The Flyers topped area teams by making nine state championship games over the past 10 years and winning seven.
Wayne has not reached the very top of the mountain, but the Warriors are two-time state runners-up and finished in MaxPreps state top 25 five times while appearing in the national rankings twice (2014 and ‘15).
Trotwood has a pair of state titles and was runner-up twice while making the state top 25 four times and finishing 20th in the nation in 2017.
Coldwater has six state title game appearances, including four victories, and four state top 25 finishes.
Ten of the teams are private schools while 10 are public, though there is not such balance when it comes to regions.
Going by OHSAA region, Southwest Ohio and Northeast Ohio are clearly the most dominant as each is home to eight of the teams.
Three are in the Northwest region — Toledo Central Catholic joining Mercer County’s Coldwater and Marion Local —while Pickerington Central is the only team from Central Ohio on the list.
To come up with this list, MaxPreps used a scoring system based on state championships as well as their own ratings: Top 25 finishes in the MaxPreps state computer rankings (25 points awarded to the No. 1 team, 24 for No. 2 and so on), top 25 finishes in the MaxPreps national computer rankings (50 points for No. 1, 49 for No. 2 and so on), state championships (20 points) and state championship game appearances (10 points).
The No. 1 team over the past decade is Lakewood St. Edward with five state championships and six national top 25 finishes.
The Eagles also likely kept another area team out of the top 20 as they beat Springfield in the Division I title game each of the past two seasons. The Wildcats would have gotten 20 points from those runs to Canton, but they would need another 61 from their finishes in the MaxPreps polls to catch No. 20 Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary, the 2013 state champion.
St. Edward is followed by Akron Hoban at No. 2 while three Cincinnati teams round out the top five: LaSalle, St. Xavier and Colerain.
About the Author
