National HS sports news organization MaxPreps has released the first of their power rankings for Arizona HS Football. Let’s take a look at how the playoff picture would look according to these rankings, as well as any notable rankings that the writers at MaxPreps included.

Open Division Predictions

According to MaxPreps, the Top-8 teams in AZ right now are: Liberty, Hamilton, Chandler, Centennial, Saguaro, Basha, Higley, and Highland. Liberty appears to be the consensus #1 Team in Arizona once again, based off the predictions of local and national media. The Lions also finished last season as the number one team in Arizona. Perhaps the most intriguing ranking is Saguaro at #5. Despite a 6A Championship last season. Saguaro has had a disastrous offseason. ‘SagU’ has seen a massive spike in transfers ever since January, following a controversial email that included racist vocab was sent out from the school’s principal in late December. This resulted in nearly 20 student-athletes leaving the school, including stars like Tyrique Washington and Zeth Angel Thues, among others. Saguaro’s inclusion in the Open Division here, let alone the Top 10, is bold to say the least. Whether or not the Sabercats will be able to rally and bounce back from this devastating off season remains to be seen. Saguaro is the 14th Ranked team in 6A in the WSSArizona/BJ Media “Way Too Early” AZHSFB Rankings, released in June. Also building off these rankings is the inclusion of Gilbert’s Higley HS. Finishing just outside the Top 8 Last Season, Higley is ranked at #6 on our Open Division Rankings, and is ranked at #7 on the MaxPreps Power Rankings. Higley is expected to be one to be amongst the elite this season and is expected to compete in the Open this year after back-to-back 5A Championships. If they happen to not make the Open this year, they are the consensus favorites to win 5A once again.

Notable Rankings

Just outside of the Top 8 in MaxPreps’ rankings is Brophy College Prep. Brophy is one of the most intriguing teams going into this season from a spectator’s point of view. They have an incredibly young, talented roster and are strong at almost all positions. Brophy came in at #4 in the Open Division in the WSSArizona/BJ Media “Way Too Early” AZHSFB Rankings. Brophy returns most, if not all of their key contributors from last season, including defensive-threats Dominic Mitchell, Bastian Vanden Bosch, and Cree Thomas. On the other side, they’ve got nearly their entire receiving core coming back, such as their WR1 last season, Christian Camarata, two-sport athlete Daylen Sharper, and Devin Fitzgerald, who is expected to have a larger workload as a junior. Their leading rusher, Harrison Chambers returns, as well as the o-line duo of Kansas-Commit Anderson Kopp and Wisconsin-Commit Logan Powell. If anything, it seems that Brophy is extremely underrated according to the MaxPreps rankings, but only time will tell.

Looking at last season’s top teams outside of the Top 10, Goodyear’s Desert Edge comes in #14, 4 Spots lower than their 2023-finish of #10. They will kickoff the season against Liberty on August 30th. 6A Runner-Up Red Mountain is ranked a spot below DE at #15. They also fell 4 spots as they were the #11 Ranked team at the end of last season. The 4A Winner and Runner-Ups Canyon Del Oro and Yuma Catholic are ranked at #18 and #20, respectively.

Mountain Pointe is another school that has large expectations heading into 2024. They currently sit at #23 overall in Arizona on the MaxPreps rankings. They are major climbers compared to last season, where they finished at #32 overall. The Pride are looking revitalized this season, picking up Sierra Linda-transfer QB Camar Lee, a 2-Year Varsity starter for the Bulldogs. He will be locked in a 3-Way battle for QB1 with starter Rob Knorr and transfer Kristian Escobedo. The Pride also landed the previously mentioned Tackle Tyrique Washington from Saguaro, to bolster the O-Line. Add recent Washington-Commit Rylon Dillard-Allen, and the Pride make for one of the most interesting teams to watch, and are another team that seem underrated by MaxPreps before the season starts.

Lightning Round

• Marana: #27 (+21) – Finished #48 in 2023
• Tolleson: #47 (+21) – Finished #68 in Arizona last season. Have lost several key players over the summer including TE Judah Lancaster, QB Kristian Escobedo, DB Clarence Tucker
• Kellis: #64 – Ranked at #6 in 5A the WSSArizona/BJ Media “Way Too Early” AZHSFB Rankings
• Vista Grande: #66 (+19) – Finished #66 in 2023