SPIN SoCal Top 10 card for Week 3, listing ten Southern California schools with logos, records and movement on blue and black plates. Santa Margarita is first at 1-0, Centennial of Corona second, Mater Dei third, and St. John Bosco fourth at 0-1 after a fall of three. At right, a Santa Margarita quarterback in a navy jersey wearing number three, carrying the ball. The SPIN Sports Idol Nation mark is at bottom right.

Nine of the ten played. Six won. Every result finished in board order or better, and nobody outside this ten beat anybody inside it.

So the region reorders at the top and holds everywhere else.

No entries, no exits. Same ten schools as last week.

| # | Team | Rec | Last week | Move |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Santa Margarita | 1-0 | 2 | UP 1 |
| 2 | Centennial, Corona | 1-0 | 3 | UP 1 |
| 3 | Mater Dei | 1-0 | 4 | UP 1 |
| 4 | St. John Bosco | 0-1 | 1 | DOWN 3 |
| 5 | Sierra Canyon | 1-0 | 5 | hold |
| 6 | Mission Viejo | 1-0 | 6 | hold |
| 7 | Orange Lutheran | 0-1 | 7 | hold |
| 8 | San Clemente | 1-0 | 10 | UP 2 |
| 9 | Cathedral Catholic | 0-0 | 9 | hold |
| 10 | Servite | 0-1 | 8 | DOWN 2 |

A 27-0 shutout of Jones, which is ranked 20th in Florida, with Fletch Palmer throwing two touchdowns in his first career start. We said last week Santa Margarita might be the best team in America. This is what that looks like on a board.

It plays at Centennial of Corona on Friday. One against two, four days after we set it.

Both won into the room Bosco left. Centennial beat Servite by 20. Mater Dei beat a Utah top three team, and closer than the final says. Centennial stays ahead because Servite is on this board and American Fork is not.

Beaten by ten in Las Vegas by the second best team in America, after trailing 21-0 and tying it in the fourth. Three teams passed it by winning.

On a neutral field this morning Bosco still beats everybody from fifth down. That is why it falls three here and eight on the national board. Those are two different claims and only one of them was refuted on Friday.

Sierra Canyon holds at 5 after winning 42-21 at JSerra. Mission Viejo holds at 6 on 55-17 over Chaparral of Temecula. Orange Lutheran holds at 7 despite the loss, because losing 23-22 to a national top-30 team that flew in from Miami is not a fall.

San Clemente moves to 8. It shut out Tustin 17-0 and is the only unbeaten team in the bottom half of this board. It passes an idle team and a team that lost by 20.

Cathedral Catholic holds at 9. It has not played. It opens Friday against Orange Lutheran, which is 0-1 and ranked seventh here, so the number gets tested immediately.

Servite falls to 10 after losing 41-21 at Centennial of Corona. Nothing about the loss is a surprise and the margin is what moves it.

Sloane Carter

Nine of the ten played and six won. Every result finished in board order or better, and nobody outside this ten beat anybody inside it.

SoCal Top 10, Week 3: Santa Margarita Takes the Top Spot and Bosco Drops to Fourth

SPIN Sports Idol Nation NorCal Top 10 football rankings card for 2026. De La Salle of Concord is first, followed by Folsom, Serra of San Mateo, Archbishop Riordan of San Francisco, Central East of Fresno, Oak Ridge of El Dorado Hills, Pittsburg, Grant of Sacramento, St. Mary's of Stockton and Central Catholic of Modesto. All ten are listed at 0-0 and the Last Week column is empty. A De La Salle player in a white jersey and white helmet stands at right.

## De La Salle Is First, and the Last Thing It Did Was Lose by 34

Ranking De La Salle first in Northern California is obvious right up until you look at the last game it played.

| # | Team | City | Section |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | De La Salle | Concord | North Coast |
| 2 | Folsom | Folsom | Sac-Joaquin |
| 3 | Serra | San Mateo | Central Coast |
| 4 | Archbishop Riordan | San Francisco | Central Coast |
| 5 | Central East | Fresno | Central |
| 6 | Oak Ridge | El Dorado Hills | Sac-Joaquin |
| 7 | Pittsburg | Pittsburg | North Coast |
| 8 | Grant | Sacramento | Sac-Joaquin |
| 9 | St. Mary's | Stockton | Sac-Joaquin |
| 10 | Central Catholic | Modesto | Sac-Joaquin |

The Spartans went 12-1 and won a 33rd straight North Coast Section title, beating Pittsburg 24-17 in the Open Division final on Nov. 21. Twenty-two days later they went to Saddleback College and lost the state Open Division final to Santa Margarita 47-13. They were outgained 377-180 and held to 70 yards on 34 plays in a first half that ended 35-7.

