which state has the best high school football? (logo, coach, games)

[raymondm]

Over years I talked and met so many people and had a debate with many people on which state has the best high school football. I'm a Texan, I talked to people from fla and cali and we think we have the best hight school football. But who really does?

[Packersnut21]

Texas I'm my book, I mean they have just as many people as some college football games and it's INSANE. The passion in Texas for football is at a level I don't think is matched by any other state. Some of the best high school football movies, Friday Night Lights, Varsity Blues, are based in Texas.

[DOUBLE H]

Packersnut21 is right. Many years ago I spent the night in Midland, Texas on my way to Austin. Listened to local news programming at the 6 p.m. news and there was a BUNCH of coverage on the Midland/Odessa game. As those cities are only 20 miles or so apart, there was needless to say a HUGE rivalry there, much more than I would have imagined.

The local tv sports crews on all networks had extended coverage on the game for the 11 p.m. broadcast. Plus it was televised live on an independent network. Amazing!

[Canes2006Champs]

Texas. I was in Dallas this past August and FOX4 had some kind of high school football preview for about 35 minutes. They take it very seriously over there.

And as HH said, the rivalries between some of these schools are almost that of the college level.

[lothartheterrible]

I'm going to say Texas, Florida, California and Ohio.

[Tyryztoll]

I played HS football in Texas (Spring). We had a 9,000 seat stadium with an astroturf field, complete with painted end zones and our logo at the 50. This was in the mid 80's. Nicer than a lot of college set ups around the country. It was AWESOME! To say nothing of the superior talent the state of Texas trots out every year. My teams always sucked unfortunately, but I got to compete against some damn good football players in my day.

Pennsylvania is another hotbed of high school football talent that is always high on the list.

[DOUBLE H]

Good observation Northman. Here are a few players that went to HOF that weren't bad players; Joe Montana, Joe Namath, George Blanda, Dan Marino, Jim Kelly. All grew up in Pennsylvania. And those are just the QB's!

[McGowdog]

Texas, California, and Florida come to mind, but you could fit 15 and a half Colorados in those states...population-wise.

But when it comes to pound for pound guts and heart, I'd like to give a shout out to a stretch of land along Hwy 34 out in Northeastern Colorado.

You need to check out the Akron Rams in Akron Colorado. These dudes have been right there for the last 5+ years and when 2A teams come down in class to play them in 1A 11-man football, they just beat them by 4+ touchdowns. The Limon Badgers are/were right there too.

Any football along that northeastern section in the state of Colorado is really tough. The Akron Rams are sort of the newcomers of the elite as they've kind of displaced the Limon Badgers, but the Limon Badgers are sort of the Boston Celtics/UCLA Bruins/Pittsburgh Steelers*(without the astrisk, of course) of Colorado Football.

What's so impressive about the Rams is that the town is so small and these kids are just about average size... not a bunch of 6'4" 270 lbs+ farm boys... but they play those big teams and just cut them down to size from the first play and until the final play 60 minutes later.

I think the Akron Rams would have beat the Denver Broncos this last season, but I know that's not saying much.

Look at the National Rankings for HS Football via Max Preps and see for yourself. It looks like they're ranked 212 in the Country, 6th in the state of Colorado, and the school has a population of 125 kids in a town of about 1700 people... So if all the elgible boys went out for varsity, that's about 65 kids to chose from. Good coaching? Must be. Good training, how could there not be?

One thing I noticed about this Akron team is just their focus, poise, and tempo. For 60 minutes, this team is like a group of Marines on a mission. They are surgical the way they perform their duties out there on that football field. Nobody has been able to stop their double-wing as they've just completed the 3-peat for Class 1A-11 man Colorado State Champions. National Small Schools: ranked 7 of 2380! That's about 44 kids on that team with like I said, an enrollment of about 125 kids for 9 though 12!

So Akron is ranked #3 in the Western States from the first link above and those schools in Wyoming and Montana are 247 students and 253 students respectively and Akron is half that size. Pound for pound, there's nothing like the Akron Rams.

That stretch of highway dominates in 1A 8-man (Merino, Haxtun, Daysprings Christian, Stratton, etc.) and 1A 6-Man (Idalia, Otis, Sedgewick County, etc.) football as well.

[camelot05]

I always think of the Top 5 as Texas, Cali, Florida, Ohio and PA. Not in any order, but I think Texas is huge for HS football.

I live in Cincinnati and HS football is huge here. I would say out of major metro cities, it is one of the best for HS football in the country. A few years back Cincinnati had 3 teams in the Super 25 in the USA Today. Back in the 70s, Moeller won (picked) something like 4 national mythical titles. I know there are states out there with better HS football, but few cities top Cincinnati in my book. But I live here, so I'm biased

[DOUBLE H]

McGowdog is right. Never underestimate the talent of the football programs in the smaller 3A, 2A, single A, and the 8 and 6 man clubs. Not only does Akron have a storied history with their high school football programs, but Merino (near Sterling), and also Idalia (100 miles east of Denver) have good programs going back decades.

Never underestimate the small programs in the rural areas. Those farm kids can flat out play.

Thanks McG! Great comments!