First Real Answers of 2026: Clay-Chalkville Stuns Creekside, TCC and Thompson Roll
Preseason No. 10 Clay-Chalkville knocked off No. 1 Creekside, No. 2 Thomas County Central and No. 3 Thompson won by a combined 63 points, and No. 20 Miami Central crossed the country for a last-minute win in California. The first major slate of 2026 delivered real evidence for the national public-school race.
Top 25 Public HSFB8/22/202610 min read
T25PS
Through Friday night, the T25PS Scoreboard had logged 59 finals across two days. Nationally relevant public-school teams were in action from California to Florida, and the first full Friday of the 2026 season produced nearly every kind of result: a win over the preseason No. 1 team, dominant performances near the top of the rankings, public-school wins over major private-school programs, close calls and several losses that demand another look.
The most important development came in Georgia, where No. 10 Clay-Chalkville beat No. 1 Creekside 29–20. But that was only the start. No. 2 Thomas County Central overwhelmed No. 66 Colquitt County, No. 3 Thompson pulled away from No. 38 Central-Phenix City, and No. 20 Miami Central found a winning play in the final seconds at Orange Lutheran.
One result should not erase an entire preseason evaluation. It should, however, change the questions. For the first time in 2026, preseason projections can be measured against a major batch of actual results.
Saturday still matters. No. 9 Buford–No. 26 Gainesville, No. 27 Northwestern–No. 32 Hough and East St. Louis–Chicago Mount Carmel will add more evidence before the weekend is complete. A separate T25PS recap will cover Saturday’s games.
Biggest Statements of the Weekend
No. 10 Clay-Chalkville 29, No. 1 Creekside 20
This is the result that changes the top of the conversation.
Clay-Chalkville went on the road and beat the team that entered the season No. 1 in the T25PS Public Schools Top 100. Both programs went 15–0 and won state championships in 2025, but they entered this season with different questions. Creekside returned the foundation of a defense that dominated Georgia last fall. Clay-Chalkville had to replace three 1,000-yard offensive producers.
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The Cougars did not need the rebuilt offense to look like the 2025 version. They needed it to produce enough against one of the strongest public-school defenses in the country. Twenty-nine points and a nine-point road win are a real answer.
The next test is immediate. Clay-Chalkville travels to No. 3 Thompson next Thursday. After what both Alabama programs did this week, that game now carries even more weight in the national public-school picture.
No. 2 Thomas County Central 57, No. 66 Colquitt County 21
Thomas County Central did more than handle a difficult opener. The Yellow Jackets turned a matchup between two South Georgia powers into a running-clock win.
Quarterback Aidan McPherson was the center of it. The Duke commitment rushed for 196 yards and six touchdowns and threw for 163 yards and another score, accounting for all seven Thomas County Central touchdowns. His 79-yard touchdown run, followed by a safety on Colquitt County’s next possession, turned a 14–7 game into a 23–7 advantage.
Colquitt County was No. 66 in the T25PS preseason ranking and entered as a top-10 team in Georgia’s largest classification. Thomas County Central beat the Packers by 36 in the programs’ first meeting since 2012. That is the kind of result a preseason No. 2 team can use to build a case for the top spot.
No. 3 Thompson 41, No. 38 Central-Phenix City 14
Thompson and Central-Phenix City were tied at 14 in the second quarter. Thompson scored the final 27 points.
Trent Seaborn completed 18 of 27 passes for 331 yards and four touchdowns. Mason McClure caught four passes for 129 yards in his Thompson debut. CJ Cowley added 90 receiving yards and a touchdown on four catches, then scored again on the ground. Micah Fleming’s late-third-quarter interception helped make sure Central never found the comeback it produced in the teams’ 2025 state semifinal.
The final margin matters because Central-Phenix City entered No. 38 and brought back an offense with proven production. Thompson absorbed the early push, controlled the second half and looked every bit like a top-three public-school team.
Next comes No. 10 Clay-Chalkville, which has beaten Thompson three straight times and now owns the biggest win of the young T25PS season.
No. 20 Miami Central 23, Orange Lutheran 22
Miami Central traveled to California and found one more play.
The Rockets trailed by six with 28 seconds left when quarterback James Perrone escaped the pocket from the 40-yard line, beat multiple defenders and reached the end zone. The extra point put Miami Central ahead 23–22, and the Rockets closed out the final seconds.
