Three weeks into the high school season, the question surrounding our weekly North Carolina high school football rankings is becoming increasingly obvious: Can anyone beat Hough?
The defending 8A champions opened with perhaps the toughest three-game stretch of any team in the state and emerged 3-0.
The Huskies beat South Carolina power Northwestern 15-10, handled Cardinal Gibbons 35-10 and then turned last week’s highly anticipated showdown with defending NCISAA state champion Providence Day into a 30-3 rout.
Even more impressive has been the Hough defense. Those three opponents managed just 23 total points and one offensive touchdown.
Hough went 14-0 last season and shut out Millbrook 21-0 to win the inaugural NCHSAA 8A championship. Now the Huskies are 3-0 again, raising a question that could follow them throughout the fall: Can Hough go wire to wire at No. 1 and win a second straight state championship?
While Hough began the season on top and holds steady at No. 1 in our latest Fabulous 15 statewide composite rankings, much of the top 10 has been remarkably stable behind them. Grimsley and Providence Day remain on the top three podium.
Weddington and Mallard Creek round out the top five, giving the Charlotte metro a strong presence at the top of our Fabulous 15. Meanwhile No. 6 Millbrook and No. 7 Cardinal Gibbons continue to lead the way in the Triangle area.
What is the NC Football News’ Fabulous 15? We combine two statewide media polls — HighSchoolOT and the Charlotte Observer/News & Observer Super 25 — with the computer rankings from Massey Ratings and MaxPreps to provide a weekly snapshot of North Carolina’s top high school football teams.
👉 See how each ranking system rated every team in our list. Visit our Fabulous 15 Rankings Hub.
NC Football News Fabulous 15
After Week 3 Games, played Sept. 3-6. Each team’s composite rank is included
1. Hough (8A) – 1.00
T-2. Grimsley (7A) – 2.75
T-2. Providence Day (Ind) – 2.75
4. Weddington (7A) – 5.25
5. Mallard Creek (8A) – 6.00
6. Millbrook (8A) – 7.75
7. Cardinal Gibbons (7A) – 8.25
8. Chambers (8A) – 9.75
9. Lake Norman (7A) – 10.25
10. Clayton (7A) – 12.50
11. Reagan (7A) – 12.75
12. West Charlotte (8A) – 14.25
13. West Forsyth (8A) – 14.75
14. Southeast Raleigh (7A) – 15.25
15. East Forsyth (7A) – 15.75
The Next Ten
16. Hoggard (8A) – 17.00
17. Crest (5A) – 17.50
18. Cleveland (7A) – 18.00
19. South Point (5A) – 21.00
20. Myers Park (8A) – 22.00
T-21. Jay M. Robinson (5A) – 24.25
T-21. Palisades (8A) – 24.25
T-23. New Bern (7A) – 24.50
T-23. Rolesville (8A) – 24.50
25. Garner (7A) – 26.75
Dropped out of the top 25: T.C. Roberson, Independence, Page.
New: Palisades, Garner
Last week’s rankings included 26 teams because of a tie at No. 25.
NC High School Football Rankings: Notes and Observations
The battle for No. 2 continues to be fascinating
Grimsley and Providence Day are dead even this week, but they got to their composite score differently. Providence Day is still No. 2 in both human polls despite the 30-3 Hough loss, while Grimsley is No. 2 MaxPreps and No. 3 everywhere else.
Weddington isn’t far behind at No. 4 and actually gets the strongest computer respect after Hough from the Massey Rankings. If Hough is Tier 1, those three look like the contenders trying to form Tier 1B.
Chambers is this week’s rocket ship
The Cougars jump six spots, from No. 14 to No. 8, easily the largest climb in the Top 25. The Observer Super 25 has them at No. 5 overall, while Massey has them much lower at No. 14.
The scoreboard tells the story so far. Chambers is averaging more than 50 points per game in wins over Gray Collegiate, Hopewell and Corvian Community.
Hoggard is the week’s big tumbler
The Vikings drop out of the Fabulous 15 for the week, slipping from No. 9 to No. 16 after a 21-17 loss to Clayton. But all four of our ranking systems are still bullish on the Vikes. They are still in the top 21 teams in all four, including 12th in the Observer’s Super 25.
When humans and computers (still) disagree
We wrote about this last week but West Charlotte continues to be one of the hardest top-level teams for humans and computers to pin down.
The Lions are No. 12 in our composite rankings but don’t appear at all in the HighSchoolOT’s statewide top 25. Meanwhile, MaxPreps and Massey have West Charlotte at No. 8 and No. 6 respectively.
Southeast Raleigh is the opposite. The Bulldogs get plenty of love from the human voters – 10th and 8th by the Observer and HighSchoolOT – but rank 25th in MaxPreps and 18th in Massey.
This is part of the reason we created the Fabulous 15 + Next Ten this season, to track the sometimes fascinating divide between humans and computers.
Punching above their weight
Our rankings are dominated by the state’s largest schools by enrollment (8A and 7A). But three schools from the 5A ranks have made enough noise so far to crash the party.
Crest, the reigning 5A champion, remains on the fringe of the Fabulous 15, holding the No. 17 slot. South Point moves up one spot to No. 19. Jay M. Robinson jumped two spots and into a tie with Palisades at No. 21.
Marquee matchups for Week 4
There are a couple of dozen Thursday night matchups this week, and two immediately jump out – Crest visits Weddington, while Southeast Raleigh goes to Cardinal Gibbons. Providence Day also will be in action Thursday, facing Butler.
Top-ranked Hough travels to Mooresville this Friday. MaxPreps has the Blue Devils at No. 24 though they are 35th in our composite look.
Small-School Super Six
North Carolina’s biggest high schools aren’t the only ones playing great football. Each week, we rank who we believe are the top football teams in the state competing at the 1A, 2A and 3A levels (schools with roughly 800 students or less). Here is this week’s Super Six
1. Lincolnton (3-0) —
2. Shelby (2-1) ▲2
3. Tarboro (2-1) —
4. Corvian Community (2-1) ▼2
5. James Kenan (2-0) NEW
6. Warren County (2-0) NEW
Honorable Mention: Starmount, Mount Airy, Hendersonville, Whiteville
It is still early in the season but some of the front-runners are starting to emerge. Lincolnton continues to lead the way, with Shelby, Tarboro and Corvian Community in the next three slots.
Bless Corvian Community. The 2A school jumped up to the 8A ranks last week and played Chambers, suffering their first loss.
HighSchoolOT says Warren County is “for real” after lopsided wins over Vance County and J.F. Webb. Mount Airy jumps back onto our honorable mention list after beating defending 6A champion Watauga by a point. Starmount is 3-0 after a comfortable 51-3 win in the Unifi Bowl over Forbush.
Tarboro will renew its county rivalry with Southwest Edgecombe – known as the Function at the Junction – but the game has been moved up to Thursday night due to the threat of rain in eastern North Carolina on Friday.
Shelby also will play Thursday, entertaining West Lincoln. Lincolnton, meanwhile, hosts Burns on Friday night.
More North Carolina High School Football
Follow NC Football News high school coverage throughout the 2026 season:
- North Carolina High School Football Scores & Schedules — Find this week’s statewide schedule, scores and results.
- Fabulous 15 Rankings Hub — See the complete composite rankings, including how HighSchoolOT, the Charlotte Observer/News & Observer, Massey Ratings and MaxPreps rank each team.
- North Carolina High School Football Week 3 Scores — Review scores and results from across the state from Sept. 3-6.
- North Carolina High School Football News — Catch up on the latest rankings, scores, schedules and stories from around the state.
