High school football: De La Salle, Valdosta lead list of schools with most national top 10 finishes

Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) is ranked the No. 1 high school football team in the nation by MaxPreps. The Monarchs are on track to notch their 12th national top 10 finish. Only two programs have accomplished that feat more than the storied Orange County school.

Based on research that included top 10 rankings by the National Sports News Service from 1959 to 2008 and the MaxPreps Top 25 rankings from 2009 to the present, De La Salle (Concord, Calif.) has the most top 10 finishes with 20 during the 64 years that national rankings have been compiled.

Valdosta (Ga.), the nation's all-time wins leader, is ranked No. 2 on the list with 13 top 10 finishes. Archbishop Moeller (Cincinnati, Ohio) and Central Bucks West (Doylestown, Pa.) are tied for fourth with nine.

California comes in at No. 1 for most top 10 finishes by a state with 88. Texas is close behind with 75 while Florida has 69, Pennsylvania 45 and Ohio 44. Coral Gables (Fla.), a four-time national champion in the 1960s, has the highest average finish (sum of total rankings divided by years in top 10) with a 2.0 rating over five seasons. Valdosta is next with a 2.69 while Washington (Massillon, Ohio) has a 3.0, Southlake Carroll (Southlake, Texas) has a 3.2 and De La Salle has a 3.3.

National high school football rankings first began in 1959 when Art Johlfs, a retired high school principal/real estate agent, began ranking teams on a national level at the conclusion of the season. His rankings, under the name National Sports News Service, often included over 100 teams but the entire list of teams for each season have been lost to history. For the most part, only top 10 lists survive from the 1960s and 1970s with some top 20 or top 25 lists available.

Barry Sollenberger of Arizona took over from Johlfs in the late 1970s. Doug Huff succeeded Sollenberger in the 1990s and combined with Mark Tennis of Student Sports and Cal-Hi Sports to pick national rankings in the early 2000s. The National Sports News Service ceased to do national rankings after the 2012 season.

MaxPreps began doing expert rankings in 2008 (along with computer rankings) and have continued to the present. While other media outlets have done national rankings, such as USA Today, The National Prep Poll, High School Football America and SBLive/Sports Illustrated, the research listed below used only the NSNS rankings and MaxPreps in order to maintain consistency over the 64 years.

Johlfs retroactively selected national champions from 1927 to 1958, but did not select a top 10 or top 25 for those years. Sollenberger added to the list, retroactively selecting national champions from 1910 to 1926.

2. Valdosta (Ga.), 13
3. Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.), 11
T4. Archbishop Moeller (Cincinnati, Ohio), 9
T4. Central Bucks West (Doylestown, Pa.), 9
6. St. John Bosco (Bellflower, Calif.), 8
T7. St. Thomas Aquinas (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.), 7
T7. Trinity (Louisville, Ky.), 7
T7. IMG Academy (Bradenton, Fla.), 7
T7. Washington (Massillon, Ohio), 7
T11. North Shore (Houston, Texas), 6
T11. St. Ignatius (Cleveland, Ohio), 6
T11. Independence (Charlotte, N.C.), 6
T11. Allen (Texas), 6
T11. East St. Louis (Ill.), 6
T11. Chicago Mt. Carmel (Chicago, Ill.), 6
T11. South Panola (Batesville, Miss.), 6
T18. Ben Davis (Indianapolis, Ind.), 5
T18. Berwick (Pa.), 5
T18. Coral Gables (Fla.), 5
T18. St. Frances Academy (Baltimore, Md.), 5
T18. Southlake Carroll (Southlake, Texas), 5
T18. Permian (Odessa, Texas), 5
T18. Katy (Texas), 5
T18. Carmel (Ind.), 5

Top 10 finishes by state
2. Texas, 75
3. Florida, 69
4. Pennsylvania, 45
5. Ohio, 44
6. Georgia, 43
7. Illinois, 30
8. Indiana, 22
9. Louisiana, 21
12. Alabama, 14
13. New Jersey, 13
T16. Maryland, 11
T16. Missouri, 11
T18. Kentucky, 9
T18. South Carolina, 9
20. Michigan, 7
T24. Mississippi, 5
T24. Washington, 5

Highest average finish
2. Valdosta, 13 - 2.69
3. Massillon Washington, 7 - 3.0
4. Southlake Carroll, 5 - 3.2
5. De La Salle, 20 - 3.3
6. Allen, 6 - 3.5
7. Mater Dei, 11 - 3.54
8. Katy, 5 - 3.6
9. Archbishop Moeller, 9 - 3.67
9. St. Ignatius, 6 - 3.67
9. East St. Louis, 6 - 3.67
12. St. John Bosco, 8 - 4.12
13. Berwick, 5 - 4.4
14. IMG Academy, 7 - 4.43
15. St. Thomas Aquinas, 7 - 4.57
16. Carmel, 5 - 4.6
17. Ben Davis, 5 - 4.8
18. Permian, 5 - 4.9
19. Independence, 6 - 5.17
20. North Shore, 6 - 5.5
21. St. Frances Academy, 5 - 5.6
22. Chicago Mt. Carmel, 6 - 5.83
23. South Panola, 6 - 6.0
24. Central Bucks West, 9 - 6.22
25. Trinity, 7 - 6.28