The win matters beyond the finish. Orange Lutheran entered as one of Southern California’s highest-regarded teams, and Miami Central was testing a rebuilt offensive line against a major interstate opponent. The Rockets survived that test, and the road win will carry weight as the season develops.
The schedule does not ease up for long. After St. Brendan, Miami Central travels to No. 9 Buford on Sept. 11.
No. 14 West Boca Raton 24, American Heritage 7
West Boca Raton did not sneak out of Plantation. The Bulls led from beginning to end and beat American Heritage by 17.
Senior quarterback Trey Moran ran for one touchdown and threw scoring passes to Lorontae Davis and Billy Clancy III. American Heritage entered No. 15 in the MaxPreps national ranking and No. 23 in the USA TODAY Super 25, giving West Boca one of the weekend’s clearest public-over-private statements.
The Bulls are two-time defending state champions. This result is evidence that the standard did not leave with last year’s senior class.
No. 4 Centennial 41, Servite 21
Centennial opened against a Trinity League opponent and scored 41.
Quarterback Jaden Jefferson accounted for four touchdowns, two passing and two rushing. USC receiver commitment Quentin Hale caught eight passes for 155 yards and two scores, including a 46-yard touchdown. The Huskies also ran for more than 250 yards as a team.
There were penalties to clean up, but the larger point is straightforward: the new Jefferson–Hale combination translated immediately against a credible opponent. Centennial gets another major test next Friday against Santa Margarita.
No. 6 Carrollton 55, Rome 7
Carrollton was expected to win. A 48-point road margin still deserves attention.
The Trojans entered the season as one of Georgia’s leading public-school contenders and gave Rome no room to turn the opener into a test. The team result tells the story: 55 points scored, seven allowed and a top-six team handling business immediately.
Upsets and Surprise Results
Sandy Creek 21, No. 15 Grayson 13
Sandy Creek should not be treated like an anonymous unranked team. The Fighting Patriots went 15–0 and won Georgia’s Class 3A championship in 2025 before moving into Class 4A. They still entered this game as a 12-point underdog against a much larger Grayson program.
Sandy Creek won 21–13. Grayson is now 0–2 for the first time since 2013 after losses to North Gwinnett and Sandy Creek. The Rams still have a talented roster, but a preseason No. 15 ranking now has to contend with two actual losses.
Merritt Island 44, No. 54 Cocoa 19
The surprise here is not only that Cocoa lost. It is the margin. Merritt Island went on the road and beat the preseason No. 54 team by 25 points, a result that immediately raises the Mustangs’ national profile.
Homewood-Flossmoor 31, No. 41 Bolingbrook 0
Bolingbrook entered the T25PS Top 100 at No. 41 and was shut out at home. Homewood-Flossmoor’s 31–0 road win was one of the weekend’s largest ranking surprises, pushing Bolingbrook’s position under pressure while placing the Vikings in the national discussion.
Olentangy Berlin 21, No. 89 Olentangy Orange 6
Olentangy Berlin held Orange to six points and controlled the second half. For a team sitting near the bottom of the preseason Top 100, a 15-point opening loss to an unranked rival puts the ranking under immediate pressure.
Mosley 15, No. 99 Choctawhatchee 13
Choctawhatchee opened on the road and lost by two. The margin keeps this from becoming an overreaction, but a loss by the preseason No. 99 team naturally reopens the final spots in the Top 100.
Santa Margarita 27, No. 80 Jones 0
Santa Margarita is a high-level private-school opponent, so the loss itself is not disqualifying. The shutout is the concern. Jones’ response on offense will determine whether the opener was an isolated mismatch or a sign of a larger problem.
Venice went on the road, played a strong private-school program and needed overtime to get out with a two-point win. That is not a clean opening statement, but it is a useful pressure result. The Indians finished the game and now have an early example of responding when the margin disappears.
No. 81 Alcoa 43, Maryville 42, double overtime
Alcoa won the Battle of Pistol Creek for the third straight year by converting a two-point try in the second overtime. The rivalry has little interest in preseason expectations, and this edition gave both teams meaningful evidence immediately.
No. 44 Avon 22, St. Ignatius 21
Avon trailed 21–14 before Michael Colburn scored with 14 seconds left. Trevor Sykora then found Jackson Palmer for the winning two-point conversion. The Eagles extended their winning streak against Ohio opponents and now turn to No. 96 Pine-Richland.
