High School Football: Winners and Losers from Sep. 4-6

High school football is back in full force all around the country, and the third major weekend of action didn’t leave any stone unturned when it came to results. But the real story is more than just who won and lost. We’re looking at the players who impressed, the coaches who stood out and the fans who are either celebrating or scratching their heads. This week, we’re highlighting the biggest winners and losers – the people and moments that made the past weekend memorable.

WINNERS

Chaminade-Madonna (Fla.) head coach Dameon Jones: Last week the sky was supposedly falling at Chaminade-Madonna with the resignation of Toro Wallace as the Lions’ offensive coordinator.

Between Jones having to break in a new offensive coordinator and facing nationally ranked American Heritage on the road, all the Lions did was walk into the Patriots’ house and waltzed on out with a victory. Chaminade-Madonna showcased a new offensive approach of being a run-first offense behind Texas commit Derrek Cooper at running back.

Cooper led the way with 93 yards on 12 carries, including adding three touchdowns. Freshman quarterback Malik Leonard paced the Lions through the air, completing 7 of 14 passes for 136 yards, with the game’s go-ahead score to Florida State commit Jasen Lopez.

It looks like everything is going to be all fine over at Chaminade for the foreseeable future.

Legacy SSS (Texas) quarterback Keisean Henderson: Besides Ryder Lyons over at Folsom (Ca.), no other quarterback has been playing early on as well as Houston commitment Keisean Henderson this season.

The future Cougar through his first couple of games has been surgical in dicing up opposing secondaries, completing 65 of 80 (81 percent) passes for 960 yards and 11 touchdowns. Looking at those kind of numbers, it’s really hard to say anyone is playing better than Henderson to this point.

If Henderson keeps up the torrid pace he is on right now, the signal caller would end the 2025 season completing somewhere around 292 passes for 4,320 yards and nearly 50 touchdowns. That’s some gaudy numbers and it’s entirely possible he could end up finishing the season with something around each of these marks.

St. John Bosco Braves (Ca.): Tested on a national stage seemingly every other week, the St. John Bosco Braves answered the bell against a St. Frances Academy (Md.) bunch looking to make their case for the top spot.

The Braves welcomed the No. 2 ranked Panthers into Bellflower and behind a strong performance from Texas A&M commit Madden Williams, who caught eight passes for 193 yards and a touchdown, led them to a 21-14 win. The victory is important for many reasons on the national scope of things as is keeps St. John Bosco right in line with Mater Dei to compete for the all mythical national championship at season’s end.

Yes, Jason Negro’s group will be tested against Southern Section powers like Orange Lutheran and Santa Margarita, but we just don’t see the Braves losing in either contest. Expect this team to be 9-0 rolling into the end of October.

A Halloween meeting with the rival Monarchs at Panish Family Stadium is one every high school football fan should begin circling as a national title-implication game, as it has been the last several seasons.

LOSERS

Lone Peak (Utah): The Knights fell victim to a rare clause when it comes to rules with an out-of-state association when it comes to leaving your sideline.

Lone Peak battled No. 3 ranked Bishop Gorman over the weekend and the game was called prematurely due to a Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association (NIAA) rule, Nev. Admin. Code § 385B.824. The NIAA rule says if three or more players leave your sideline that your team therefor forfeits the game to the opposing team.

In the Knights’ case, there were deemed having three or more players having left their bench area, leaving game officials no choice but to award the win early in the third quarter to the Gaels, with the score at 35-14.

Now, it’s not so much of the case that many thought the Knights would have beaten the Gaels if the rest of the game was played. It’s more so that Lone Peak traveled over 400 miles, nearly six hours to face Bishop Gorman and both teams got less than two and a half quarters of football because of a technicality.

Andale (Kansas): If you haven’t heard, well now you are, there’s a high school football team that won by more than 100 points last week out of the Midwest.

That team was the Andale Indians (Kansas), the defending Class 3A state champions of the Sunflower State. The Indians demolished their first opponent of the season, El Dorado, in a 104-0 rout that has everyone scratching their heads on why would a team excessively score that many points.

Not only did Andale win, but showed no mercy as they also went for two on every single one of its 13 of point-after tries, converting on all of them.

There’s winning in dominant fashion and then there’s trying to embarrass an opponent to the point of no return. The 2025 season has already seen a number of teams forfeit for low player numbers, injuries or folding up their program altogether. A victory like this for Andale is just an example of what teams shouldn’t be striving to accomplish on Friday nights, respectively.

Florida high school football vs. out-of-state opponents: Yes, we’re back on this topic because it reared its ugly head again this past week, but this time more in a head-to-head between Florida and New Jersey.

Both Monarch (Fla.) and West Boca Raton (Fla.) had their chances to right the wrong of the 11-27 record that the Sunshine State has compiled in the first few weeks and that only compounded into more L’s for Florida. The Knights ended up losing on the road against New Jersey’s No. 2 ranked Don Bosco Prep 38-21. The Bulls at home narrowly lost to nationally ranked Bergen Catholic, 21-14.

The record for Florida against other states continued its downward trend, with the Sunshine State going 1-7 against the field, bringing the record now to 12-32 (.375 winning percentage). Oof.

How to Follow National High School Football

For high school football fans looking to keep up with scores around the nation, staying updated on the action is now easier than ever with the Rivals National High School Scoreboard. This comprehensive resource provides real-time updates and final scores from across the state, ensuring you never miss a moment of the Friday night frenzy. From nail-biting finishes to dominant performances, the Rivals National High School Scoreboard is your one-stop destination for tracking all the gridiron excitement across the country.