #22
Rewind: beat Bellarmine (California) 24-0 for CIF Division I-AA championship
Preseason Rank: Not Ranked
#15 La Salle Lancers (Ohio)
Record: (13-2)
Previous Rank: #17
Rewind: 2X Ohio Division II champs
Preseason Rank: #12
#16 Gilman Greyhounds (Maryland)
Record: (10-1)
Previous Rank: #16
Rewind: MIAA champs
Preseason Rank: Not Ranked
#17 Wayne Warriors (Ohio)
Record: (14-1)
Previous Rank: #18
Rewind: Ohio Division I runner-up
Preseason Rank: Not Ranked
#18 Colerain Cardinals (Ohio)
Record: (12-2)
Previous Rank: #19
Rewind: Ohio Division I state semifinalist
Preseason Rank: #32
#19 Starkville Yellowjackets (Mississippi)
Record: (14-1)
Previous Rank: #20
Rewind: Mississippi 6A champs
Preseason Rank: Not Ranked
#20 Don Bosco Prep Ironmen (New Jersey)
Record: (9-3)
Previous Rank: #21
Rewind: New Jersey Non-Public Group 4 champs
Preseason Rank: #30
#21 Loyola Academy Ramblers (Illinois)
Record: (14-0)
Previous Rank: #23
Rewind: Illinois 8A champs
Preseason Rank: Not Ranked
#22 Miami Central Rockets (Florida)
Record: (12-2)
Previous Rank: #24
Rewind: 4X Florida 6A champs
Preseason Rank: #4
#23 Eastside Catholic Crusaders (Washington)
Record: (13-0)
Previous Rank: #25
Rewind: 2X Washington Class 3A champs
Preseason Rank: #37
#24 Pittsburgh Central Catholic Vikings (Pennsylvania)
Record: (15-1)
Rewind: beat Parkland 21-18 for 4A championship
Preseason Rank: #22
#25 Euless Trinity Trojans (Texas)
Record: (10-1)
Previous Rank: #26
Rewind: Undefeated regular season. Beat #2 De La Salle (California)
Preseason Rank: #23
Dropped-out: #8 Westlake (Texas), #15 Lake Travis (Texas)
