Originally published on USA TODAY High School Sports
No high school football team has been as consistent in the Super 25 high school football rankings as De La Salle (Concord, Calif.).
The Spartans, renowned for holding the national record for consecutive wins (151 from 1992 to 2003), have finished the season as the No. 1 team in the Super 25 five times. But it has been a decade since the team was able to finish at the top, despite winning the state Open Division Bowl five of the past six seasons.
That might change this year if the Spartans, the No. 1 team in the preseason Super 25 rankings, can run the table on a schedule that begins with a game Aug. 29 against Texas powerhouse Trinity (Euless). The Spartans return 12 starters, including their quarterback and two running backs from a state championship team.
RELATED: Meet the Super 25 teams | Super 25 Preseason Football Rankings
Florida leads with five teams in the rankings, including three in the top 5, led by No. 2 IMG Academy (Bradenton), which didn’t even have a football team until 2013. The other Sunshine State teams: No. 3 Miami Central; No. 5 St. Thomas Aquinas (Fort Lauderdale); No. 14 Cocoa; and No. 25 Flanagan (Pembroke Pines).
Last year’s Super 25 champion, Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas) is at No. 4.
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De La Salle leads four California teams in the rankings: No. 7 Centennial (Corona), No. 13 St. John Bosco (Bellflower) and No. 24 Bishop Amat (La Puente). Texas also had four teams: No. 8 DeSoto, No. 9 Cedar Hill, No. 11 Allen and No. 22 Manvel.
While De La Salle hasn’t finished at the top of the rankings since they did so every year in a stretch from 2000 to 2003, they have continued to dominate California, winning the state Open Division Bowl title five of the six times since it began in 2008.
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