Powerhouse States: Texas, Florida, California...and Utah?

by Jeff Fisher
The High School Football Huddle

With Utah gaining more-and-more notoriety on the national college football scene, it only stands to reason that high school football in the state has something to do with the Utes rise to national prominence.

Today, the Salt Lake Tribune has a story that looks at Alta and Bingham high schools. Both teams enter the season ranked in Max Preps.com's Top 50....Bingham is 27th and Alta 31st. Alta teams will have an opportunity to show what the state's top program is made of when the Hawks face one of the top teams from Texas early in the 2009 season.

Alta faces Trinity of Euless, Texas in the Herbstreit Varsity Series. Trinity spent most of the 2008 season ranked #1 by several top national publications. However, before the September 7th match-up, Alta and Bingham have their own little squabble to settle when they square-off on August 28th.

The Alta Hawks are Utah's two-time defending 5A state champs entering the season, but didn't ascend to the top of the heap until 2007 when it finally disposed of Bingham in the state semis. Last year Alta won its second straight title by beating its arch-rival in the title game.

Click here to read today's story in the Salt Lake Trib.

For more stories from Utah, click here to go to the Utah High School Football Huddle.

USA Today Super 25

By Jeff Fisher
The High School Football Huddle

Don Bosco Prep's (Ramsey, NJ) come-from-behind 23-21 win over former #9 De La Salle (Concord, CA) helped to shuffle this week's USA Today Super 25. DBP pops-up three spots to #22, while the Spartans fall to #25.

Otherwise, a couple of close calls by former #4 Long Beach Poly (CA) and #13 Lakeland shuffled the deck a little with #10 Centennial (Corona, CA) and #21 Trinity (Louisville, KY) joining DBP as the biggest movers going up three spots each.

1. Byrnes (Duncan, SC) 5-0, LW: #1
2. Trinity (Euless, TX) 4-0, LW: #2
3. Gateway (Monroeville, PA), LW: #3
4. St. Thomas Aquinas (Ft. Lauderdale, FL) 3-0, LW: #5
5. Armwood (Seffner, FL) 5-0, LW: #6
6. Long Beach Poly (CA) 3-0, LW: #4
7. Carmel (IN) 6-0, LW: #7
8. Colerain (Cincinnati, OH) 6-0, LW: #8
9. River Hill (Clarksville, MD) 4-0, LW: #10
10. Centennial (Corona, CA) 3-0, LW: #13
11. Lowndes (Valdosta, GA) 5-0, LW: #11
12. Madison County (Madison, FL) 2-0, LW: #14
13. Lakeland (FL) 4-0, LW: #12
14. South Panola (Batesville, MS) 5-0, LW: #15
15. Oscar Smith (Chesapeake, VA) 5-0, LW: #16
16. Skyline (Issaquah, WA) 4-0, LW: #17
17. Lake Travis (Austin, TX) 5-0, LW: #18
18. Stone Bridge (Ashburn, VA) 5-0, LW: #19
19. Northside (Warner Robins, GA) 5-0, LW: #20
20. Plano (TX) 5-0, LW: #21
21. Trinity (Louisville, KY) 4-0, LW: #24
22. Don Bosco Prep (Ramsey, NJ) 2-1, LW: #25
23. Tuscaloosa County (Northport, AL) 5-0, LW: #22
24. Glenville (Cleveland, OH) 5-0, LW: #23
25. De La Salle (Concord, CA) 2-1, LW: #9

#2 Trinity (TX) To Be Tested Again

By Jeff Fisher
The High School Football Huddle

For the third straight week, Trinity's national ranking will be tested when the Trojans take-on Allen, which is ranked #6 in this week's Associated Press Class 5A Texas high school football poll.

Trinity has looked strong in its first two games, beating 22-time Louisiana champ John Curtis and in Week 1 and Cedar Hill easily last week 37-14 on the road. Many thought that Cedar Hill would be Trinity's biggest challenge during the regular season.

Allen is 3-0 having outscored opponents 100-28.

Trinity is ranked #1 by ESPN and the National Prep Poll and #2 by USA Today.

The game can be seen on the internet, click here to found out how you can watch.