Maryland High School Football Week 1 Classification Rankings

Preseason No. 1 teams all hold their positions despite plenty of movement in the rankings.

In Week 1, Quince Orchard already is pushing around opponents with a compelling 35-0 victory over state-ranked Paint Branch. The result solidifies the team's No. 1 ranking among 4A programs. / Harry Lichtman

The opening week of Maryland public school football play left the State Classification No. 1 teams untouched, but sparked plenty of movement within the Top 10s.

BIG MOVER: Oakland Mills

Oakland Mills, which debuted at No. 7 in the Class 2A preseason rankings, leaped to No. 2 this week through the combination of a convincing victory coupled with losses from fellow 2A contenders.

Oakland Mills scored on six of its first seven possessions in a 40-6 victory over St. Vincent Pallotti. Taamir Oliver and Kris Rogers each scored a pair of touchdowns. The fact that Oakland Mills won was not a major surprise, but the margin was eye-catching. There were eight games featuring Maryland public schools against Maryland private schools, and Oakland Mills was one of only two winners. The other was Oakdale's victory over St. John's Catholic Prep.

KEEP AN EYE ON: St. Mary's (Annapolis)

In St. Mary's return to the MIAA A Conference last season, the program received a rude welcome -- going 0-10. A year later, St. Mary's is 2-0, highlighted by a 21-6 win over state-ranked public school Broadneck on Friday.

"We're feeling better (than 2024), but we've got a long way to go," St. Mary's coach Jason Budroni said. "But we felt really confident coming into the season."

St. Mary's struggled through the 2024 campaign with a starting lineup of mostly sophomores. Now, with 27 juniors on the roster, Budroni is confident. "They grew up and they got faster."

Broadneck scored on its opening drive for a 6-0 lead that the Bruins held until the first play of the fourth quarter. DJ Hitaffer connected with Dylin Jackson on a short touchdown pass and Ethan Lowe's PAT put the Saints ahead 7-6. St. Mary's then turned two Broadneck turnovers into touchdowns to put the game away late in the fourth quarter.

St. Mary's faces Concordia Prep this week in a meeting of the two former MIAA B rivals that were moved into the A Conference in 2024. St. Mary's hasn't defeated an MIAA A team since edging Loyola Blakefield 36-30 in overtime in 2022, the year St. Mary's went 12-0.

BEHIND THE NUMBERS

Milford Mill Academy is listed at 0-0 as officials have yet to rule on the team's scheduled game against Richard Wright Charter (D.C.), which was not played this past weekend. Milford Mill coach Reggie White confirmed that Richard Wright Charter declined to play. While some have labeled the outcome a forfeit win for Milford Mill, White said he was told by the Baltimore County supervisor that it is considered a “no-contest.” For now, Milford Mill Academy will be credited with only an eight-game schedule for playoff seeding purposes. A meeting early this week is expected to determine whether the result remains off the books or is changed to an MPSSAA-recognized forfeit.

WHAT'S NEXT

This week’s featured matchup is Archbishop Spalding at McDonogh on Friday, a clash of state powers with plenty of recent history. In 2021, McDonogh shocked top-seeded Spalding in the MIAA A Conference semifinals. Since then, Spalding has owned the rivalry, winning six straight — three in the regular season and three more in the playoffs, each ending McDonogh’s season.

The top public-school matchup this week is Dunbar's trip to Fort Hill, the return leg of a two-year agreement between these storied programs. Dunbar won last year's meeting, 26–13 in Baltimore, on its way to a Class 2A-1A state runner-up finish, while Fort Hill went on to capture the 1A state championship. That game marked the first regular-season meeting between the schools; the previous six had all come in the state tournament — five of them in championship games. Dunbar leads the all-time series 6–1, with Fort Hill's lone victory coming in the 1997 state final. The Poets claimed state final wins over Fort Hill in 1994, 2006, 2008, and 2017, and added a semifinal victory in 2010.

Private Schools

Rank	School	Record
1	St. Frances Academy	1-1
2	DeMatha	2-0
3	Archbishop Spalding	1-2
4	McDonogh	2-0
5	Good Counsel	2-0
6	Loyola Blakefield	2-0
7	Bishop McNamara	2-0
8	Calvert Hall	2-0
9	Mount St. Joseph	3-0
10	Bullis	1-1
11	Georgetown Prep	1-1
12	St. Mary's Ryken	1-1
13	Concordia Prep	2-1
14	Landon	2-0
15	St. Mary's-AA	2-0

Class 4A

Rank	School	Record	Region
1	Quince Orchard	1-0	W
2	Flowers	1-0	S
3	Wise	0-1	S
4	Paint Branch	0-1	N
5	James H. Blake	1-0	N
6	Northwest	0-1	W
7	Broadneck	0-1	E
8	Winston Churchill	1-0	W
9	Eleanor Roosevelt	0-1	S
10	Dundalk	0-1	E

Class 4A-3A

Rank	School	Record	Region
1	North Point	1-0	E
2	Arundel	1-0	E
3	Mergenthaler Vo-Tech	0-1	N
4	Sherwood	1-0	S
5	Old Mill	1-0	E
6	Oxon Hill	1-0	S
7	Marriotts Ridge	1-0	W
8	Urbana	1-0	W
9	Perry Hall	0-1	N
10	Leonardtown	0-1	E

Class 3A

Rank	School	Record	Region
1	Milford Mill Academy	0-0	N
2	Linganore	1-0	W
3	Stephen Decatur	0-0	S
4	Oakdale	1-0	W
5	Franklin	1-0	N
6	Damascus	1-0	W
7	Edgewood	1-0	E
8	Westminster	0-1	N
9	Atholton	1-0	N
10	South River	1-0	S

Class 2A

Rank	School	Record	Region
1	Westlake	0-1	S
2	Oakland Mills	1-0	W
3	Northern-Calvert	1-0	S
4	Huntingtown	0-1	S
5	Howard	1-0	W
6	Douglass-PG	0-1	E
7	Gwynn Park	1-0	E
8	Glenelg	1-0	W
9	Bel Air	0-1	N
10	Largo	0-1	S

Class 2A-1A

Rank	School	Record	Region
1	Dunbar	0-1	S
2	Middletown	1-0	W
3	Calvert	1-0	E
4	Forest Park	1-0	S
5	Easton	1-0	E
6	Walkersville	1-0	W
7	Liberty	0-1	W
8	Hereford	1-0	N
9	Kent Island	1-0	E
10	Elkton	1-0	N

Class 1A

Rank	School	Record	Region
1	Patuxent	1-0	E
2	Fort Hill	1-0	W
3	Perryville	1-0	E
4	SEED School	0-1	N
5	Cambridge-S.D.	0-1	E
6	Patterson Mill	0-1	S
7	Boonsboro	0-1	N
8	Mountain Ridge	1-0	W
9	Allegany	0-1	W
10	Northern Garrett	0-1	W