Top 10 high school football teams in the area — and who’s ranked No. 1 may come as a surprise

For over a decade, the standard had only one standard to eclipse each season — its own.

For years, St. Joseph’s Prep was leaving a wide gap between itself and everyone else in Southeastern Pennsylvania high school football — and throughout the state. The Hawks delighted in being the area’s crimson-and-gray Darth Vaders. The program embraced that, on the high school level, they were the Dallas Cowboys — the team everyone loved to hate.

That came from winning. And winning. And winning.

Gil Brooks resurrected a dormant Prep program in the early 1990s, Gabe Infante took it to national heights in the 2010s, and Tim Roken has created a statewide monster that has 65-9 over the last six years and won five state titles.

This year, however, could be different. The pieces are there. The coaching is there.

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Perhaps the only person who does not think that La Salle is the team to beat this season is its coach, Brett Gordon. In his first season last year, all Gordon did was direct the Explorers to a 10-1 record, including a 35-34 regular-season victory in quadruple overtime over St. Joe’s Prep.

It marked La Salle’s third win in the last 10 years over Prep (Nov. 21, 2015, and on Oct. 2, 2021, Abdul Carter’s senior year at La Salle). Over the previous 16 games, the Prep was 14-2 and had outscored the Explorers, 571-226.

What was supposed to be a rivalry was not one at all. Under Gordon, the gap has shrunk considerably. It’s a rivalry again.

“We have to win when it matters most, and until we do that, we don’t deserve to be ranked ahead of Prep,” Gordon said. “That’s my official stance. We haven’t won anything yet. We still have something to prove. I wouldn’t put us No. 1 to start the season.

“With all the same guys we have back, the truth of the matter is, we didn’t win when it counted [in the 2024 Catholic League Red Division championship]. That’s how I feel. It’s a fact. We have to beat Prep when it matters.”

Several teams also could factor into who plays in December, like Coatesville, Imhotep Charter, North Penn, and Downingtown West.

Here’s a look at the top 10 area teams in descending order:

The Clippers will be led by twins Daron and Jalen Harris and 6-foot-8, 330-pound offensive tackle Shemaj Henry, who is bound for Syracuse. Last year, Chester won the Del-Val League before losing to the eventual District 1 Class 5A champion, West Chester Rustin, in the second round of the playoffs.

Two years ago, Chester lost to Strath Haven in the Class 5A district championship. In a 28-24 loss to perennial Public League power Imhotep Charter last season, Temple-bound Daron Harris was the best player on a field loaded with Division I talent. He intercepted three passes and scored twice, once on an 83-yard kickoff return and the other on a 4-yard touchdown reception from his brother Jalen, the Clippers’ quarterback.

Games to watch: Aug. 23 at Lincoln; Aug. 30 vs. George Washington; Oct. 18 vs. Penn Wood.

The Red Raiders enter this season with a vengeance. They finished with a disappointing .500 record last season and return a wealth of talent, including left guard Maxwell Hiller, a 6-6, 310-pound junior who’s one of the nation’s top-ranked offensive linemen, and Penn State-bound senior linebacker Terry Wiggins (6-3, 210 pounds). Opposite Hiller on the right side is 6-4, 340-pound junior guard CJ Miller, and at center is 5-6, 195-pound Santino Galarza.

Coatesville, with Hiller and Miller, and Matt Ortega Jr. at quarterback, will rely on a power game and have close to 900 pounds with its interior trio to run behind. Coatesville’s first test comes in its opener against a very good Garnet Valley team.

Games to watch: Aug. 22 vs. Garnet Valley; Oct. 10 at Downingtown East; Oct. 17 vs. Downingtown West.

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The Knights reached the District 1 Class 6A championship, where they lost to Downingtown West, 35-16, last season. Seven starters are back on offense and six on defense. The Knights will be led by 5-11, 180-pound running back/defensive back Matt Pownall (a Navy pledge); 6-foot, 185-pound three-year starting quarterback Matt Bucksar Jr.; 6-1, 235-pound offensive/defensive lineman Dominic Tranzilli; 5-11, 235-pound senior defensive/offensive lineman Jack Silvers; 5-10, 175-pound senior wide receiver/defensive back Mason Franek; and 5-10, 170-pound junior running back/defensive back Rylei Gray.

