Did Gorman move up to No. 1 in national high school rankings?
October 16, 2023 - 10:06 am
Updated October 17, 2023 - 7:11 pm
There’s a new No. 1 team in MaxPreps’ national high school football rankings.
Bishop Gorman assumed the top spot Monday after previously top-ranked Mater Dei (California) lost 28-0 Friday night to St. John Bosco (California), then ranked No. 9.
“I’ve been saying the whole time, even when we were No. 2, it doesn’t matter being No. 1, No. 2, No. 20,” Gorman coach Brent Browner said. “All that matters is when you’re done playing football, where are you at?”
Gorman is still No. 2 in USA Today’s Super 25 rankings, which will release its weekly poll on Tuesday.
“That’s our goal, is to be done and at No. 1, not right now,” Browner said. “It’s nice, but you still have to show up every single day. We might play (Liberty again), who played St. John Bosco tougher than Mater Dei did.”
Mater Dei dropped to No. 5 and St. John Bosco is No. 3.
The Gaels are undefeated at 9-0 while going through a difficult nonleague schedule which featured wins over No. 19 Corner Canyon (Utah), No. 20 Centennial (California), and Miami Central (Florida), then ranked No. 6.
“(The players) really, really want to play in those games,” Browner said of rugged out-of-state competition. “It’s not hard to motivate them.”
Gorman hosts Coronado at 7 p.m. Friday to conclude its regular season. The Gaels will play Southern Nevada opponents the rest of the season in the 5A Division I state playoffs.
It is unclear if Gorman will have a chance to play another ranked opponent in a postseason bowl game like it did last year.
Chaminade-Madonna (Florida) is No. 2. The Gaels defeated Chaminade-Madonna 49-14 last year in the Geico State Champions Bowl Series.
Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on X.