De La Salle went to Cal on Saturday and beat Centennial of Corona 35-32. It is the best win anybody on this board had this week, and the board treats it that way. De La Salle moves up seven places to 11th.
Duece Jones-Drew, the UCLA commit and son of Maurice Jones-Drew, ran for more than 200 yards and three touchdowns. The Spartans led 28-25 at halftime and went up 35-25. Centennial answered with a touchdown pass from Jaden Jefferson to Quentin Hale, got the ball back late, and was stopped on fourth down by senior linebacker Zion Cadet. That is a statement win over a team that has now lost three games this season by a combined five points, all three to teams in our top twenty.
Centennial falls five places to 25th and stays inside the top 25. A three-point loss on a neutral field to a team this good is not a reason to push Centennial out of the conversation. All three of its losses are to Santa Margarita, Mater Dei and De La Salle, and it is 2-3 because of who it has played.
The top ten did not move
St. Frances Academy has been first on this board since the preseason, and it has looked the part every week. We may be the only ones who have had the Panthers No. 1 wire to wire so far. They are the defending national champions. They won the first Overtime Nationals in December, beating Corner Canyon 37-20, and they are 4-0 this season.
St. Frances Academy, Santa Margarita and St. Thomas Aquinas did not play and hold first, second and fourth. IMG Academy beat Legacy Sport Sciences 56-7. Baylor School beat Montgomery Bell Academy 45-17. Buford won 58-0, Sierra Canyon won 42-10, Allen won 65-7, Columbus of Miami won 58-0 and Bishop Gorman beat Faith Lutheran 45-3 on homecoming night. Ten holds, and the seven that played all won by at least 28 points.
| Rank | Team | St | Record | Last week |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | St. Frances Academy | MD | 4-0 | Hold |
| 2 | Santa Margarita | CA | 5-0 | Hold |
| 3 | IMG Academy | FL | 5-0 | Hold |
| 4 | St. Thomas Aquinas | FL | 5-0 | Hold |
| 5 | Baylor School | TN | 6-0 | Hold |
| 6 | Buford | GA | 5-0 | Hold |
| 7 | Sierra Canyon | CA | 5-0 | Hold |
| 8 | Allen | TX | 5-0 | Hold |
| 9 | Columbus (Miami) | FL | 5-1 | Hold |
| 10 | Bishop Gorman | NV | 5-1 | Hold |
| 11 | De La Salle | CA | 5-0 | Up 7 |
Who climbed
Skyridge, 70th to 50th. Skyridge intercepted Corner Canyon five times on Friday in Lehi, returned two of them for touchdowns in the first quarter, and won 37-27. Ethan Schriever's pick six went 83 yards. Senior linebacker Sa Tanuvasa had two interceptions. It ties Clay-Chalkville for the biggest jump on the board this week. Skyridge is still behind Mountain Ridge, which beat it 41-26 in August, and it stays there until that changes on the field.
Thomas County Central, 30th to 22nd. Our National Game of the Week was billed as close. Thomas County Central went to Leesburg and won 49-26, and Aidan McPherson accounted for all seven touchdowns, six running and one passing. McPherson is a senior and a Duke commit. The defending state champions have won 20 straight, and on Friday they looked like a team that belongs well inside the top 25.
Mountain Ridge, 36th to 34th. Jaxon Hunt threw seven touchdown passes, all of them in the first half, in a 56-7 win over Riverton. The Sentinels are 7-0 and play Herriman on Friday.
Clay-Chalkville, 58th to 38th. Clay-Chalkville did not play this week. It moves because it beat Creekside 29-20 in August, and Creekside sat 17 places above it. Its only loss is to Thompson, 12th on this board. It now sits one place ahead of Creekside, where the result says it belongs.
Miami Central, 29th to 27th. Miami Central led Miami Northwestern 21-0 after one quarter and won 52-10 in one of the biggest rivalries in Miami-Dade.
St. Edward, 42nd to 41st. A week after losing 23-21 at Massillon, St. Edward beat St. John's College 22-21 on a 70-yard touchdown pass from Langston Lucas to Joe Moore with 35 seconds left. It came on fourth-and-10.
Who fell
Corner Canyon, 25th to 75th. Fifty places ties Mount Carmel for the biggest drop on the board. Corner Canyon is 5-2, and both losses are to teams on this board. On Friday it threw five interceptions, gave up two touchdowns on defense in the first quarter and trailed 27-0 before it scored. It won the second half, but it never got close enough to win the game.
This is a team that lost six first-team all-state players. Two of them, Esun Tafa and Joaquin Rodriguez, were All-Americans, and quarterback Helaman Casuga was the Polynesian High School Football Player of the Year. It also lost one of the best head coaches in high school football history when Eric Kjar left for Weber State. Corner Canyon is still a top 100 team. But this is a rebuilding year, and we aren't pretending it's not.
Lee County, 27th to 44th. Lee County was 4-0 and ranked three places above Thomas County Central. It lost at home by 23 and trailed 35-12 at halftime. Jordan Bush ran for three touchdowns for Lee County. A loss that lopsided to a team it was ranked ahead of costs 17 places.
Mount Carmel, 44th to 94th. The defending Class 8A champion led Brother Rice 17-7 late in the first half and lost 35-24. Mount Carmel is 4-2, and the second loss came to a team that was not on the board. It stays on the board at 94th, behind the team that beat it.
St. John's College, 48th to 58th. St. John's led 21-16 at St. Edward inside the final minute and lost on the next drive. A one-point loss to a ranked team on the road is not a bad loss, but it is the first one on the card, and it costs ten places.
Elder, 76th to 91st. Elder rallied in the fourth quarter to take a 29-28 lead over St. Xavier of Cincinnati and lost on Owen Davidson's field goal as time ran out. It was coach Steve Specht's 200th win at St. Xavier.
Three more that fell on head-to-head. West Boca Raton goes from 49th to 59th and Brentwood Academy from 57th to 61st, each to sit behind the team that beat it. St. John's College beat West Boca 15-14, and St. Joseph's Prep beat Brentwood 31-23.
The St. James Academy, 47th to 92nd. The Virginia independent is 4-0 and has won by a combined 235-20. The four teams it has beaten are a combined 9-9 in their other games, and none of them is ranked. It stays on the board, and it has the chance to climb.
Two in, two out
| In | Rank | Result | Out | Was |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loyola Academy (IL) | 55 | W 42-12 at Marist | Miami Northwestern (FL) | 63 |
| Brother Rice (IL) | 86 | W 35-24 over Mount Carmel | Mallard Creek (NC) | 97 |
Brother Rice is the defending Class 7A champion, and on Friday a freshman quarterback carried it past the defending 8A champion. Sam Holcomb threw two touchdown passes and ran for two more, and Kameron McGee, a defensive end playing receiver, caught the 33-yard touchdown that put Brother Rice ahead for good. Brother Rice has two losses, which is why it comes on at 86th and not higher. One of them is to Loyola Academy, 27-24 on September 11. Loyola is 6-0, has also beaten Cathedral of Indianapolis and St. Rita, and comes on at 55th.
Miami Northwestern, 4-2, comes off after losing to Miami Central by 42. Mallard Creek, 4-2, comes off too. The best win on its card is over a team that has already come off.
The full hundred
Every rank, record and move for all 100 teams is on the five cards below. Records are through games of Saturday, September 26.
