Following a miracle victory Saturday night, the final No. 1 ranking will go to North Shore.
The Mustangs finished 16-0 while beating some of the best teams in the Lone Star State and running the gauntlet in the nation's toughest postseason bracket.
North Shore outscored opponents 854-199 and won by an average margin of 41 points per game. The Mustangs won 15 of 16 games by double digits and captured the state title Saturday at AT&T Stadium on a Hail Mary as time expired against then-No. 3
Duncanville (Texas).
Among the Houston program's playoff wins were Katy, Cy-Fair (Cypress), Lake Travis (Austin), Dickinson and Duncanville, five teams that combined to go 59-4 against teams not named North Shore.
See the video for a complete look at this week's final Xcellent 25 rankings presented by the Army National Guard.
Deciding between a one-loss Mater Dei team, which played a national schedule, and an undefeated North Shore squad that didn't face out-of-state competition but ran through one of the toughest states in high school football was a difficult task.
The Monarchs were close to repeating as national champs but the 23-point loss against league rival St. John Bosco in October was a major factor — even though Mater Dei avenged that loss with a 17-13 victory to win the CIF Southern Section Division I championship.
The final rankings include teams from a dozen states. California and Texas each had three teams in the Top 10 and both states had two Top 5 representatives. California and Florida had the most teams in the final rankings with five teams each.
Past MaxPreps National Champions2008 – St. Thomas Aquinas (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.)
2009 – Don Bosco Prep (Ramsey, N.J.)
2010 – De La Salle (Concord, Calif.)
2011 – Don Bosco Prep (Ramsey, N.J.)
2012 – John Curtis Christian (River Ridge, La.)
2013 – Booker T. Washington (Miami, Fla.)
2014 – Allen (Texas)
2015 – Katy (Texas)
2016 – Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas, Nev.)
2017 – Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.)
North Shore celebrates after winning the Texas Class 6A Division I state title on a Hail Mary as time expired.
Photo by: Robbie Rakestraw