Nobody in the north has been better since, because nobody in the north has played. Duece Jones-Drew is back for a senior year after committing to UCLA in May, where his father Maurice was an All-American. Jaden Jefferson is not. The sprinter who scored both De La Salle touchdowns in that final, and who ran 10.01 to break the California 100 meter record, is a freshman at North Carolina now.

The schedule is the interesting part. De La Salle opens Friday at Serra of San Mateo, third on this board. Cardinal Newman comes to Concord on Sept. 4 and St. Mary's of Stockton hosts on Sept. 18. On Sept. 26 the Spartans play Corona Centennial at California Memorial Stadium in Berkeley at two in the afternoon, in a doubleheader De La Salle is calling the 151 Football Showcase after the win streak.

## Folsom Is Second and Has the Best Argument Against That

Folsom went 14-1 and won the state Division 1-AA championship, beating Cathedral Catholic 42-28 at Saddleback on the Friday night before De La Salle lost on the same field. It was Folsom's sixth state title in seven trips to a state final, and the only loss in that set came to this same Cathedral Catholic program in 2021. Brody Rudnicki accounted for all six touchdowns in the final, four of them running, and the quarterback is back for a senior year with a Cal commitment in hand.

The Bulldogs also own the two results that shaped the bottom half of this board. They beat Grant 51-13 on ESPN to open last August, and they beat Archbishop Riordan 42-38 in the Northern California Division 1-AA final in December, which is the game that gave Riordan its only loss.

De La Salle and Folsom do not play this year. Both are on our national board, De La Salle 37th and Folsom 44th, and the only place that argument can be settled on grass is December.

## Serra at Three Is the Number We Have to Answer For

It gets worse before it gets better. Two of the teams below Serra on this board beat Serra last fall, and one of them did it twice. Archbishop Riordan, fourth here, won in the West Catholic Athletic League 42-35 and then took the Central Coast Section Open Division final 33-13 on Nov. 21. St. Mary's of Stockton, ninth here, beat Serra 31-24 in the Northern California Division 2-AA final on Dec. 5. Serra's own trophy from the fall is the Central Coast Division 1 title, a tier below Riordan's, won 28-21 over Los Gatos a week after the Open loss.

That is the case against, all of it, and we are not going to pretend it is smaller than it is.

The case for is the roster. Serra started six juniors last fall who are seniors now: Caleb Bandel at quarterback, Jeovanni Henley at running back, Jace Cannon at tight end, Charlie Walsh at receiver, Malakai Taufoou at safety and Dylan Modena at linebacker. Patrick Walsh has coached all six into a third varsity season. Riordan is going the other way. Mike Mitchell Jr. is a freshman quarterback at Stanford, and there is no version of the Crusaders that does not feel that.

We think the team that returns is better than the team that beat it. Friday is the fastest possible test, because De La Salle comes to San Mateo.

## Riordan at Four Goes to Salt Lake City

Riordan went 12-1 and won the Central Coast Section Open Division for the first time in school history. The one loss is Folsom, 42-38, in a regional final in December. The Crusaders also went and beat Pittsburg 42-35 in September, which is the seventh team here. Adonyae Brown is back at running back.

The Crusaders open Friday at West of Salt Lake City, which is fifth on our Utah board and has outscored two opponents 80-14, a 20-14 win over Arbor View and a 60-0 shutout of East. It is the only game this week that puts two SPIN regional boards on the same field.

## Central East at Five Plays Two Teams From This Board Inside Eight Days

Central East went 14-1 and won its second state championship, beating an unbeaten Pacifica of Oxnard 42-28 in the Division 1-A final. On the way there the Bengals beat Pittsburg 55-36 in the Northern California final, and Pittsburg is seventh here.

