Staff Writer
Sloane Carter covers high school sports for SPIN, following the athletes, the teams, and the seasons that shape them.
No. 35 Mission Viejo beat San Juan Hills 54-44 to win the Alpha League, with three touchdowns from Carson Vandermade and two from Jack Junker, while Parker Armstrong threw four for San Juan Hills.
How the SPIN Nevada Top 10 fared in Week 10. Arbor View beat Coronado 37-13, Churchill County beat Elko to stay unbeaten, and Liberty of Henderson and Palo Verde both lost.
How the SPIN NorCal Top 10 fared in Week 10. Folsom won 28-21 at Oak Ridge, Central East beat Buchanan 69-38, and Grant lost a one-point game to Destiny Christian.
How the SPIN Utah Top 10 fared in Week 10. Mountain Ridge, West and Ridgeline are all 10-0, Skyridge beat American Fork 21-15 and Corner Canyon beat Lehi 34-7.
SPIN Nevada Top 10, Week 10. Liberty won 37-14 at Coronado and climbs three, Arbor View returns at fourth, Churchill County moves to 10th, and Legacy comes off.
SPIN NorCal Top 10, Week 10. Folsom is 7-0, Central East is 6-0, Oak Ridge stays fifth after losing 20-17 to Tabor Academy, and Buchanan passes Pittsburg.
SPIN Utah Top 10, Week 10. Mountain Ridge, West and Ridgeline are 9-0, Corner Canyon won at American Fork, and Lone Peak beat Lehi.
How the SPIN Nevada Top 10 fared in Week 9. Bishop Gorman beat Pinecrest Academy Sloan Canyon 48-3, Churchill County is 8-0, and Legacy lost a shootout to Green Valley.
How the SPIN NorCal Top 10 fared in Week 9. Folsom got UCLA commit Rob Larson back and is 7-0 heading to Oak Ridge, Central East is 6-0, and Serra beat Archbishop Mitty 49-14.
How the SPIN Utah Top 10 fared in Week 9. Mountain Ridge, West and Ridgeline are all 9-0, Lone Peak beat Lehi, and Skyridge had the week off.
Central Catholic of Portland led 21-7 at halftime and won on the road in Gresham.
Miguel Martinez ran for the go-ahead touchdown, then made a third-down stop near the goal line as Curtis drove for the lead late.
Kahuku won the OIA Open Division game at home and is 5-4.
The Huskies won a Big West North game at home and are 4-3.
The Monarchs won a Trinity League game on the road to move to 5-2.
Petero ran for 98 yards on seven carries, and Santa Margarita won 27-3 at home to move to 7-0.
The Tritons won on the road in Alpha League play and are 7-0.
Dippel threw for 261 yards and two touchdowns, and the Central East defense intercepted three passes as the Grizzlies moved to 6-0.
Ahsoni Seals threw five touchdown passes in his varsity debut, and Pittsburg extended its league winning streak to 37 games.
The Trailblazers stayed unbeaten with a Mission League road win in Gardena.
The Cardinals opened league play with a road shutout in Novato.
The Vikings scored at least 69 points for the third straight game.
The Lakers won on the road in West Linn and moved to 6-0.
The Gaels won their fourth straight game and moved to 6-1.
The Knights moved to 6-1 and stayed unbeaten in 4A Southern play.
The Patriots won the Henderson matchup on the road and ended the Cougars' six-game winning streak.
The Greenwave beat their league rival 40-0 in Fallon and moved to 8-0.
Xander Thayer caught three of them as Mountain Ridge led 38-7 at halftime and won 52-7 to move to 9-0.
West, fifth on our Utah board, scored 23 points in the first quarter and stayed perfect in Region 4 play.
Herriman trailed 13-7 at halftime, and Stevens' 16-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter held up in a 23-20 Region 2 win.
Ponderosa scored 28 points in the second quarter and moved to 7-0 with a road win in South Metro League play.
Neelein Shead Jr. ran for two touchdowns and Braxston Widrikis returned an interception for a score as Grandview moved to 6-1.
Fort Collins answered a 22-21 deficit with 23 straight points in Boulder and is 7-0.
