23 Catholic Schools in Maxpreps 100 Final Poll

[OldSchoolLion]

Below are the 31 private schools in the final 2017 Maxpreps poll of top 100 high school football teams and some interesting facts about these schools.  Their ranking is to the left of the school name and the date the school opened is to the right of the school name. 

·       The 31 schools are located in 15 different states. 

·       23 of the 31 private schools are Catholic schools(in bold).

·       21 of the 23 Catholic schools opened their doors more than 50 years ago.  7 of those 21 schools opened more than 100 years ago.

·       All 23 of the Catholic schools are located in very large, metropolitan locations.

The Catholic schools have very mature, and, in some cases, very successful athletic programs.  It should not come as a surprise that many athletes want to attend and do not need much enticement to do so. All of these schools are in large metro areas, with at least one FBS school and/or NFL team nearby.  Thus, they have access to a large talent pool.     

Because these schools have been around so long, there is a lot of tradition, both academic and athletic, and it is not unusual to find family members from several generations who have attended the same school over the years.  It is not uncommon for these high schools to be affiliated with Catholic grade schools that likewise have strong athletic programs and serve as a pipeline for talent.

So, there are a lot of reasons beyond recruiting that would explain why Catholic schools are so well represented in this poll. Most of these teams have had many years to build their programs and reputations in their respective communities.   Below is an article that shares some interesting perspectives.    

  https://www.osv.com/OSVNewsweekly/ByIssue/Article/TabId/735/ArtMID/13636/ArticleID/10502/Why-are-Catholic-schools-so-good-at-sports.aspx

1 Mater Dei (CA) 1950

2 IMG Academy (FL) 1978

3 St John Bosco (CA) 1940

4 St Frances Academy (MD) 1828

5 St Louis (HI) 1846

6 American Heritage (FL) 1965

9 Archbishop Hoban (OH) 1953

13 Bishop Gorman (NV) 1954

15 De La Salle (CA) 1965

19 Bergen Catholic (NJ) 1955

30 Christian Brothers (MO) 1850

32 St Xavier (OH) 1831

38 University Lab (LA)

41 St Ignatius (OH) 1886

42 St Johns (MD) 1851

43 Bishop Miege (KS) 1958

44 Brentwood Academy  (TN) 1969

48 Trinity (KY) 1953

53 Chaminade West Hills (CA) 1952

59 Pulaski Academy (AR) 1971

61 Oaks Christian (CA) 2000

67 Depaul Catholic (NJ) 1956

68 Chaminade (FL) 1960

76 St Joseph’s (PA) 1851

88 J Serra Catholic (CA) 2003

89 St Edward (OH) 1949

90 Cathedral Prep (PA) 1921

94 Prestonwood Christian (TX) 1997

95 Cardinal Gibbons (FL) 1961

97 Blessed Trinity (GA) 2000

98 Orange Lutheran (CA) 1973

[mbhs69]

I remember the old days in the big cities up in the NE,  when tuition for both catholic elementary schools and high schools was paid for out of the donations into the collection baskets during daily and Sunday mass services.  And all the parents of students had to pay were small amounts for the  annual "book bill" at the beginning of the school year,  plus buy the school uniform for the girls or the school tie for the boys.  Of course they had other fund-raising fairs, raffles, drawings, the annual carnival, and other neighborhood and block $-making events to help pay into the common tuition kitty.  Some of the larger cities and big metropolitan areas had 3 different HS football leagues, one separate league each for catholic, public, and non-denominational private high schools.  DC, Baltimore, Philly, NYC, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Boston, the Central PA, NY, and New Jersey counties definitely had that sorta set-up. .  The many catholic and public high schools back then had the best quality football leagues by far, and the winners of those two leagues usually went on to play in a local "city or county championships" in mid December.  There were relatively few non-denominational private high schools, for which tuition was relatively expensive.  Those days are long gone, with the peak of that period being in the late 1960's - early 70's.   Philly and DC still have their own PCL and WCAC leagues,  with Philly's winner going forward into the state PIAA playoffs for all sports    Don't know how they did it in the Midwest and west coast cities.

The catholic elementary schools fielded different sports teams in the local CYO leagues against each other.  They were the "feeder" teams for many kids who went on to play HS sports  at the local catholic, public or private high schools.  There was absolutely no "free agency" or picking the catholic or public high school you wanted to attend.  If ya lived within certain street boundary areas, you could only go to the assigned high school for that area .... except for those private high schools where you went wherever as long as parents paid the bills.

[Proseteye]

Guess you probably remember Chaminade Catholic HS on Long Island, NY.  Bill O'Reilly's alma mater where he was on their championship teams in the 1960's. Chaminade dominated in the Catholic leagues for so many years but has not been that team as of late.

[mbhs69]

On 1/1/2018 at 11:10 AM, Proseteye said:

Guess you probably remember Chaminade Catholic HS on Long Island, NY.  Bill O'Reilly's alma mater where he was on their championship teams in the 1960's. Chaminade dominated in the Catholic leagues for so many years but has not been that team as of late.

They dominated way back when.  But not now, nor in the recent past.

They're still an all-boys school with over 1,700 students,  so one would think they'd have a pool of talent and skill to chose from to put together a real competitive team now.   With a consistent record of 100% of graduating seniors accepted to colleges over the past few years it appears academics is a priority.   

[Proseteye]

23 hours ago, mbhs69 said:

They dominated way back when.  But not now, nor in the recent past.

They're still an all-boys school with over 1,700 students,  so one would think they'd have a pool of talent and skill to chose from to put together a real competitive team now.   With a consistent record of 100% of graduating seniors accepted to colleges over the past few years it appears academics is a priority.   

Even back in the 50's, when I was in HS, my parents tried to get me into Chaminade as they were known as one of the best academic schools even then. Unfortunately, they had a 2 or 3 year waiting list. Also, if you were not Catholic, the waiting list was twice as long. 

[OldSchoolLion]

...in case you didn't know....

Chaminade is unique in that there are several schools around the country with that name, all named after a French priest and associated with the Marianists, a teaching order like the Jesuits.  There are high schools located in Los Angeles, St Louis, Dayton(OH), Long Island(NY), and Hollywood(FL). Then there is Chaminade University in Hawaii.  

The high school in NY competes in a Catholic school league and the other high schools compete against public schools at the state level.  Only a few of the boys programs in the major sports are what I what I would call "powerhouses."   That is why I laugh when people talk about Chaminade recruiting.  If they do, they need to fire their recruiters!  The schools place a lot of emphasis on academics and I don't ever see them having a sports program like Aquinas.

In basketball, the St Louis school is consistently one of the top teams in Missouri and has won multiple state championships.  In football, the Los Angeles and Florida schools are both strong.  Both were ranked in the top 100 of Maxpreps' rankings this year.  The LA school  competes in the brutal Division 1 with teams like Mater Dei,St John Bosco, Long Beach Poly, and Centennial, so that has limited their overall success.  

Chaminade University's claim to fame was their basketball upset of the University of Virginia and Ralph Samson back in the 80's, what many consider one of the biggest upsets ever in college basketball. 

Many of you probably know Dan Lebatard on ESPN.  He went to the school in Florida.  

As I have mentioned in other posts, outside St Thomas, it is the college prep schools like Bolles, IMG and American Heritage who have dominated the private school athletic landscape in Florida in recent years.