Jelani Dippel is back at quarterback after throwing for 4,583 yards and 58 touchdowns as a junior, the most of any returning junior in California. Bayon Harris is back after 1,768 receiving yards and has committed to Fresno State. Kyle Biggs has 15 starters back and added a running back who went for 1,732 yards and 24 touchdowns at Roosevelt in Ehis Idoni, a Fresno State receiver commit in Relando Jefferson out of Clovis West, and a defensive back in Cameron Smith from San Joaquin Memorial. Biggs told the Fresno Bee in July that the title means the Bengals have a bigger bull's-eye on their back.

Fifth is not a safe number. Central East hosts Grant on Friday and goes to Oak Ridge on Sept. 4, and both are on this board, at eighth and sixth. We have ranked a team above two opponents it plays inside eight days. There is nowhere to hide in that.

The honest part cuts against us. Central East's only loss last year was 42-26 at Grant in the second week, and the Pacers had been beaten 51-13 by Folsom on ESPN six days earlier. Grant led 28-0 early in the second quarter and was never caught. Nearly all of that Grant team is back. Home field has flipped and Fresno hosts this time.

One thing to settle before somebody sends it to us. Central East is 0-0. The Bengals were at Pinecrest Academy Sloan Canyon in Nevada on Aug. 14 and the game was called in the first half for lightning with Sloan Canyon ahead 14-7. It does not count, no matter what the recap that is still sitting on the internet says.

## Oak Ridge at Six Beat Three Teams From This Board and Lost to the Same One Twice

Oak Ridge went 9-4 and won nothing, and that undersells it badly. The Trojans beat Central Catholic 14-13 in the Sac-Joaquin Division 1 quarterfinal, Grant 9-7 in the semifinal, and St. Mary's of Stockton 56-35 back in September. Those are the tenth, eighth and ninth teams on this board.

Then they lost the section final to Folsom 21-14, which was the second time Folsom beat them last fall. Folsom has now won 25 straight in that series across 19 seasons, and that streak is the only thing standing between Oak Ridge and a much bigger number here.

Oak Ridge opens Friday in Argyle, Texas, then hosts Central East on Sept. 4.

## Pittsburg at Seven Is the Other Number We Have to Defend

Moving Central East up meant moving somebody down, and it was Pittsburg.

The Pirates are 57-13 over five years. Last fall they lost the North Coast Section Open Division final to De La Salle 24-17, dropped into the Division 1 bracket and beat Cardinal Newman 42-17 for that title, then lost the Northern California Division 1-A final to Central East 55-36.

Both teams that beat Pittsburg are ranked above Pittsburg here. That is the whole argument for seven, and it is a full season old. Monterey Trail comes to Pittsburg on Friday.

## Cardinal Newman Is Not on This Board and Plays Our Top Two in Eight Days

Cardinal Newman is not in our ten and we do not have a tidy argument for that.

What we have instead is a schedule. The Cardinals open Friday at Folsom and then go to De La Salle on Sept. 4. They play the two teams at the top of this board inside eight days, with a staff that has been together since April. Frank McManus stepped down after one season and Kenny McMillan took over in Santa Rosa, with Sean Embree as associate head coach.

If Cardinal Newman belongs on this board, we will know by Sept. 5, and they will be on it before October.

## The Rest, and Why the Whole Board Plays Friday

Grant is eighth and went 7-5 with nearly all of it back, 17 or 18 starters depending on who is counting. It is at Central East on Friday. De La Salle beat the Pacers 47-20 last September.

St. Mary's of Stockton is ninth and went 13-2, winning the Division 2-AA state title 27-24 over Bakersfield Christian, the first state championship in school history after two losing trips to the final. Tony Franks takes the Rams to Bishop Manogue of Reno on Friday. Manogue is 0-2 and came off our Nevada board this week. De La Salle comes to Stockton on Sept. 18, a year after beating St. Mary's 36-7 in Concord.

Central Catholic of Modesto is tenth and opens in Homedale, Idaho.

Northern California does not start in waves. All ten of these teams are 0-0 and all ten play Friday. Four of them leave the state to do it, one of those into Utah against a team we also rank, and two of the games are teams from this board against each other. The whole thing gets priced in a single night.

Serra at three, Central East at five and Pittsburg at seven are the three we will hear about. All three start getting answered Friday.

Max Fielder

SPIN opens its Northern California board with De La Salle on top and Folsom second. Serra is third on a roster read that three head to head results argue against, and Central East debuts fifth above two teams it plays inside eight days.