North Penn’s entire secondary is back, and the Knights should be balanced on offense. They will be the team to beat in the rough Suburban One League.

Games to watch: Aug. 22 at Downingtown East; Oct. 3 vs. Central Bucks South; Oct. 17 vs. Central Bucks West.

The Whippets won the District 1 championship, 35-16, over North Penn and reached the Class 6A state semifinals, where they were beaten by St. Joe’s Prep, 36-7. West returns six starters on offense and defense, highlighted by senior and two-year starting quarterback Cole Bricker; Army-bound 6-4, 250-pound senior tight end/defensive end TJ Sinkus; 6-4, 200-pound wide receiver/defensive back JD Weller; 6-1, 195-pound tight end/linebacker Brian Carter; 6-2, 180-pound junior defensive back/wide receiver Brendon Goode-Kimble (the son of legendary basketball player Bo Kimble); and 5-11, 170-pound defensive back/wide receiver Ryan Shoemaker.

Games to watch: Aug. 23 at Freedom (Bethlehem); Oct. 17 at Coatesville; Oct. 24 vs. Downingtown East.

The Friars won their first state championship in football last season, beating District 3 champion Lampeter-Strasburg, 40-14, for the Class 4A state title. Bonner-Prendie’s only two losses came against the best two teams in the state, three-peat Class 6A state champion St. Joe’s Prep and Catholic League runner-up La Salle.

Jalil Hall, now at Purdue, and Mick Johnson, now at West Chester, will be hard to replace. The Friars return eight starters on offense, including quarterback Noel Campbell, and offensive linemen Julius Johnson, Kevin Hunter, Caleb Tesema, and James Shallow, along with wide receivers Ty Morris and Saalem Frink. The Friars close their season with the gauntlet of La Salle, St. Joe’s Prep, and Roman Catholic.

Games to watch: Oct. 11 at La Salle; Oct. 18 vs. St. Joe’s Prep; Oct. 24 at Roman Catholic.

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The Cahillites reached the Class 5A state championship for the first time last season but lost to Harrisburg’s Bishop McDevitt in a heartbreaking 34-31 overtime thriller. Three-year starting quarterback Semaj Beals, a senior committed to Akron, will be the leader, with 5-10, 170-pound defensive back Justus Gaskin returning as the primary player on defense. Junior Eli Pollack may be the best kicker in the city this season. Linebacker Will Felder Jr. was a special talent who will be sorely missed, but he’s now playing at Duke under former St. Joe’s Prep coach Infante.

Games to watch: Sept. 12 vs. DeMatha (Md.); Sept. 26 vs. La Salle; Oct. 10 vs. St. Joe’s Prep.

The Panthers moved up to Class 6A last season after winning the Class 5A state championship in 2023. Imhotep is the 12-time defending Philadelphia Public League champion, and its streak as 10-time District 12 champion came to an end when the Panthers lost, 42-0, to defending 6A state champion St. Joe’s Prep.

Imhotep returns size in Maryland-bound 6-7, 320-pound senior right tackle Jesse Moody. At the hub of their defense is 6-2, 235-pound senior linebacker Charles Belser. Joey McLeish, a 6-1, 180-pound junior, returns as a two-year starter at quarterback. Sy’eer Coleman, a 6-foot, 200-pound senior tailback, will try to compensate for the void left by Penn State’s Jabree Wallace-Coleman, who ended an incredible four-year career at Imhotep with 4,243 rushing yards and 63 touchdowns.

Games to watch: Aug. 23 at Harrisburg; Sept. 5 at DeMatha; Sept. 12 at Malvern Prep.

