Reflections on the End of the 2025 High School Regular Season

Sunday, November 2, 2025

Before I start reflecting on the 30 Varsity Boys Football teams that I watched play this Fall in 16 separate games, we must take note of the latest doings of our two beloved teams, the Washington Huskies and the Los Angeles Rams.

Huskies at #24 this week in

the AP Top 25 Poll

By all accounts, Washington's fabulous practices during the bye week propelled them into this Top 24 list for the first time in 2025!

Today, the Rams (6-2) dominated

the hapless Saints (1-8)

The Rams record ties them for First Place in the NFC West with the Seattle Seahawks. The Rams and Seahawks are also tied for the best record in the entire NFC at 6-2 with the Philadelphia Eagles and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The Rams travel next Sunday for a tough game against the San Francisco 49ers (6-3), currently in Third Place in the NFC West.

As for the New Orleans Saints, they are now mired in the NFC South's Fourth Place basement.

The Saints next game will also be on the road on Sunday against an NFC South opponent, the Carolina Panthers (5-4).

Now, as I stated earlier, I would like to look back at the 16 Boys Varsity high school football games that I attended during the 12 week regular season here in California.

I saw a total of 30 teams play this Fall including having seen both Simi Valley and Roosevelt play twice.

I was curious to see how all 30 of those teams did this year when all was said and done.

Here is what I was able to discern thanks to not having a life and  also having way too much time on my hands.

* Agoura Chargers - 8-2

Tri-County League Champions

* Boron Wildcats - 6-4

High Desert League Co-Champions

* California School for the Deaf Cubs - 8-1

8-man Freelance

Camarillo Scorpions - 2-8

Marmonte League 6^th Place

* Channel Islands Raiders - 3-7

Citrus Coast League 3^rd Place 

 

* Chowchilla Tribe - 6-4

Northwest Sequoia League 3^rd Place

Del Sol Jaguars - 1-9

Citrus Coast League 5^th Place

Desert Chapel Eagles - 2-7

Manzanita League 6^th Place

* Fillmore Flashes - 9-1

Tri-County League 2^nd Place

 

* Garfield Bulldogs - 8-2

Eastern League Champions

* George Washington Prep Generals - 6-3

Coliseum League 4^th Place

Grant Lancers - 1-9

East Valley League 7^th Place

Lawndale Cardinals - 4-6

Bay League 6^th Place

* Los Angeles Romans - 5-5

Southern League 2^nd Place

 

* Maranatha Minutemen - 7-3

Mesquite League 2^nd Place

* Maywood CES Wolfpack - 6-4

Southern League Champions

* Newbury Park Panthers - 6-4

Conejo Coast League 3^rd Place

* Nordhoff Rangers - 8-2

Citrus Coast League 2^nd Place

* Pacifica Tritons - 10-0

Marmonte League Champions

 

* Roosevelt Rough Riders - 4-6

Eastern League Tied 3^rd Place

* St. Bonaventure Seraphs - 5-5

Marmonte League Tied 3^rd Place

San Marino Titans - 3-7

Rio Hondo League 4^th Place

Santa Barbara Dons - 4-6

Conejo Coast League 5^th Place

* Santa Paula Cardinals - 5-5

Tri-County League 5^th Place

 

Simi Valley Pioneers - 3-7

Marmonte League 5^th Place

* Spanish Springs Cougars (NV) - 10-0

5A Northern League Champions

* United Christian Eagles - 3-5

Majestic 8-man League 3^rd Place

* Valley Oaks CES - 6-4

Valley 8-man League 4^th Place

Villanova Prep Wildcats - 2-6

8-man Freelance

* Westlake Warriors - 10-0

Conejo Coast League Champions

* 2025 Playoff Team

So, to sum up, of these 30 teams, seven won or shared league championships, three had perfect 10-0 campaigns and 21 made their respective playoffs.

As for the post-season, we'll be at it again this coming weekend but in much different venue.

For the past three seasons, son Michael and grandson Jacob have joined me for a college football weekend outside of California.

In 2022, we flew to the Pacific Northwest to watch Washington thrash Colorado, 54-7, in a PAC-12 contest in Seattle.

The 2023 trip was to the East Coast to scenic West Point, New York for a non-conference contest where we saw Boston College nip Army, 27-24. We also attended a New York edition of Friday Night Lights on this trip where we were entertained as the John Jay H.S. Patriots throttle the North Rockland H.S. Red Raiders, 34-13.

Our 2024 excursion was again to the East Coast where we attended a high school game in Pennsylvania that was one of the weirdest ones I've ever seen, the Gettysburg H.S. Warriors were no match for the Mechanicsburg H.S. Wildcats, the Wildcats won handily, 48-20. The following day we saw a great game in Annapolis, Maryland as Navy beat Memphis in a wild American Athletic Conference game, 56-44.

Which brings us to this year's roadtrip.

This year we are headed to the the Southeast for two games, first up on Friday night is a South Carolina "AAAA" Upper State Opening Round Playoff Game with the #14 seeded Pickens H.S. Blue Flame (3-7) at the #3 seeded Westside H.S. Rams (6-4). South Carolina has 32 teams competing for the State Championship at the "AAAA" level, a 16 team Upper State bracket and a corresponding 16 team Lower State Bracket. The Upper State champion will host the Lower State winner on Saturday, December 6th for the State Championship.

We opted for this game as Westside H.S. is located a mere 4.2 miles from our hotel in Anderson, S.C. By the way, the Rams are one of South Carolina's finest high school football programs having won the State Title with a 14-1 record in 2023 and coming in second in 2024 with a 13-1 record. This year, the four Rams' losses all came in the non-league portion of the season vs. teams with a combined record of 34-6!

The Pickens H.S. Blue Flames may not have a great record at 3-7 but they do have a potent Offense that averages 35.1 points per game making them a dangerous first round opponent for sure.

On Saturday, we have tickets to what should have been a marquee match up between two Atlantic Coast Conference Blue Bloods. Instead, we'll be watching a Florida State Seminoles (4-4) squad at Memorial Stadium, a.k.a., Death Valley, to try to beat the home standing and spiraling out of control Clemson Tigers (3-5). While both are playing mostly for pride at this point, winning six games to gain bowl eligibility is still on the table for both elevens.

And a night game to boot at 7:00 p.m.!

I am sure that we will be visiting several Revolutionary War and Civil War sites during our four days down south, it should be a hoot!