Four of the top high school football teams in the High School Football America Top 100 national rankings will battle in Phoenix, Arizona on December 23 in the GEICO State Champions Bowl Series. The first-game of the doubleheader at Grand Canyon University will feature No. 9 St. Frances Academy (Maryland) playing No. 14 Bingham (Utah). The nightcap will pit No. 8 Northwestern (Miami, Florida) taking-on No. 33 Chandler.
Related: Top 100
Bingham, which won the Utah 6A championship, will be playing in its third State Champions Bowl Series game. The Miners lost to Miami’s Booker T. Washington (Florida) in 2014 and St. Thomas Aquinas (Florida) last year in Frisco, Texas.
Related: Utah Top 10
Bingham hasn’t played a game since beating No. 58 East on November 17. In addition to its two wins against East this year, the Miners also own a Top 100 win against Hawaii Open Division runner-up Kahuku, currently ranked No. 88 in our national rankings that are created with our proprietary algorithm.
St. Frances Academy won its second straight Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association Class A championship on November 19 when it beat Gilman. That capped a perfect 12-0 season that saw the Panthers only allow 65 points with six shutouts.
SFA owns wins over two teams that were ranked in our Top 100 at the time of the game — Bishop Sullivan (Virginia) and Don Bosco Prep (New Jersey). The Panthers’ game against No. 2 IMG Academy (Florida) was cancelled because of Hurricane Irma in September.
Two-time defending Arizona 6A champ Chandler won’t have to travel far for its game against Florida 6A champ Northwestern. Both teams have a common opponent in IMG. Chandler lost to the Ascenders 27-14 on August 26, while the Bulls lost to IMG 21-0 on September 30.
Chandler beat Georgia state champ Valdosta in the SCBS in 2016. This will be Northwestern’s first appearance in the event. Both games will be televised on ESPNU.
Past results:
2014
- Trinity Christian (Florida) 35 Eastside Catholic (Washington) 21
- Miami Central (Florida) 37 Bothell (Washington 27
- Booker T. Washington (Miami, Florida) 34 Bingham (Utah) 28
2016
- Chandler (Arizona) 44 Valdosta (Georgia) 24
- Thomas Aquinas (Florida) 33 Bingham (Utah) 25