NorCal Top 10: De La Salle First, Central East Fifth, and All Ten Open Friday

SPIN Nevada Top 10 card for Week 3, listing ten Nevada schools with logos, records and movement on blue and black plates. Bishop Gorman is first at 2-0, Churchill County second, Spanish Springs third, and Pinecrest Academy Sloan Canyon enters at fourth. At right, a Churchill County player in a white and green uniform wearing number four. The SPIN Sports Idol Nation mark is at bottom right.

Three of these ten played in California last weekend and two of them lost. One of the two lost by 34, and that is the team that comes off.

**In:** Pinecrest Academy Sloan Canyon. **Out:** Bishop Manogue, was 7.

| # | Team | Rec | Last week | Move | Title elig. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bishop Gorman | 2-0 | 1 | hold | Yes |
| 2 | Churchill County | 2-0 | 5 | UP 3 | Yes |
| 3 | Spanish Springs | 1-0 | 4 | UP 1 | Yes |
| 4 | Pinecrest Academy Sloan Canyon | 1-0 | NR | NEW | Yes |
| 5 | Palo Verde | 2-0 | 10 | UP 5 | No |
| 6 | Mater Academy East Las Vegas | 1-0 | 6 | hold | Yes |
| 7 | Liberty (Henderson) | 0-1 | 2 | DOWN 5 | No |
| 8 | Faith Lutheran | 1-1 | 8 | hold | Yes |
| 9 | Arbor View | 0-2 | 3 | DOWN 6 | No |
| 10 | Reed | 0-1 | 9 | DOWN 1 | Yes |

The best win in America this month. Columbus of Florida, 1-0 and ranked 25th in its state, on Saturday.

It is 2-0 with wins over two 5A programs, 32-30 over Bishop Manogue and 14-13 at Reed, both on the road and both by a field goal or less.

The defending 3A champion is beating bigger schools, and it is title eligible, which two of the three teams it passed are not.

## Spanish Springs to 3, Sloan Canyon in at 4

Spanish Springs spent the preseason ranked on a 5A title and no snaps. It has now played once and beat a Carson team that had won its opener, 35-7.

Pinecrest Academy Sloan Canyon enters at fourth. It beat McQueen 28-21 at Mackay Stadium, which reverses last season's 4A title game, on a neutral field in McQueen's own city. Jermaine Wilson ran for 228 yards.

It goes to Bishop Gorman on Oct 9 and hosts Faith Lutheran on Oct 23, so this number gets two hard tests without leaving the board.

The biggest riser on this board, and the only other 2-0 team here. A 34-18 opener, then a defensive stop to hold on 28-26 against Legacy.

It cannot play for a title. It is also winning, and the alternative was leaving one-loss and two-loss teams above it.

Mater Academy East Las Vegas holds at 6 at 1-0 and idle. Victor Valley of California visits Friday.

Liberty of Henderson did not play either, and falls to 7. The Mililani loss is two weeks old and unanswered, and three teams beneath it won while it sat. Tafuna of American Samoa visits Friday.

Faith Lutheran holds at 8 on a one point road win in California.

## Manogue comes off, Arbor View does not

Arbor View falls to 9. It is 0-2, but both losses are by one score and both came out of state, 17-24 at Carlsbad and 14-20 to West of Salt Lake City. Reed falls one to 10 after losing 14-13 at home to the team now ranked second.

Bishop Manogue comes off at 0-2 with a 48-14 loss at Clovis West. Arbor View is also 0-2 and stays, because Arbor View's two losses are by a combined 13 points and Manogue's second was by 34.

Pinecrest Academy Sloan Canyon enters at fourth after beating McQueen in Reno. Palo Verde climbs five, the biggest move on this board.

Nevada Power 10, Week 3: Churchill County to Second and Bishop Manogue Comes Off

SPIN Utah Top 10 card for Week 3, listing ten Utah schools with logos, records and movement on blue and black plates. Corner Canyon is first at 2-0, Mountain Ridge second, American Fork third, Skyridge fourth, and Herriman enters at tenth. At right, a Mountain Ridge Sentinels player in a red jersey and white helmet wearing number one. The SPIN Sports Idol Nation mark is at bottom right.

We said in print that this board would move Lone Peak. It moves Lone Peak, six spots.

