In 1988, the PIAA finally instituted a statewide football playoff. In conjunction with this, Rod Frisco of the Harrisburg Patriot-News began publishing state rankings for each of the then four classes on a weekly basis. Now reaching over 600 weekly rankings since that first list came out in the late summer of 1988, there is a deep well of information to dip into for us to look at statewide rankings in Pennsylvania.
State rankings had existed on a sporadic basis prior to this, including the mathematical one devised by Dr. Roger Saylor. But Frisco’s rankings were the most prominent and by far longest-lasting rankings in the state. While Frisco retired years ago, the Patriot-News (and PennLive) have continued these rankings to the present day. In my opinion, this lineage of rankings is the state standard due to the Patriot-News having been high school football’s newspaper of record in Pennsylvania for decades.
Before we start, I want to say a few things. First, I highly respect the work that Frisco, Eric Epler and everyone else at the Patriot-News has done over the years on their rankings. Creating statewide rankings is a fun but monumental task that invites plenty of criticism from readers. Distilling the top ten teams in a classification of about 140 schools (prior to 2016) is Herculean; doing so in the current six-class system (“only” 90-ish schools per class) is only a little less insane. None of the data presented here is meant to critique the accuracy of any of these rankings. In fact, a lot of this data made me even more impressed with the work Frisco, Epler, et al., did over the years.
Second, we all need to understand that many major shifts have happened over the past 38 years that we must consider when revisiting the rankings. The switch from four classes to six in 2016 is a major one, of course. Another is the expansion of the PIAA playoffs from just four teams per classification in the early years to the 16-team brackets we have today, as imbalanced and wonky as they can be when wedging district playoffs into them. The addition of the Philadelphia Public and Catholic Leagues nearly 20 years ago opened up a new corner of the state to the rankings, as those teams weren’t included until they formally joined the PIAA. Gathering reliable statewide information is likely much easier today than it was in the late 1980s, so that cannot be discounted, either. Finally, all of the data shown below is based on what I have at the moment. There are still a handful of weeks that I haven’t found, but I’m still working on finding every last one of them. As of now, more than 94% of the weekly state rankings are in my dataset.
The First State Ranking
The focus of this post will be to analyze how preseason No. 1 teams fared in the state playoffs, but let’s start with a look at the very first state rankings, which were published by the Patriot-News on September 1, 1988. Four of the teams included in either the Top 10 or honorable mention sections (Monaca, Wilkes-Barre GAR & United) are now part of full district mergers or football co-ops. East Stroudsburg also appeared in these rankings long before the high school split into two campuses.
CLASS A
- Dunmore
- Clairton
- Camp Hill
- Canton
- Minersville
- Southern Columbia
- Marian Catholic
- Cambridge Springs
- Rochester
- Windber
CLASS AA
- Sto-Rox
- Lakeland
- Mount Carmel
- Danville
- Northgate
- Westmont Hilltop
- Tyrone
- Bethlehem Catholic
- Delone Catholic
- Wilkes-Barre GAR
CLASS AAA
- Aliquippa
- Berwick
- Mount Pleasant
- Bald Eagle Area
- Middletown
- Academy Park
- North Schuylkill
- Nazareth
- Juniata
- Bishop McDevitt (Harrisburg)
CLASS AAAA
- North Hills
- Central Bucks West
- Cathedral Prep
- Woodland Hills
- Mt. Lebanon
- Ridley
- Brashear
- Williamsport
- North Allegheny
- Gateway
Including honorable mention teams, every PIAA district aside from District 9 was represented. The WPIAL led the way with 19 teams ranked across all classes, while District 3 had 11 and District 11 had 10. Sto-Rox would immediately lose its top billing in AA after Week 1, as the two smaller classes each saw four different schools ranked No. 1 at some point during the season.
Teams to be Ranked No. 1 in the Preseason
Four schools have been ranked No. 1 in the preseason by the Patriot-News/PennLive at least ten times: Southern Columbia, Aliquippa, Berwick and St. Joe’s Prep. Gateway has the most years ranked No. 1 – three – without capturing a state championship.
