Nearly 20 high school football teams in Texas can claim a state championship each year, including 12 public schools, four 11-man TAPPS teams and a pair of SPC programs.
It can be a lot, and fans are often left wanting one last game between Division I and II champions to see who can lay claim as a classification’s best.
While that isn’t likely to happen, there’s plenty of debate about what would happen when teams from different classes face off.
The Dallas Morning News’ coverage area has about 150 schools, which includes most 6A and 5A programs within about 40 miles of downtown Dallas and more than two dozen private and smaller-classification teams.
For the third straight year, The News’ high school sports staff has compiled Power Rankings of what we deem are the top 100 teams ahead of the 2025 season.
It isn’t necessarily a list of which team is better, since we know many programs might miss the playoffs in one class but make a run at a title in another, but we hope it provides a snapshot of a team’s rating. There isn’t much daylight between many of the teams, especially the deeper the list goes.
Factors that went into the ratings include classification, last year’s record, historic success and 2025 preseason ranking.
We’ll revisit the list midway through the season.