The NC Football News High School Football Fabulous 15 is a consensus-style look at the top high school football teams in North Carolina.
These rankings are built from several statewide and national sources, including HighSchoolOT, MaxPreps, SimmonsRatings.com, Sports Illustrated and High School Football America. The goal is not to replace any one poll or power rating, but to bring them together in one place and show which programs are consistently viewed among the state’s best.
For the current list, NC Football News used final 2025 rankings and power ratings as an early reference point for the 2026 season. Once the 2026 season begins, the Fabulous 15 will be updated throughout the year as new rankings are released.
The list is meant to serve as a statewide snapshot, not a prediction of future results.
🔄 Last Updated: May 28, 2026Final 2025 NC High School Football Fabulous 15
| RANK | TEAM | CLASS | AVG | HSOT | Simmons | MaxPreps | HSFA 300 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Hough (14-0) | 8A | 1.75 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 2. | Grimsley (15-0) | 7A | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 |
| 3. | Providence Day (13-0) | Ind | 2.25 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| T-4. | Weddington (12-2) | 7A | 4.5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 |
| T-4. | West Charlotte (10-3) | 8A | 4.5 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4 |
| 6. | Millbrook (13-1) | 8A | 7.25 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 8 |
| 7. | Independence (10-3) | 7A | 8.75 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 9 |
| T-8. | Cardinal Gibbons (12-2) | 7A | 10.5 | 20 | 6 | 9 | 7 |
| T-8. | Clayton (12-3) | 7A | 10.5 | 12 | 11 | 7 | 12 |
| T-8. | Myers Park (9-3) | 8A | 10.5 | 11 | 14 | 11 | 6 |
| T-11. | Crest (13-2) | 5A | 10.75 | 7 | 9 | 14 | 13 |
| T-11. | West Forsyth (10-3) | 8A | 10.75 | 13 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
| 13. | Hoggard (12-1) | 8A | 13.25 | 9 | 16 | 15 | 13 |
| 14. | Watauga (15-0) | 6A | 13.5 | 6 | 18 | 17 | 13 |
| 15. | Mooresville (9-3) | 7A | 14 | 17 | 13 | 13 | 13 |
The Next Ten
These schools represent places 16-25 in our composite rankings.
| RANK | TEAM | CLASS | AVG | HSOT | Simmons | MaxPreps | HSFA 300 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T-16. | Cleveland (10-2) | 7A | 15.75 | 26 | 12 | 12 | 13 |
| T-16. | Mallard Creek (7-4) | 8A | 15.75 | 15 | 17 | 20 | 11 |
| 18. | Reagan (10-3) | 7A | 17 | 16 | 21 | 18 | 13 |
| 19. | Northern Guilford (12-2) | 6A | 18 | 14 | 23 | 22 | 13 |
| T-20. | Garner (9-4) | 7A | 19.25 | 26 | 19 | 19 | 13 |
| T-20. | Southeast Raleigh (9-4) | 7A | 19.25 | 26 | 22 | 16 | 13 |
| 22. | Jordan (11-1) | 8A | 20.25 | 25 | 20 | 23 | 13 |
| 23. | Sun Valley (9-4) | 6A | 21 | 26 | 24 | 21 | 13 |
| T-24. | Middle Creek (11-3) | 6A | 23 | 26 | 28 | 25 | 13 |
| T-24. | South Point (10-3) | 5A | 23 | 26 | 29 | 24 | 13 |
How The NC Football News Fabulous 15 Works
To build the NC Football News Fabulous 15, we reviewed statewide high school football rankings and power ratings from HighSchoolOT, MaxPreps, Sports Illustrated, Brian Simmons/SimmonsRatings.com and the High School Football America 300.
Each team’s ranking from those sources was entered into a spreadsheet and averaged to create a consensus score. The lower the average, the higher the team appears in the Fabulous 15.
Because not every source ranks the same number of teams, schools not listed by a particular source were assigned the next available ranking spot for that list. For example, if a source ranked 25 teams, unlisted teams were treated as No. 26 for that source.
What stands out from the final 2025 list
- Hough finished No. 1 after winning the 8A state title and ranking first in both HighSchoolOT and Simmons.
- Grimsley and Providence Day, both unbeaten championship teams, were close behind, giving the final list a clear top three.
- Weddington and West Charlotte tied at No. 4, rounding out the top tier.
- Watauga finished 15-0 and won the 6A title, but landed outside the top 10 because some rankings weighed schedule strength differently.
- Several state champions finished outside the top 25 consensus list, including Reidsville, Tarboro and Shelby, showing the difference between classification dominance and statewide consensus rankings.
Follow the 2026 North Carolina high school football season
The Fabulous 15 is one piece of our 2026 high school football coverage at NC Football News.
Throughout the season, we’ll use our high school football scoreboard hub to track weekly scores from across North Carolina, with playoff brackets and postseason updates added as the year moves along.
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