No. 19 Milton 30, North Cobb 29
Milton ended a three-game losing streak in the series and survived one of Friday’s most competitive Georgia matchups. The one-point margin says North Cobb belongs in the broader Georgia conversation even though it did not finish the upset.
No. 42 Miami Northwestern 20, Lakewood 18
The Bulls escaped their opener by two. The narrow margin does not erase Miami Northwestern’s ceiling, but it leaves less separation than the preseason ranking suggested. The next few weeks will show whether Lakewood exposed a real vulnerability or simply forced a good team into a difficult opener.
No. 88 Buchholz 34, Vanguard 28
Buchholz survived a six-point road game. The result belongs in the “keep watching” category rather than the “problem” category, especially this early.
Teams That Looked the Part
• No. 2 Thomas County Central: Fifty-seven points against a ranked South Georgia opponent, with Aidan McPherson accounting for seven touchdowns.
• No. 3 Thompson: Twenty-seven unanswered points after a 14–14 tie, backed by 331 passing yards and four touchdowns from Trent Seaborn.
• No. 4 Centennial: Forty-one points, four total touchdowns from Jaden Jefferson and immediate production from Quentin Hale.
• No. 6 Carrollton: A 55–7 road win left little to question about the opener.
• No. 16 Corner Canyon: Beat Timpview 40–7.
• No. 28 Mission Viejo: Beat Chaparral 55–17.
• No. 39 Lakeland: Shut out Kathleen 47–0.
• No. 48 Langston Hughes: Beat North Atlanta 56–7.
Teams Facing Immediate Questions
No. 1 Creekside
A nine-point road loss to the preseason No. 10 team is not the profile of a collapse. The location and opponent quality matter. But Creekside no longer owns an uncontested No. 1 case after multiple top-five teams delivered emphatic wins.
No. 15 Grayson
Grayson carries the most urgent question into the first ranking update. The Rams are 0–2 after losing by 15 to North Gwinnett and eight to Sandy Creek. The schedule was difficult, but two actual results now outweigh the certainty of a preseason projection.
No. 54 Cocoa
A 44–19 home loss to Merritt Island is too large to dismiss. Cocoa entered at No. 54, but the 25-point margin gives Merritt Island the stronger early-season claim between the two teams.
No. 41 Bolingbrook
A 31–0 home loss is more than a narrow opening stumble. One game is not the season, but Bolingbrook’s No. 41 position is vulnerable after a result that offered no evidence of top-50 form.
No. 80 Jones
Santa Margarita is strong enough that one loss does not end Jones’ national relevance. A scoreless opener, however, shifts the next question to the offense and whether the Tigers can produce against their next quality opponent.
The bottom of the Top 100
No. 89 Olentangy Orange and No. 99 Choctawhatchee both lost, opening the door for strong unranked winners. Neither team should be replaced automatically after one result, but spots near the cutoff now have to be defended with actual performance rather than preseason projection.
Other Notable Results
• No. 11 Cherry Creek beat Chatfield 28–15.
• No. 12 Brownsburg beat Lawrence North 48–25.
• No. 33 Grimsley shut out West Charlotte 24–0 after the game was moved to Thursday.
• No. 43 Massillon Washington beat No. 58 Glenville 31–18.
• No. 46 Armwood beat Lennard 17–7.
• No. 47 Raines beat Oakleaf 21–7.
• No. 49 Saraland beat Mary G. Montgomery 33–14.
• No. 56 Houston County beat West Forsyth 38–14 at Center Parc Stadium.
• No. 59 Valdosta beat Jones County 52–14.
• No. 63 Edgewater beat Ocoee 34–6.
• No. 70 Hewitt-Trussville beat Auburn 56–42.
• No. 74 Lowndes beat Jenkins 31–6.
• No. 75 New Palestine beat St. Francis 28–17.
• No. 87 Weddington beat Mooresville 49–17.
• No. 90 Mandarin beat McArthur 38–21.
• No. 93 Westfield beat Homestead 49–21.
• No. 94 Pacifica-Oxnard beat Del Sol 52–6.
• No. 97 Vero Beach shut out Jensen Beach 34–0.
Complete T25PS Scoreboard
The games above are the results that carried the most immediate national or ranking significance. The broader slate, Saturday schedule and latest score updates are available on the complete T25PS Scoreboard.
