The top four teams in our North Carolina high school football rankings remain as steady as ever. Below them, however, things are getting interesting yet again.
Hough continues its wire-to-wire run at No. 1, followed by Providence Day and a tie for third between Grimsley and Weddington. All four teams have exactly the same composite scores as last week.
But there has been plenty of movement elsewhere in our Fabulous 15 following Week 9 games. Millbrook has climbed to No. 6, undefeated J.H. Rose has surged into the top 15 and Cardinal Gibbons has taken a nine-position tumble following its latest loss to Middle Creek.
Even winning isn’t necessarily enough to hold your ground. Lake Norman and Reagan both dropped multiple spots despite improving their records, while several teams moved up without the benefit of a head-to-head upset.
With the regular season winding down and the playoffs approaching, the race for positioning in our Fabulous 15 and Next Ten is getting more interesting by the week.
NC High School Football Rankings
After Week 9 games (Oct. 16). Each team’s composite score is included along with movement from last week’s rankings.
Fabulous 15
1. Hough (8-0) — 1.00 (—)
2. Providence Day (7-1) — 2.50 (—)
T-3. Grimsley (8-0) — 3.25 (—)
T-3. Weddington (9-0) — 3.25 (—)
5. Chambers (8-0) — 7.75 (▲1)
6. Millbrook (7-0) — 8.50 (▲2)
7. Lake Norman (8-0) — 8.75 (▼2)
8. West Forsyth (7-1) — 10.25 (—)
9. Clayton (8-0) — 11.00 (▲1)
10. Mallard Creek (6-2) — 11.25 (▲2)
11. Reagan (7-1) — 11.50 (▼4)
12. Myers Park (6-2) — 16.00 (▲3)
13. Crest (7-1) — 16.75 (—)
14. J.H. Rose (8-0) — 17.50 (▲2)
15. Cleveland (7-1) — 17.75 (▲1)
The Next Ten
16. Garner (6-2) — 18.00 (▲4)
17. Hoggard (7-1) — 18.25 (▼1)
18. Jay M. Robinson (8-0) — 19.00 (▼2)
19. Rolesville (5-2) — 19.50 (▼5)
T-20. A.L. Brown (8-0) — 20.25 (▲3)
T-20. Cardinal Gibbons (5-3) — 20.25 (▼9)
22. West Charlotte (5-3) — 21.50 (—)
23. Northside-Jacksonville (8-0) — 21.75 (▼2)
24. South Point (8-1) — 22.00 (NEW)
T-25. East Forsyth (5-3) — 23.75 (NEW)
T-25. Mooresville (4-4) — 23.75 (NEW)
Composite scores represent the average ranking across HighSchoolOT, The Charlotte Observer/News & Observer Super 25, Massey Ratings and MaxPreps. Lower averages indicate higher rankings. Teams outside a human poll’s top 25 receive a ranking of 26 for composite purposes. Arrows indicate movement from the previous week.
Notes and observations
J.H. Rose continues its remarkable climb
Two weeks ago, J.H. Rose wasn’t even among our top 25 teams. Now the unbeaten Rampants (8-0) are No. 14 in the state, having climbed nine positions in just two weeks.
Rose moved up seven spots last week and added two more this week. The Rampants are now ranked among the top 25 by all four of our sources, with Massey Ratings giving them the highest placement at No. 13.
The climb has been especially impressive considering how little movement there had been in the Fabulous 15 earlier this season.
Cardinal Gibbons takes the week’s biggest tumble
Cardinal Gibbons suffered the biggest fall of any team in our rankings, dropping nine positions from No. 11 to a tie for 20th.
The Crusaders (5-3) lost to Middle Creek last Friday, then disappeared from both human-voted top 25 polls. HighSchoolOT and the Observer had ranked Gibbons among the state’s top teams a week earlier (ninth and 17th, respectively).
The computer models haven’t given up on the Crusaders, however. MaxPreps still ranks Gibbons ninth in North Carolina, while Massey places them 20th. It’s one of the biggest disagreements among our four ranking sources.
The humans and computers aren’t seeing eye to eye
One of the most interesting aspects of our composite rankings is how differently human voters and computer formulas sometimes evaluate the same teams. We’ve talked about this from the beginning of the season.
Take Mallard Creek, for example. The Mavericks (6-2) are ranked fifth in the state by both Massey and MaxPreps, giving them a 5.0 computer average. But the two human-voted polls place Mallard Creek 15th and 20th, an average of 17.5.
Unbeaten Jay M. Robinson (8-0) presents almost the opposite picture. The Bulldogs are 12th and 11th in the human polls but 22nd and 31st in the computer rankings.
Hoggard (7-1) is another fascinating example. The Vikings are No. 10 in the Observer poll and No. 11 in HighSchoolOT, yet MaxPreps has them all the way down at No. 34.
These disagreements are precisely why we enjoy using a composite system rather than relying on any single poll.
Winning doesn’t guarantee you’ll move up
Lake Norman remains undefeated at 8-0, but the Wildcats dropped from fifth to seventh this week as their composite average worsened from 5.75 to 8.75.MaxPreps now ranks Lake Norman 16th in the state, while the other three sources have the Wildcats between fifth and seventh.
Reagan also dropped four spots, from seventh to 11th, despite improving to 7-1. Its composite average fell from 8.50 to 11.50.
Meanwhile, Millbrook climbed into the No. 6 position at 7-0, improving its composite average from 10.25 to 8.50.
The lesson? Humans might be reluctant to move a team that keeps winning off a particular spot in their rankings list. Computers have no such sentiment. With computer formulas accounting for half of our composite rankings, simply winning doesn’t guarantee that a team will maintain its position.
Cleveland returns, new teams join the Next Ten
Cleveland is back in the Fabulous 15 after spending a week on the outside looking in.
The Rams (7-1) slipped into a four-way tie for 16th following their loss to Garner two weeks ago. They rebounded with a victory last Friday and moved back into the top 15.
Rolesville, meanwhile, dropped five positions to No. 19 despite winning, just one week after returning to the Fabulous 15.
Three teams joined the Next Ten this week: South Point (8-1) at No. 24, and East Forsyth (5-3) and Mooresville (4-4), tied for 25th.
Southeast Raleigh and Palisades dropped out following losses.
Small-School Super Six
North Carolina’s largest 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 fewer). Here is this week’s Super Six, with last week’s results:
1. Shelby (7-1) – beat East Gaston 62-12
2. Tarboro (8-1) – beat Beddingfield 63-0
3. North Stanly (7-0) – beat North Rowan 42-32
4. Corvian Community (7-1) – beat Community School of Davidson 26-15
5. Hendersonville (8-0) – beat Avery County 42-14
6. Northeastern (7-1) – beat Hertford County 41-24
Honorable Mention:
- Warren County (8-0) – beat Weldon 54-0
- Whiteville (7-0) – beat Fairmont 31-22
- Northeastern (7-1) – beat Hertford County 41-24
- Lincolnton (6-2) – lost to Stuart Cramer 41-21
- Northside-Pinetown (8-0) – beat East Carteret 42-0
- Chatham Central (8-0) – beat Bishop McGuinness 35-7
- James Kenan (6-1) – beat C.B. Aycock 35-12
- Midway (7-1) – beat Rosewood 56-21
- Starmount (7-1) – beat North Wilkes 38-31
- Murphy (6-2) – beat Andrews 45-14
We only have one change in our Super Six. Lincolnton drops out after falling to Stuart Cramer. Northeastern jumps in to replace them at the No. 6 spot following a win over Hertford County.
Other teams were keeping an eye on: Mount Airy, Thomasville, Holmes, Robbinsville.