The Friars are looking to three-peat as Inter-Academic League champions. If the Friars take the title again, it will be their fourth crown in five years, interrupted by the Haverford School in 2022, and a sixth Inter-Ac title in the last eight seasons. (The 2020 season was ended by COVID-19.)

Much will depend on Penn State-bound 6-5, 240-pound edge rusher Jackson Ford; Kentucky-bound 6-3, 215-pound linebacker Max Mohring; Minnesota-bound 5-10, 210-pound power back Ezekiel Bates; and 6-1, 190-pound senior quarterback Jackson Melconian. The Friars’ two losses last season came against Class 5A state runner-up Roman Catholic and probably the second-best team in the state last season, La Salle.

Games to watch: Aug. 29 vs. La Salle at Ocean City, N.J.; Sept. 12 vs. Imhotep Charter; Oct. 18 vs. Haverford School.

Yes, the Hawks are the three-time defending Class 6A state champions. Yes, the Hawks return a lot of talent in Penn State-bound defensive lineman Alex Haskell; junior quarterback Charlie Foulke, the 2024 Class 6A state player of the year; senior tailback Khyan Billups; 6-2, 230-pound junior linebacker Brandon Lockley, a major Division I talent; defensive backs Simaj Hill (West Virginia) and Masiia Acrey; plus sophomore wide receiver Jett Harrison, the son of Hall of Famer Marvin Harrison.

This is what the Hawks are aiming for this season: becoming the first large school in Pennsylvania history to win four straight state championships since the PIAA instituted a state football playoff in 1988.

There have been only two previous three-peats at the large-school level: the late, legendary Mike Pettine’s Central Bucks West teams of the late 1990s and St. Joe’s Prep from 2018 to 2020. The Prep has reached the state final in nine straight years — winning seven — since the PIAA instituted a Class 6A system in 2016. No other team in the state has done that in Class 6A.

Last season, the Hawks mercy-ruled Public League champion Imhotep Charter, 42-0; District 11 champion Parkland, 46-7; and District 1 champion Downingtown West, 36-7 (in the state semifinals). Standing in the Hawks’ way of a historic four-peat: archrival La Salle.

Games to watch: Sept. 13 vs. St. Frances Academy (Md.); Sept. 20 vs. Our Lady of Good Counsel (Md.); Oct. 4 vs. La Salle at Franklin Field.

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La Salle’s one and only PIAA state championship came in 2009 (at Class 4A under the previous system). The Explorers are well aware of it. The last time La Salle was in the state playoffs was in 2015, when this year’s seniors were in second grade.

The Explorers return the best player in the state, 6-4, 190-pound wide receiver/safety Joey O’Brien, who is Notre Dame-bound. They also have four-year starting quarterback Gavin Sidwar (Missouri) and possibly the best offensive line in the state in 6-foot-8, 285-pound Notre Dame-bound senior left tackle Grayson McKeogh; 6-3, 290-pound junior left guard Chris Bernesky; 6-2, 265-pound senior center Jacob Jackson; 6-2, 285-pound junior right guard Andrew Sorge; and 6-3, 280-pound senior right tackle Danny Lawyer.

The Explorers also return Temple-bound, 6-3, 223-pound tight end John-Patrick Oates. Linebacker Zykee Scott, a 6-3, 225-pound transfer from Imhotep, will be an impact player.

Can the Explorers run the ball? That will depend on 5-9, 192-pound senior tailback Desmond Ortiz. And if Explorers coach Gordon were to lead this team to a state championship this season, he would join his legendary father, the late Drew Gordon, as the only father-son coaching tandem to win Pennsylvania football titles.

Games to watch: Aug. 22 at Pittsburgh Central Catholic; Aug. 29 vs. Malvern Prep at Ocean City, N.J. ; Oct. 4 vs. St. Joe’s Prep at Franklin Field.

Honorable mention: Neumann Goretti, Garnet Valley, Bishop Shanahan, Springfield (Delco), Central Bucks South, Central Bucks West, Lincoln, Pope John Paul II, Haverford High, Haverford School, Frankford, and Conwell-Egan.