Ohio High School Football Rankings: Top 25 Teams - August 26

The Ohio high school football season kicked off last Thursday, and the opening weekend saw five top-25 matchups.

Lakota West took down St. Xavier in the game of the week while No. 1 St. Edward traveled to the Columbus area to shut out Pickerington North. Moeller and Avon both picked up road top-20 wins while Winton Woods pulled off the upset against then-No. 8 Springfield.

Below is the updated Ohio On3 Massey Ratings top 25, as of Aug. 26.

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. St. Edward

Previous Ranking: No. 1
Three-time defending state champion St. Edward went on the road to Columbus on Friday, shutting out Pickerington North 28-0. Senior quarterback Thomas Csanyi threw three touchdowns of 39, 31 and 40 yards. Pickerington North picked off Csanyi four times, but was unable to do anything against the stout Eagles defense. Next up for St. Edward is St. Joseph’s Prep School (Pa.) this Saturday.

2. Archbishop Moeller

Previous Ranking: No. 3 (+1)
The ‘King of the Block’ rivalry game returned to Princeton High School in week one, and Moeller came away with the 38-21 win over the Vikings. Princeton got out to the early 7-0 lead before the Crusaders scored 28 unanswered points. Junior quarterback Matt Ponatoski threw for 415 yards and four touchdowns, with 109 yards and a score going to senior receiver Jovan Love. Moeller’s next game comes up Friday on the road against Bishop Dwenger (Ind.).

3. Massillon Washington

Previous Ranking: No. 2 (-1)
Massillon traveled out to Beaverton, Oregon to participate in the NFL Kickoff Classic against NFL Academy London on Thursday, winning 35-20. Tigers quarterback Jalen Slaughter threw for three touchdowns and over 300 yards. Up next for Massillon is Canton GlenOak on Friday.

4. Toledo Central Catholic

Previous Ranking: No. 5 (+1)
Toledo Central Catholic beat Findlay 54-21 after Findlay QB and Georgia commit Ryan Montgomery went down with an ACL injury four minutes into the game. Irish quarterback Isaiah Fox was 13-of-15 for 171 yards and two touchdowns before halftime. He finished 16-of-19 for 211. Central Catholic will host a major Toledo battle this week against Whitmer — led by elite Ohio State offensive tackle commit Carter Lowe.

5. Lakota West

Previous Ranking: No. 6 (+1)
The Ohio game of the week found itself in West Chester on Friday as then-No. 6 Lakota West took on No. 7 St. Xavier. The Bombers won this matchup 10-0 the previous year, with West winning 16-13 in 2022. Keeping with the home-field advantage, the Firebirds took down St. X 17-14. Lakota West quarterback Sam Wiles picked up one touchdown on the ground and one through the air. The Firebirds will host Hamilton this Friday, with the Big Blue fresh off of a shutout win over Badin.

6. Avon

Previous Ranking: No. 9 (+3)
The Eagles faced a big showdown against St. Ignatius on Friday and came away with the 42-21 win at Cleveland Browns Stadium. Avon dominated in the trenches, rushing for 230 yards and five scores on the ground. Kent State quarterback commit Nolan Good was 14-of-22 passing in his first game back for the Eagles after missing the last two playoff games of 2023 due to injury. Next up for Avon is No. 22 Canton McKinley.

7. Winton Woods

Previous Ranking: No. 22 (+15)
Winton Woods pulled off a huge win on the road over the weekend, going to Springfield and knocking off the Wildcats 16-6. Springfield came into the year ranking No. 8 and had been to the state title game for three consecutive seasons. Winton Woods blocked multiple punts, including one for a touchdown. The Warriors will now host Kings on Friday.

8. Archbishop Hoban

Previous Ranking: No. 4 (-4)
Archbishop Hoban fell to Archbishop Spalding (Md.) 28-14 on Friday. Maryland commit and Spalding quarterback Malik Washington was 23-of-27 passing for 239 yards and three touchdowns. Next up for Hoban is DeMatha Catholic (Md.).

9. Elder

Previous Ranking: No. 10 (+1)
Elder went on the road Thursday to open up the Ohio high school football season against Withrow. Elder dominated, winning 28-6 in sophomore quarterback Kaden Estep’s first start. Estep was 8-of-11 passing for 96 yards and two touchdowns to Christopher Paff. Estep also ran for 85 yards on the ground. Elder will next play West Catholic (Mich.) on Friday.

10. Marion Local

Previous Ranking: No. 12 (+2)
Division VII Marion Local is one of the premier programs in the state of Ohio year in and year out. Friday’s 45-6 win over Linton-Stockton (Ind.) marked the Flyers’ 49th consecutive win. They will go for win No. 50 on Friday at Division III Franklin, which took down Bishop Fenwick 22-13 last week.

11. Walsh Jesuit (+14)
12. St. Xavier (-5)
13. Chardon (+1)
14. Glenville (NR)
15. Gahanna Lincoln (-2)

16. Anderson (+2)
17. Highland (NR)
18. Olentangy Liberty (NR)
19. Princeton (-8)
20. LaSalle (+1)

21. Mentor (NR)
22. Canton McKinley (NR)
23. Wapakoneta (NR)
24. Medina (NR)
25. Perry (NR)

Dropped from rankings: Springfield, Upper Arlington, Pickerington North, Pickerington Central, Centerville, St. Ignatius, Dublin Coffman, Hilliard Bradley