The bigger story is three rows above it. American Fork went to Santa Ana, lost by 20 to the eighth best team in America, and went up.

**In:** Herriman. **Out:** Timpview, was 9.

| # | Team | Cls | Rec | Last week | Move |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Corner Canyon | 6A | 2-0 | 1 | hold |
| 2 | Mountain Ridge | 6A | 2-0 | 4 | UP 2 |
| 3 | American Fork | 6A | 1-1 | 5 | UP 2 |
| 4 | Skyridge | 6A | 1-1 | 8 | UP 4 |
| 5 | West (SLC) | 5A | 2-0 | 6 | UP 1 |
| 6 | Davis | 6A | 1-1 | 7 | UP 1 |
| 7 | Orem | 5A | 1-1 | 3 | DOWN 4 |
| 8 | Lone Peak | 6A | 1-1 | 2 | DOWN 6 |
| 9 | Ridgeline | 4A | 2-0 | 10 | UP 1 |
| 10 | Herriman | 6A | 2-0 | NR | NEW |

It has outscored its two opponents 91-21, winning 51-14 at Davis and 40-7 at Timpview. Both games were on the road and both opponents were in this top ten at kickoff. Nobody has been within four touchdowns. Fremont visits Friday, the first home game of the year.

It shut out Lehi 42-0, and its Week 1 win over Skyridge looked a lot better on Saturday when Skyridge went out and beat Orem. Davis at Mountain Ridge on Thursday is the game of the week in the state.

Scoreless first quarter in Santa Ana. Down 17-3 at half, then eight unanswered in the third to make it 17-11 with a quarter to play against the eighth best team in America. Mater Dei needed 14 in the fourth to get the margin to 20.

Nobody else in Utah has played anything close to that, and outside Corner Canyon nobody else is staying within three scores of Mater Dei. Orem finds out Saturday.

The biggest riser in the state. We had Skyridge as the biggest fall last week, Utah said we overcorrected, and it answered by beating the No. 3 team with 14 fourth quarter points. Its only loss is to the team now ranked second.

West of Salt Lake City moves to 5. It has outscored two opponents 80-14, a 60-0 shutout of East and a 20-14 Week 1 win over Arbor View when Arbor View was Nevada's No. 3. Archbishop Riordan of San Francisco visits Friday.

Davis to 6. It put 56 on Fremont, and its only loss is to Corner Canyon. Thursday at Mountain Ridge tells us whether six is right.

Orem falls to 7. It lost at Skyridge to a team five spots below it and scored one offensive touchdown doing it. The other seven came on Kaio Akana's 30 yard interception return. Mater Dei visits Saturday, at West High in Salt Lake City rather than in Orem. This gets ugly if Orem cannot run the ball.

The biggest fall in the state. Beaten 59-3 at home with a running clock at halftime and four turnovers. Its only win is 33-21 at Crimson Cliffs.

It is also off the national board entirely, where it was 20th on Friday morning.

Herriman enters at 10 after three weeks as first out. It is 2-0, past Bountiful 25-14 and Stansbury 40-36, and it has still not beaten anybody on this board. What changed is not Herriman. What changed is that the tenth slot came open.

Timpview comes off at 1-1, a 40-21 win at Layton and a 40-7 home loss to Corner Canyon. It did not play its way off this board so much as get displaced by an undefeated team when the tenth slot was the only one left. It hosts American Fork on Thursday and can put itself straight back on.

Skyridge is the biggest riser in the state after we made it the biggest fall a week ago. Herriman gets in after three weeks as first out. Timpview comes off.

SoCal Top 10, Week 3: Santa Margarita Takes the Top Spot and Bosco Drops to Fourth

Santa Margarita, 2 to 1

Centennial to 2, Mater Dei to 3

St. John Bosco, 1 to 4

The bottom half

#	Team	Rec	Last week	Move
1	Santa Margarita	1-0	2	UP 1
2	Centennial, Corona	1-0	3	UP 1
3	Mater Dei	1-0	4	UP 1
4	St. John Bosco	0-1	1	DOWN 3
5	Sierra Canyon	1-0	5	hold
6	Mission Viejo	1-0	6	hold
7	Orange Lutheran	0-1	7	hold
8	San Clemente	1-0	10	UP 2
9	Cathedral Catholic	0-0	9	hold
10	Servite	0-1	8	DOWN 2