In all, 65 different schools have opened a season as the state’s top-ranked team in their class:
| SCHOOL | YEARS AS PRESEASON #1 |
| Southern Columbia | 15 |
| Aliquippa | 11 |
| Berwick | 10 |
| St. Joseph’s Prep | 10 |
| Archbishop Wood | 8 |
| Clairton | 7 |
| Thomas Jefferson | 6 |
| Central Bucks West | 5 |
| Dunmore | 5 |
| Farrell | 5 |
| Pittsburgh Central Catholic | 5 |
| Cathedral Prep | 4 |
| Imhotep Charter | 4 |
| Mount Carmel | 4 |
| Gateway | 3 |
| North Penn | 3 |
| Rochester | 3 |
| Steelton-Highspire | 3 |
| Strath Haven | 3 |
| Belle Vernon | 2 |
| Bethlehem Catholic | 2 |
| Bishop McDevitt | 2 |
| Central Dauphin | 2 |
| Central Valley | 2 |
| Greensburg Central Catholic | 2 |
| Marian Catholic | 2 |
| North Hills | 2 |
| Sharon | 2 |
| South Park | 2 |
| Upper St. Clair | 2 |
| West Catholic | 2 |
| Allentown Central Catholic | 1 |
| Beaver | 1 |
| Bishop Canevin | 1 |
| Bishop Guilfoyle | 1 |
| Cumberland Valley | 1 |
| Dallas | 1 |
| Duquesne | 1 |
| Fort Cherry | 1 |
| Hanover Area | 1 |
| Harrisburg | 1 |
| Jeannette | 1 |
| Lancaster Catholic | 1 |
| Manheim Central | 1 |
| Monaca | 1 |
| Monsignor Bonner | 1 |
| Neshaminy | 1 |
| North Schuylkill | 1 |
| Northwestern Lehigh | 1 |
| Parkland | 1 |
| Penn Hills | 1 |
| Perry | 1 |
| Pine-Richland | 1 |
| Pittsburgh North Catholic | 1 |
| Riverview | 1 |
| Roman Catholic | 1 |
| Seton-LaSalle | 1 |
| Shamokin | 1 |
| South Fayette | 1 |
| Steel Valley | 1 |
| Sto-Rox | 1 |
| Washington | 1 |
| Westinghouse | 1 |
| Wilmington | 1 |
| Woodland Hills | 1 |
Preseason No. 1 Teams in the PIAA Playoffs
There are two ways to go about connecting the dots between the preseason rankings and the teams that end up winning state championships four months later. The first method is to follow those preseason top teams through the year and list where they ended up. The second is to look backward from December and see where the state champs began their year. We’ll do both below.
Top-Ranked Preseason Teams and How They Fared
An important caveat to remember before we begin is how I’m referring to state playoffs. I’m considering anything in a classification’s round of 16 as the First Round, the round of 8 as the State Quarterfinals, the round of 4 as the State Semifinals, and the State Championship game as the State Finals. This fits into the calendar with district playoffs like the WPIAL, District 1 at the larger classes, District 6 at the smaller classes, etc., whose champions enter the state tournament in the advanced rounds. It may seem odd, but it’s the cleanest way to outline this, I think. The PIAA playoffs have always been a Frankenstein set-up; if you don’t believe me, text a friend from another state and try to concisely explain how we run a state tournament. But I think this method makes the most sense.
When looking at preseason No. 1 teams and their season result, two datapoints interested me. First, there was the unsurprising fact that teams ranked first in the preseason had a more than 50% chance of appearing in the state championship game. Sixty teams who were preseason No. 1s won state championships from 1988 to 2025, which comes out to 34.9%. Another 15.7% of top-ranked teams finished as state runners-up. Having slightly better than a coin flip’s chances of reaching Mechanicsburg in December likely sounds good to Pittsburgh Central Catholic, Pine-Richland, Bonner, Avonworth, Southern Columbia and Clairton, the preseason top-ranked teams in 2026.
