First USA TODAY Network Indiana football statewide polls are out. Where's your school ranked?

[Titan32]

https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/high-school/2025/08/18/indiana-high-school-football-rankings-2025-usa-today-network-polls-ihsaa-statewide-class-top-10/85510981007/

[ptr]

1 hour ago, Titan32 said:

https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/high-school/2025/08/18/indiana-high-school-football-rankings-2025-usa-today-network-polls-ihsaa-statewide-class-top-10/85510981007/

That may be behind a pay wall, so here are the rankings.

Class 6A football preseason top 10

Ranking	Team	Record	Votes	Prev. ranking
1.	Brownsburg (15)	0-0	158	-
2.	Westfield (1)	0-0	128	-
3.	Center Grove	0-0	124	-
4.	Lawrence North	0-0	114	-
5.	Crown Point	0-0	93	-
6.	Warren Central	0-0	65	-
7.	Hamilton SE	0-0	60	-
8.	Fishers	0-0	42	-
9.	Decatur Central	0-0	33	-
10.	Ben Davis	0-0	17	-

Others receiving votes: Carmel 14, FW Snider 6, FW Carroll 6, Columbus North 4, Elkhart 3, Avon 3, Penn 1.

Class 5A football preseason top 10

Ranking	Team	Record	Votes	Prev. ranking
1.	New Palestine (12)	0-0	156	-
2.	Cathedral (4)	0-0	128	-
3.	Merrillville	0-0	115	-
4. (tie)	Bloomington South	0-0	85	-
4. (tie)	East Central	0-0	85	-
6.	Warsaw	0-0	72	-
7.	Lafayette Jeff	0-0	67	-
8.	Concord	0-0	53	-
9.	Plainfield	0-0	41	-
10.	Valparaiso	0-0	31	-

Others receiving votes: Castle 16, Bloomington North 7, Whiteland 6, Floyd Central 4, Terre Haute South 1

Class 4A football preseason top 10

Ranking	Team	Record	Votes	Prev. ranking
1.	Bishop Chatard (10)	0-0	149	-
2.	Heritage Hills (5)	0-0	140	-
3.	Mishawaka (1)	0-0	111	-
4.	East Noble	0-0	110	-
5.	Martinsville	0-0	81	-
6.	Roncalli	0-0	76	-
7.	Evansville Reitz	0-0	64	-
8.	Greenfield-Central	0-0	46	-
9.	FW Bishop Dwenger	0-0	30	-
10.	Danville	0-0	22	-

Others receiving votes: Brebeuf Jesuit 14, New Prairie 11, Leo 10, Columbia City 8, NorthWood 7, Greenwood 3, Mt. Vernon 2.

 

Class 3A football preseason top 10

Ranking	Team	Record	Votes	Prev. ranking
1.	Evansville Memorial (5)	0-0	143	-
2.	FW Bishop Luers (7)	0-0	129	-
3.	Gibson Southern (3)	0-0	116	-
4.	Lawrenceburg	0-0	86	-
5.	Mississinewa	0-0	70	-
6.	Evansville Mater Dei	0-0	57	-
7.	West Lafayette	0-0	49	-
8.	Garrett	0-0	44	-
9.	Cascade	0-0	43	-
10.	Maconaquah	0-0	39	-

 

Others receiving votes: Knox 29, Tri-West 24, Guerin Catholic 21 (1), West Noble 10, Southridge 8, Batesville 7, North Harrison 2.

Class 2A football preseason top 10

Ranking	Team	Record	Votes	Prev. ranking
1.	Adams Central (15)	0-0	158	-
2.	Lutheran (1)	0-0	125	-
3.	Linton-Stockton	0-0	119	-
4.	Brownstown Central	0-0	98	-
5.	Andrean	0-0	95	-
6.	Laf. Central Catholic	0-0	85	-
7.	Lapel	0-0	60	-
8.	Heritage Christian	0-0	28	-
9.	Triton Central	0-0	19	-
10.	Eastbrook	0-0	13	-

Others receiving votes: Monrovia 12, Paoli 12, Western Boone 12, Bluffton 8, Alexandria 6, Eastern (Greentown) 5, Northeastern 5, Centerville 3, North Posey 3, South Vermillion 1.