No. 78 Corner Canyon goes to American Fork on Thursday night in Region 3, with Skyridge sitting at 3-0 on a bye.
SPIN NorCal Top 10, Week 8. The top four hold, Pittsburg falls after a one-point loss to Los Gatos, and Central Catholic of Modesto and Clovis come off.
SPIN Utah Top 10, Week 8. Mountain Ridge beats Herriman 45-7 and holds first, Skyridge wins at Lone Peak, and Lehi takes Herriman's place.
A second-year program from Virginia led the No. 3 team in the country with 57 seconds left. Osani Gayles answered with a 60-yard kickoff return, and Zach Brien finished it.
Santa Margarita held Mater Dei to one score, Mountain Ridge won by 38 and Skyridge won it on the last snap. Basic ended Palo Verde's unbeaten season, and Los Gatos stole one at Pittsburg.
Westlake took the lead with 1:03 left. Newton needed less than a minute to take it back, and the Rams are 6-0.
Up 20-3 at The Graveyard, Raines watched Venice climb back on a rain-soaked night. The special teams unit made sure the comeback stopped three points short.
Down 13 in the third quarter at Chaminade-Madonna, St. Thomas Aquinas came all the way back, and Wyatt Smith got his hand on the kick that had the winning streak on the line.
SPIN Arizona Top 10, Week 7. Basha climbs two places on the strength of wins over the second and third teams on this board, Hamilton stays first at 5-0, and Chandler comes back to beat Brophy College Prep.
SPIN Nevada Top 10, Week 7. Coronado climbs to fourth after beating Foothill, Mater Academy East takes its first loss in Sacramento, and Bishop Gorman stays first after a 45-3 homecoming win.
SPIN SoCal Top 10, Week 7. Nothing moves. Six teams were idle, Centennial of Corona lost by three to De La Salle at Cal, and Sierra Canyon and San Clemente stay unbeaten.
SPIN NorCal Top 10, Week 7. De La Salle holds first after beating Centennial of Corona at Cal, Folsom survives two overtimes, and Oak Ridge and Del Oro trade places.
SPIN Utah Top 10, Week 7. Mountain Ridge moves to first, Skyridge climbs to second after beating Corner Canyon 37-27, and Herriman falls to 10th after a loss to Lehi.
SPIN NorCal Top 10, Week 6. De La Salle and Folsom hold, Central East moves to third, Serra slips to fourth on a week off, and Del Oro of Loomis jumps to sixth.
SPIN Utah Top 10, Week 6. Mountain Ridge won a 95 point game in Temecula. Corner Canyon beat Lone Peak. Ten holds on the board, and three Utah teams sit inside the national top 70.
SPIN Arizona Top 10, Week 6. Basha beat Liberty of Peoria 30-22, Chandler and Pinnacle move up, Brophy and ALA Gilbert North come on after beating board teams, and Centennial of Peoria drops to fifth at 4-0.
Nine SoCal board teams played in Week 6 and six won. Mater Dei lost to Bishop Gorman, Bishop Amat lost to JSerra, and the only loss from inside the ten was Sierra Canyon beating Orange Lutheran.
All ten Arizona board teams played in Week 6 and six won. One loss was Basha beating Liberty of Peoria. The other three were three point losses to teams outside our top ten.
Nine of the ten Utah board teams played in Week 6 and seven won. Lone Peak lost to Corner Canyon and Davis lost to American Fork, and nothing from outside the board touched it.
No. 31 Washington of Massillon at No. 40 St. Edward is at a college stadium in Berea, which is the detail most previews of this game will get wrong.
Pittsburg at No. 43 Mission Viejo puts our fifth ranked NorCal team on the road against a Southern California side that just moved up eleven places.
No. 39 Cherry Creek at Valor Christian is the biggest game in the state, and the visitor has not lost to a Colorado school in almost three years.
Eight wins, one loss by a single point, and the No. 1 team has not played yet
All ten played, two lost, and both defeats came against another team on this board
Nine wins, one loss, and the only defeat came from inside the board
Nine board teams played, eight won, and the one that lost lost by a point to the team ranked below it.
Pinnacle beat Basha by 33, and every Arizona loss this week came against another Arizona board team.