Preseason No. 1 teams to win that season’s PIAA title:
| YEAR | CLASS | TEAM |
| 1989 | A | Dunmore |
| 1991 | AAAA | Central Bucks West |
| 1992 | AAA | Berwick |
| 1994 | AAA | Berwick |
| 1995 | AAA | Berwick |
| 1996 | AAA | Berwick |
| 1996 | A | Farrell |
| 1997 | AAAA | Central Bucks West |
| 1997 | AAA | Berwick |
| 1999 | AAAA | Central Bucks West |
| 2000 | AAAA | Cathedral Prep |
| 2001 | A | Rochester |
| 2002 | AA | Mount Carmel |
| 2003 | A | Southern Columbia |
| 2004 | A | Southern Columbia |
| 2005 | AA | South Park |
| 2005 | A | Southern Columbia |
| 2006 | A | Southern Columbia |
| 2007 | AAA | Thomas Jefferson |
| 2007 | AA | Jeannette |
| 2008 | AAA | Thomas Jefferson |
| 2008 | A | Steelton-Highspire |
| 2009 | A | Clairton |
| 2010 | AAA | Allentown Central Catholic |
| 2011 | AAA | Archbishop Wood |
| 2011 | A | Clairton |
| 2012 | A | Clairton |
| 2013 | AAA | Archbishop Wood |
| 2014 | AAAA | St. Joseph’s Prep |
| 2014 | AAA | Archbishop Wood |
| 2014 | AA | South Fayette |
| 2015 | AAAA | Pittsburgh Central Catholic |
| 2016 | AAAAA | Archbishop Wood |
| 2016 | AA | Steel Valley |
| 2017 | AAAAA | Archbishop Wood |
| 2017 | AAAA | Cathedral Prep |
| 2017 | AA | Southern Columbia |
| 2018 | AAAAAA | St. Joseph’s Prep |
| 2018 | AAAA | Cathedral Prep |
| 2018 | AAA | Aliquippa |
| 2018 | AA | Southern Columbia |
| 2018 | A | Farrell |
| 2019 | AAAAAA | St. Joseph’s Prep |
| 2019 | AA | Southern Columbia |
| 2019 | A | Farrell |
| 2020 | AAAAAA | St. Joseph’s Prep |
| 2020 | AAAAA | Pine-Richland |
| 2020 | AAAA | Thomas Jefferson |
| 2020 | AAA | Central Valley |
| 2020 | AA | Southern Columbia |
| 2021 | AA | Southern Columbia |
| 2022 | AAAAAA | St. Joseph’s Prep |
| 2022 | AAA | Belle Vernon |
| 2022 | AA | Southern Columbia |
| 2023 | AAAAAA | St. Joseph’s Prep |
| 2023 | AAAAA | Imhotep Charter |
| 2023 | AAA | Belle Vernon |
| 2023 | AA | Southern Columbia |
| 2023 | A | Steelton-Highspire |
| 2024 | AAAAAA | St. Joseph’s Prep |
The second and more interesting datapoint isn’t as positive, however. Since 1988, 33 preseason No. 1-ranked teams failed to make the state playoffs (as defined above). This means that 19.2% of teams chosen to win the state title in August were turning in their pads sometime in November while at least 16 other teams in their classification were still playing. To be fair, 12 of these 33 teams played in the earliest era of the PIAA playoffs from 1988-1993. In those years, only the top four teams statewide made the state playoffs; oftentimes this resulted in some of the best teams in the state not even making the postseason due to the very limited field and qualification procedures that relied on unpopular point rating systems.
After not happening at all from 2015 through 2023, though, four different preseason No. 1s missed the state playoffs in the past two seasons – 2024’s Aliquippa and Southern Columbia along with 2025’s St. Joe’s Prep and Bonner. This historically has most often happened in the largest, most competitive PIAA districts, so it usually is a product of that district’s playoff being grueling rather than a preseason No. 1 being overhyped in some way. The WPIAL has been the hardest-hit by this over the course of the statewide playoff era.
Teams to be ranked first in the preseason and miss the state playoffs:
| YEAR | CLASS | PRESEASON #1 |
| 1988 | AAAA | North Hills |
| 1988 | AA | Sto-Rox |
| 1988 | A | Dunmore |
| 1989 | AAAA | North Hills |
| 1990 | AAAA | Upper St. Clair |
| 1990 | AA | Dunmore |
| 1992 | AAAA | Central Bucks West |
| 1992 | AA | Aliquippa |
| 1992 | A | Marian Catholic |
| 1993 | AAAA | Harrisburg |
| 1993 | AAA | Bethlehem Catholic |
| 1993 | AA | Dunmore |
| 1994 | A | Duquesne |
| 1996 | AAAA | Penn Hills |
| 1996 | AA | Sharon |
| 1998 | AA | South Park |
| 2001 | AAAA | North Penn |
| 2001 | AA | Mount Carmel |
| 2004 | AA | Mount Carmel |
| 2005 | AAA | Berwick |
| 2006 | AAAA | Pittsburgh Central Catholic |
| 2007 | A | Southern Columbia |
| 2009 | AAAA | Pittsburgh Central Catholic |
| 2009 | AAA | Thomas Jefferson |
| 2010 | AA | Lancaster Catholic |
| 2010 | A | Dunmore |
| 2011 | AAAA | Pittsburgh Central Catholic |
| 2013 | A | Clairton |
| 2014 | A | Pittsburgh North Catholic |
| 2024 | AAAA | Aliquippa |
| 2024 | AA | Southern Columbia |
| 2025 | AAAAAA | St. Joseph’s Prep |
| 2025 | AAAA | Monsignor Bonner |
Where State Champions Were Ranked in the Preseason
Starting at the end of each season and looking backward gives us a different perspective on how state championship teams’ seasons evolve. Of the 172 state champions between 1988 and 2025, 113 of them were ranked in the top three of the preseason poll. However, fourteen(!) of them were unranked in August. These unranked teams are mostly clustered in two timeframes: the information-limited early years of 1988-1992 and 2004-2005. Each of those two later years had two preseason unranked teams win state titles, meaning four of the eight state champs in those back-to-back seasons were unranked. Three of those four were WPIAL teams (Thomas Jefferson in 2004, McKeesport and Franklin Regional in 2005) that played through the two bigger classifications, so they may have been overlooked on a statewide level due to other tough teams in their own district. The fourth unranked state champ in that era was Lansdale Catholic in 2004, which was coming off a 6-5 season in 2003 but went 14-1 to capture the AA title.