Class A football preseason top 10

Ranking	Team	Record	Votes	Prev. ranking
1.	Providence (14)	0-0	158	-
2.	North Judson	0-0	136	-
3.	South Putnam (2)	0-0	127	-
4.	North Decatur	0-0	85	-
5.	South Adams	0-0	75	-
6.	Carroll (Flora)	0-0	65	-
7.	Milan	0-0	54	-
8.	Madison-Grant	0-0	51	-
9.	Springs Valley	0-0	47	-
10.	North Miami	0-0	32	-

Others receiving votes: Pioneer 13, Frontier 11, Triton 7, LaVille 6, Sheridan 6, Forest Park 2, Knightstown 2, Riverton Parke 2, Tri 1.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[foxbat]

Just seems strange not seeing Pioneer and/or Sheridan in the first week Top 10 for 1A.

[Daniel_Bragg]

1 hour ago, foxbat said:

Just seems strange not seeing Pioneer and/or Sheridan in the first week Top 10 for 1A.

No one knows what to expect out of Sheridan.  When your program has been led by the same mind for almost 60 years, everyone is naturally skeptical.  Ironically, the team that same coach is now an assistant at, is ranked 10th.

[Muda69]

Along these lines the excellent Mr. Neddenriep has given his prognostications for the 2025 season:  https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/high-school/2025/08/19/ihsaa-football-predictions-picking-2025-indiana-high-school-champions-each-class/85703635007/

FTA: 

Quote

Class 3A

Sectional champions

• NORTH: Knox, West Noble, Maconaquah, Fort Wayne Bishop Luers
• SOUTH: Cascade, Lawrenceburg, Scottsburg, Gibson Southern

I’ll take Knox over West Noble and Maconaquah over Bishop Luers in the north regional games and Maconaquah to advance to the state finals. In the south, give me Cascade over Lawrenceburg in one regional and Gibson Southern over Scottsburg in the other. I’ll take Gibson Southern to win the semistate.

∎ Championship game: Gibson Southern over Maconaquah.

Yeah, right.  <rolleyes>

 

 

[First_Backer_Inside]

Quite comical in 2A to see a team last year that was 4-6 make the top 10. Also comical to see two teams in that sectional get votes after both of them got knocked out by a Tipton team that brings a lot of players back. I know it's just pre-season polls, but is any research done before making these?

[temptation]

7 hours ago, Muda69 said:

Along these lines the excellent Mr. Neddenriep has given his prognostications for the 2025 season:  https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/high-school/2025/08/19/ihsaa-football-predictions-picking-2025-indiana-high-school-champions-each-class/85703635007/

FTA: 

Yeah, right.  <rolleyes>

 

 

Not giving the IndyStar a dime, but would love to see what Kyle thinks if you want to share…

[adambetz]

8 hours ago, First_Backer_Inside said:

Quite comical in 2A to see a team last year that was 4-6 make the top 10. Also comical to see two teams in that sectional get votes after both of them got knocked out by a Tipton team that brings a lot of players back. I know it's just pre-season polls, but is any research done before making these?

Eastbrook in on name recognition alone. A head scratcher for sure. Tipton underrated for sure, but Bluffton is also worth of receiving votes imo.

[First_Backer_Inside]

8 hours ago, adambetz said:

Eastbrook in on name recognition alone. A head scratcher for sure. Tipton underrated for sure, but Bluffton is also worth of receiving votes imo.

Agreed, I'm not saying tipton should even receive votes either, but if those two teams are I think they should. Bluffton and Adams Central should be a little more competitive this year compared to last you think?

