CIF-Southern Section High School Football Rankings: Top 25 teams – Oct. 14

The CIF-Southern Section is again California’s most dominant high school football region, and the state’s top-25 rankings reflect that each week.

Of the top 10 teams in the Golden State, nine hail from the CIF-SS, with only De La Salle to represent the rest of the state.

Below are the full top-25 rankings for the Southern Section, per the On3 Massey Ratings, highlighted by movement in the top 10 and two new entrants into the rankings:

The On3 Massey Ratings — which were officially used during the BCS era and have generated college high school sports team rankings since 1995 — rank sports teams by analyzing game outcomes, strength of schedule and margin of victory.

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1. Mater Dei 

Previous Ranking: No. 1
The Monarchs remain atop the national and state rankings after convincing wins over California top-10 foes Santa Margarita Catholic and Servite in back-to-back weeks. It won’t get any easier though, as three more ranked matchups await over the next few weeks, including a huge battle with No. 3 St. John Bosco on November 25.

2. St. John Bosco 

Previous Ranking: No. 2
Bosco holds onto the No. 2 spot in this week’s rankings after a 13-0 slugfest win at home against Santa Margarita Catholic. The Braves’ offense has been held in check the past two weeks, but they’ve only allowed a total of 10 points in their past two games.

3. Mission Viejo 

Previous Ranking: No. 3
A week after sounding beating Long Beach Poly 35-14, Mission Viejo got its first and only bye of the year before a big matchup against San Clemente on Friday night. The Diablos are heavily favored in that one, as well as their other two games to close out the regular season.

4. Centennial

Previous Ranking: No. 4
Centennial dominated from start to finish on Thursday night at Vista Murrieta, blowing out the home team 63-0 to move to 5-2 on the year. They’ll be back at home this week for a top-15 showdown against 6-1 Murrieta Valley.

5. Orange Lutheran 

Previous Ranking: No. 6 (+1)
A week after losing a 14-10 heartbreaker to No. 2 Bosco, the Lancers responded with a strong defensive performance to beat top-10 foe J Serra Catholic and move to 5-2. The meat of their schedule is still to go though, with games against Santa Margarita Catholic, Servite and Mater Dei to close the year.

6. Servite 

Previous Ranking: No. 5 (-1)
Servite opened the season with six consecutive wins but ultimately couldn’t overcome No. 1 Mater Dei in a 28-6 loss on Friday night. Now, they’ll turn around to face No. 2 Bosco this week at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood in what will be another huge game.

7. J Serra Catholic 

Previous Ranking: No. 7
Back-to-back losses to Servite and Orange Lutheran puts the Lions at 5-2 heading into the final three weeks of the season. Awaiting them is a tough slate that features No. 1 Mater Dei this week, No. 10 Santa Margarita Catholic next week and No. 2 St. John Bosco to close to the year.

8. Sierra Canyon

Previous Ranking: No. 9 (+1)
The Trailblazers have reeled off consecutive wins after they lost two in a row to Bosco and Orange Lutheran, and will now be favored in each of their final three games. A big season-ending matchup against Junipero Serra looms on November 1.

9. Santa Margarita Catholic 

Previous Ranking: No. 8 (+1)
Despite sitting at just 3-4, the Eagles remain in the top 10 because of the brutal schedule they’ve had to endure so far. But unfortunately, it won’t get any easier with three top-10 foes to close the season.

10. Murrieta Valley

Previous Ranking: No. 11
The Nighthawks are now 6-1 after blowing out a talented Chaparral team 56-22 over the weekend. Valley’s only loss of the season came in Week 2 against Servite, and they’ll be heavily favored in both of their final two regular season games before the playoffs.

Teams 11-25 in CIF-SS High School Football Rankings

11. Junipero Serra (-1)
12. Oaks Christian
13. Los Alamitos 
14. Rancho Cucamonga (+1)
15. Inglewood (+1)

16. Oak Hills (+2)
17. San Juan Hills (+2)
18. Chaparral (-4)
19. Damien (+1)
20. Newbury Park (+1)

21. Yorba Linda (-4)
22. Villa Park (previously unranked)
23. Downey (+1)
24. Granite Hills (-2)
25. San Marcos (previously unranked)

Dropped out: Leuzinger, Long Beach Poly