Those two windows account for 10 of the 14 unranked state champs. The entire list is here:
| YEAR | CLASS | TEAM |
| 1988 | AAAA | Pittsburgh Central Catholic |
| 1989 | AAA | Perry |
| 1989 | AA | Hickory |
| 1991 | AA | Aliquippa |
| 1991 | A | Schuylkill Haven |
| 1992 | A | Scotland School |
| 1997 | A | Sharpsville |
| 1999 | A | South Side Beaver |
| 2004 | AAA | Thomas Jefferson |
| 2004 | AA | Lansdale Catholic |
| 2005 | AAAA | McKeesport |
| 2005 | AAA | Franklin Regional |
| 2011 | AAAA | Central Dauphin |
| 2017 | AAA | Quaker Valley |
Unsurprisingly, this list contains some of the great dark horse state championship runs in PIAA history. The final entry on the list – Quaker Valley – is, for my money, the most unlikely state champion ever. In 2017, the Quakers avenged their sole loss by beating Aliquippa 2-0 in the WPIAL AAA final, then beat Sharon and Middletown to finish 14-1. Head Coach Jerry Veshio took over less than three weeks prior to the season opener when the previous coach stepped down and took a team that missed the district playoffs the year before all the way. In 1996, Sharpsville had gone 8-3, but had an overall record of 29-70-1 in the decade leading up to its 1997 state title. Perry was a Pittsburgh City League power for much of the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, but beat Berwick to become the first (and still only) City League team to win a state championship.
Interestingly, beginning the season unranked is actually the fourth most common preseason ranking for an eventual state champion. Here is the list of state champions by preseason ranking position:
| BY RANK | TEAMS |
| 1st | 60 |
| 2nd | 33 |
| 3rd | 20 |
| 4th | 6 |
| 5th | 8 |
| 6th | 5 |
| 7th | 7 |
| 8th | 5 |
| 9th | 3 |
| 10th | 3 |
| HM | 8 |
| NR | 14 |
There has yet to be a season where every preseason No. 1 won the state championship, but a few years have gotten very close:
- In 2014, preseason No. 1s St. Joe’s Prep, Archbishop Wood and South Fayette all won. Class A champ Bishop Guilfoyle was ranked 10th to begin the year; preseason No. 1 Pittsburgh North Catholic missed the state playoffs.
- In 2018, St. Joe’s Prep, Cathedral Prep, Aliquippa, Southern Columbia and Farrell all finished where they began, but AAAAA was won by preseason No. 3 Penn Hills. The top-ranked team in the preseason was again Archbishop Wood, who fell in the state semifinals.
- 2020 saw St. Joe’s Prep, Pine-Richland, Thomas Jefferson, Central Valley and Southern Columbia take the five largest classes after being ranked first in the preseason. The only miss was in Class A where preseason No. 6 Steelton-Highspire won the title, not No. 1 Clairton, who lost in the state quarters.
- 2023 was tantalizingly close to being a perfect preseason poll for the top-ranked teams. St. Joe’s Prep, Imhotep, Belle Vernon, Southern Columbia and Steelton-Highspire finished where they started. In AAAA, preseason No. 2(!) Aliquippa won instead of Bishop McDevitt (which lost in the state semis).
Finally, five seasons have seen zero state champs who were preseason No. 1s – 1988, 1990, 1993, 1998 and not again until…last season. In 2025, state champs LaSalle, Southern Lehigh, Avonworth and Clairton were all No. 2 in the preseason. Roman Catholic (No. 3) and Southern Columbia (No. 8) were the other state champs.
Pennsylvania Football History 