Andy's Take: Race to a mythical national champion is unclear

Say what you want about there being competitive imbalance, yes Western Pennsylvania, I’m talking to you, but there seems to be more questions than ever when it comes to the top of the food chain of high school football when it pertains to a national champion.

For once, looks seemingly unclear who may be the clear cut favorite to being crowned the all mythical high school football national champion.

Yes, there will be plenty of folks around the country handing out awards like a national title, but with no actual game to decide such a thing on the field, it becomes just a handout at the end of the season. The path to prosperity is always taken into account, so elite programs with difficult roads to a undefeated or one-loss season are always cutting to the front of the line as the favorites year in and year out.

This 2025 season, however, doesn’t at all paint a uncomplicated picture on who that team standing tall at the very end could be. Yeah, many are pointing at the date of All Hallows’ Eve when current No. 6 Mater Dei would travel over to Panish Family Stadium and take on current No. 1 St. John Bosco.

Let’s talk scenarios: What if St. John Bosco loses a game before then? Or how about if an undefeated No. 2 IMG Academy team soundly defeats a No. 4 ranked St. Frances Academy crew? What about if Grayson or Buford beat one another for Georgia’s Class 6A state championship this fall and finish undefeated?

It’s not out of the realm to believe St. John Bosco could be on upset alert, especially seeing that Jason Negro’s crew has back-to-back road games against Orange Lutheran and Santa Margarita Catholic, two teams very capable of playing with anyone in the country. With the number of upsets that have taken place this season, there’s little reason one should be arguing another can’t happen in Southern California.

If the Braves lose to either or, the importance of the matchup with the Monarchs on Halloween certainly drops ever so much so that it could elevate IMG Academy to the top and setup with a showdown against rival St. Frances Academy on Nov. 7 in Bradenton, Florida. The Ascenders-Panthers game in some ways turns into a potential, mythical national championship game if you will since neither team plays for their respective state’s title contests.

Or what if you’re someone out of the Peach State wondering about the current two undefeated, nationally ranked teams in Grayson and Buford? Well, there’s a likelihood that the Rams and Wolves could face each other at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in downtown Atlanta in mid-December for a chance to win the Georgia High School Association’s (GHSA) Class 6A state title. One would walk away with an undefeated record and multiple wins against nationally ranked opponents. Would that be enough to be crowned a national champion?

Heck, if you’re really out there, maybe Southlake Carroll of the Lone Star State runs the table en route to winning it all in dominant fashion and comes away with the UIL’s Class 6A, Division II state crown. An undefeated Dragons team just dragging opponents every week might be enough in some computers to vault them to the top if things get wonky enough.

These are certainly all things to take into consideration when believing the narrative that this whole top team in the country deal will be decided in a matchup or two between St. John Bosco and Mater Dei because, well, the last few seasons have really just gone down just like that. Braves or Monarchs, with maybe a sprinkling in of Bishop Gorman. That’s been it.

I guess shame on me for not being someone super enthusiastic about the prospects of that being the case once again, but there’s definitively a path to where one could see a series of different teams not named St. John Bosco or Mater Dei being the No. 1 team in the nation when the smoke settles.

A chance for something different for a change on the national high school football scene is clearly in the making. Or maybe we get the same ole, same ole after the CIF’s Open Division state championships, but for the first time in a few years when it comes to a consensus, mythical national champion, nothing is as clear and that’s a beautiful thing as the second half of high school football begins in many states around the country.

For once, things are unclear and we’re all here for it.

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