Five shutouts. The other three losers scored exactly seven. Nobody in this state was tested on Friday.
David Gabriel Georges has 445 rushing yards in three games. Trinity has three straight state titles and one four-star. Friday is the collision.
Two 11-win teams that lost regional finals on the same December afternoon, both unbeaten, both in the Texas top five, meeting for the first time in 16 years.
Cardinal Newman has not lost to a Palm Beach County team since September 10, 2021. West Boca has allowed seven points all season and has a four-star headed to Georgia Tech.
The Out West list expanded this week. Six teams are new to it, Northern California and Hawaii are on it for the first time, and Mission Viejo is the only name that left
De La Salle and Folsom carry it. Underneath them the board turned over three places, and one of them came from Fresno
The top of this board barely moved. Everything interesting happened from sixth down
Basha loses the top line it has held since the preseason. Hamilton takes it on a shutout
Damonte Ranch and Coronado are in. Nevada still has exactly one team on the national board
The editor held all ten places. The board underneath the hold is doing more than the chips suggest
Every SPIN regional board's Thursday and Friday, from Corner Canyon's mercy rule to a one-point night in Corona
The widest margin on SPIN's national board this week
42-10 at Murrieta Valley, with Murrieta shut out after halftime
The only game this week putting two SPIN regional boards on the same field went 21-13 to Utah
SPIN's Utah No. 10 won by 48 on the road
Jaxon Pehrson threw five touchdown passes in a 49-0 win over Fremont
NorCal's No. 1 opened its season 35-25 at No. 3 Serra of San Mateo
CJ Wallace's 99-yard kickoff return and a blocked field goal kept SPIN's No. 44 alive at 23-17
Pinecrest Academy Sloan Canyon enters at fourth after beating McQueen in Reno. Palo Verde climbs five, the biggest move on this board.
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.
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.
Skyridge beat Orem 21-14 on 14 fourth-quarter points, Corner Canyon pushed its two-game margin to 91-21, Mountain Ridge shut out Lehi, and American Fork was within six of Mater Dei in the fourth.
Santa Margarita shut out an Orlando program behind Fletch Palmer's first career start while the rest of the Trinity League went 2-4. St. John Bosco lost in Las Vegas and Orange Lutheran lost by one.
IMG Academy opened its 2026 season with a running-clock 59-3 win over Lone Peak, our Utah No. 2, in Highland. Bishop Gorman visits the same Utah stadium on Sept. 4.
The Huskies won their opener 41-21 at Orange Coast College. What happened after they went up three scores is the part our SoCal board has to read carefully.
SPIN opens the 2026 SoCal Top 10 with St. John Bosco first and reigning state champion Santa Margarita second. Servite at eight is the widest disagreement on the board, and the LA Times has them 15th.
Bishop Gorman shut out Losee in a game lightning ended at halftime. Every other Nevada board team that played in Week 1 lost. Three of those losses cost nothing, because of who they came against. Churchill County, Mater East and Palo Verde take the seats that opened below.
All ten teams on our Utah board played in Week 1. Eight won. Both losses came from inside the top ten, so the board returns with no entries and no exits. Everything else about it changed. American Fork is up four, Skyridge is down four, and six of the ten sit somewhere new.
Utah's top ten finished six for six against outsiders, Nevada finally agreed on the score in Fallon's favor, and California quietly got its season started in Hawaii.
Lightning stopped the game Friday night at 7-5 after one quarter. It ended Saturday at 43-35, on a one-yard touchdown by a lineman with 76 seconds left.
Tropical Storm Lala moved the game up a day and pushed gusts up to 25 mph through Kunuiakea Stadium. The defending Utah 5A champions won 16-7 and barely blinked.
Thirty Clark County programs walked away from the state playoffs. Five of them are on this board. Bishop Gorman is still No. 1 and now has almost nobody left to beat.
Corner Canyon opens No. 1 without Eric Kjar and without all six of its first-team all-staters, two of them SPIN All-Americans. Nine other teams think that's an opening. The season starts Thursday.
Eric Kjar left for Weber State. Casey Sutera came home to replace him. Corner Canyon opens the 2026 season Friday night at Davis, and the national polls still aren't paying attention. That's their mistake.