[Muda69]

10 hours ago, temptation said:

Not giving the IndyStar a dime, but would love to see what Kyle thinks if you want to share…

Quote

OK, time for predictions. I reserve the right to revisit these picks around midseason (or after), or just fully forget this endeavor entirely.

It is worth pointing out, I did hit on a few last year. I correctly picked the finalists and result in Class 5A (Decatur Central over Warsaw) and picked the winners in Class 4A (New Palestine) and Class 3A (Heritage Hills). I picked Westfield (6A) and North Judson (A) to reach the finals and they both did. Not bad.

So, here goes nothing. Here are all of the predicted sectional, regional, semistate and state championship winners in the six classes:

Class 6A

Sectional champions

• NORTH: Crown Point, Fort Wayne Carroll, Westfield, Hamilton Southeastern
• SOUTH: Brownsburg, Lawrence North, Warren Central, Center Grove

These are seven of the eight picks I had last year. The one I missed, Brownsburg, ended up winning the state championship (I had Ben Davis). The only other one I missed was Fishers over Hamilton Southeastern. I think we will see a Westfield-Crown Point semistate for the third consecutive year. I will take Westfield to advance again. In the south, I will take Brownsburg to beat Lawrence North and Center Grove over Warren Central. It’s hard to win back-to-back in 6A. I’ll take Center Grove in a classic over Brownsburg.

Class 5A

Sectional champions

• NORTH: Merrillville, Valparaiso, Warsaw, Lafayette Jeff
• SOUTH: New Palestine, East Central, Bloomington South, Castle

• These were all of picks from a year ago with the notable of exception of Decatur Central, which is in 6A. Taking the Hawks’ place is last year’s 4A state champion, New Palestine. In the regional matchups, I will take Merrillville over Valpo and Lafayette Jeff over Warsaw. In the south regional games, New Palestine over East Central and Bloomington South over Castle. In the semistate games, Lafayette Jeff beats Merrillville and New Pal over Bloomington South.

  ∎ Championship game: New Palestine over Lafayette Jeff.

• Class 4A

  Sectional champions

• NORTH: New Prairie, Mishawaka, East Noble, Culver Academy
• SOUTH: Greenfield-Central, Bishop Chatard, Martinsville, Evansville Reitz

• I’ll take Mishawaka over New Prairie in a rematch of last year (a 21-7 Mishawaka win) and East Noble over Culver Academy. I’ll take Mishawaka to avenge last year’s 18-13 semistate loss to East Noble. In the south, I’ll take Bishop Chatard over Greenfield-Central and Evansville Reitz over Martinsville.

  ∎ Championship game: Bishop Chatard over Mishawaka.

• Class 2A

  Sectional champions

• NORTH: Andrean, Lafayette Central Catholic, Adams Central, Rochester
• SOUTH: Lutheran, Lapel, Linton-Stockton, Brownstown Central

• Give me Andrean over Lafayette Central Catholic in one north regional and Adams Central over Rochester. I’ll take Andrean to advance to the state finals. In the south, Lutheran over Lapel in one regional and Linton-Stockton over Brownstown Central in the other. I’ll take Lutheran to advance to Thanksgiving weekend.

• ∎ Championship game: Andrean over Lutheran.

•  

  Class A

  Sectional champions

• NORTH: North Judson, Carroll (Flora), North Miami, South Adams
• SOUTH: South Putnam, Sheridan, North Decatur, Providence

• ∎ Championship game: South Adams over North Decatur.

  I’ll take North Judson and South Adams in the north regional games and South Putnam and North Decatur in the south. Give me South Adams and North Decatur to advance to the state finals.

 

[adambetz]

3 hours ago, First_Backer_Inside said:

Agreed, I'm not saying tipton should even receive votes either, but if those two teams are I think they should. Bluffton and Adams Central should be a little more competitive this year compared to last you think?

I've said yes to that in the past and been incredibly wrong. Jamison Roach is just so good, makes all the right choices. Would take a complete team effort. Heritage might be closer to AC this year.