The 2024 high school football season will begin in the state of Arizona this week. <\/p>\n
According to the On3 Massey Ratings state top 25<\/a><\/strong>, seven ranked matchups \u2014 headlined by No. 3 Centennial<\/a><\/strong> vs. No. 4 Hamilton<\/a><\/strong> \u2014 will help begin the Grand Canyon State festivities with a bang.<\/p>\n Below are the updated top 25 programs in Arizona heading into the first week of the season.<\/p>\n <\/em>The\u00a0On3 Massey Ratings<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 which were officially used during the BCS era and have generated college high school sports team rankings since 1995 \u2014 rank sports teams by analyzing game outcomes, strength of schedule and margin of victory.<\/em><\/p>\n CLICK HERE to watch your high school\u2019s games on NFHS Network now!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Currently the No. 15 program in the nation, Liberty won a state title last season and has lost just five games across the past three years entering 2024. While not loaded when it comes to nationally-ranked prospects, the Lions will be a major force and the favorite to repeat atop the mountain this fall. They open on the road in Goodyear at No. 18 Desert Edge<\/a><\/strong> this week.<\/p>\n Not too far behind Liberty, Chandler enters the week ranked No. 39 nationally. The Wolves will open with Cesar Chavez<\/a><\/strong> on Aug. 29 before facing the likes of Mountain Ridge, Highland, Liberty, Casteel, Basha and Hamilton. The Wolves lose a handful of Power 4 caliber players from last season: Illinois RB\u00a0Ca\u2019lil Valentine<\/a><\/strong>, Notre Dame DB\u00a0Kennedy Urlacher<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0and Utah CB\u00a0Sammie Hunter<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n Centennial made it to the 2023 Open Division state championship game before falling to Liberty, capping an 11-2 season for the Coyotes. Centennial will get a shot at revenge against Liberty in the final game of the season on Nov. 8. First up is a top-five clash on the road at No. 4 Hamilton<\/a><\/strong> on Friday \u2014 the No. 1 opening game to watch in the Grand Canyon State this week.<\/p>\n The Huskies will host Centennial as they look to make a major statement to kick off the season. Liberty dropped Hamilton in the first round of the Open playoffs last year after a 7-3 regular season. A tough two-game stretch against Desert Ridge and Boulder Creek awaits after the top-five matchup this week.<\/p>\n Basha put together an impressive 10-2 season in 2023, falling to Centennial in the state semifinals. The Bears will host the No. 2 squad in Nebraska for the first game of the season \u2014\u00a0Omaha Millard South<\/a><\/strong>. They will also go on the road to Mission Viejo (Calif.) on Sept. 20, the Diablos being the No. 14 team in the nation. Basha will have to make a replacement at the quarterback position in 2024 after losing\u00a0Demond Williams Jr.<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0to Washington at the next level.<\/p>\n Scottsdale Saguaro will begin its 2024 season at home this Thursday, welcoming No. 11 American Leadership Academy<\/a><\/strong> in from Queen Creek for an early ranked bout. A 9-5 season ended with an Arizona 6A state title for Saguaro a year ago, beating Red Mountain 40-20 in the final game.<\/p>\n Highland made it to the Open Division semifinals before a 54-12 loss ended the Hawks\u2019 9-3 season.\u00a0They\u2019ll open the season at home against Shadow Ridge<\/a><\/strong> on Friday evening, while games against the likes of Centennial, Chandler, Red Mountain, Williams Field and American Leadership Academy are also on the docket this season.<\/p>\n A 7-5 season a year ago ended in heartbreaking fashion for Pinnacle with a 27-24 overtime loss in the postseason to Red Mountain. The Pioneers will kick off 2024 against Albuquerque (N.M.) La Cueva<\/a><\/strong> before playing against American Leadership, Chaparral, Liberty, Sandra Day O\u2019Connor, Centennial and Saguaro.<\/p>\n The theme of the 2023 postseason in Arizona 6A, Brophy also took Red Mountain to overtime before losing 36-35 in the state semifinals. The Broncos have a loaded roster in 2024 to try to get over that hump with Power 4 talent like Wisconsin four-star IOL commit\u00a0Logan Powell<\/a><\/strong>, Notre Dame cornerback pledge\u00a0Cree Thomas<\/a><\/strong>, Kansas State DB commit\u00a0Dominic Mitchell<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0and Kansas IOL commit\u00a0Anderson Kopp<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0in the senior class. The Broncos will open the season against No. 13 Williams Field<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0this week.<\/p>\n The Arizona 5A state championship belonged to Higley in 2023 as the Knights finished with a 13-2 record. Games against Desert Edge, American Leadership Academy, Horizon, Desert Mountain and Williams Field litter the Knights\u2019 schedule in 2024 after they begin with a road trip to Campo Verde<\/a><\/strong>. Leading the way for Higley this season will be Arizona quarterback commit\u00a0Luke Haugo<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n 11. American Leadership Academy<\/a><\/strong> 16. Casteel<\/a><\/strong> 21. Queen Creek<\/a><\/strong> The post Arizona High School Football Rankings: Top 25 Teams \u2013 August 26<\/a> appeared first on On3<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The 2024 high school football season will begin in the state of Arizona this week….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-67811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67811"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67811\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67847,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67811\/revisions\/67847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}1. Liberty<\/a><\/strong> <\/h2>\n
2. Chandler<\/a><\/strong><\/h2>\n
3. Centennial<\/a><\/strong><\/h2>\n
4. Hamilton<\/a><\/strong><\/h2>\n
5. Basha<\/a><\/strong><\/h2>\n
6. Saguaro<\/a><\/strong><\/h2>\n
7. Highland<\/a><\/strong><\/h2>\n
8. Phoenix Pinnacle<\/a><\/strong><\/h2>\n
9. Brophy<\/a><\/strong><\/h2>\n
10. Higley<\/a><\/strong><\/h2>\n
Teams 11-25 in Arizona High School Football Rankings<\/h2>\n
12. Red Mountain<\/a><\/strong>
13. Williams Field<\/a><\/strong>
14. Salpointe Catholic<\/a><\/strong>
15. Horizon<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n
17. Sandra Day O\u2019connor<\/a><\/strong>
18. Desert Edge<\/a><\/strong>
19. Perry<\/a><\/strong>
20. Chaparral<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n
22. Mesa Mountain View<\/a><\/strong>
23. Desert Mountain<\/a><\/strong>
24. Desert Ridge<\/a><\/strong>
25. Boulder Creek<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n