MaxPreps unveils preseason girls flag football top 25, California leads

MaxPreps put JSerra Catholic of San Juan Capistrano, California, Central of Phenix City, Alabama, and Maine South of Park Ridge, Illinois, at the top of its preseason girls flag football rankings, giving those three states the first national foothold of the new season. The top three programs came from the states that are already steering the sport’s early structure, and the rankings made clear that California, Alabama and Illinois are setting the pace.

The list arrived inside a larger MaxPreps buildout around girls flag football. The outlet published its girls flag football hub on July 20, labeled its national girls flag football rankings page for the 2026-27 season, and rolled out a related video, “Preseason MaxPreps Top 25 Flag Football Rankings | 2026 Season.” MaxPreps also surfaced state-specific coverage and scheduling pages for California, Alabama and Illinois, a sign that those markets now generate enough activity to support fuller weekly coverage.

That structure matters because the rankings are not standing alone. In August 2025, MaxPreps said it had assembled 100 flag football players to watch during the 2025-26 school year, drawing those selections from statistics submitted to the site, coach nominations, game film and in-person evaluations. That mix of data and scouting gives the preseason list more weight than a simple opinion poll and helps explain why the outlet is treating girls flag football like a national sport with its own talent pipeline.

The business push is widening beyond rankings. MaxPreps and USA Flag promoted the inaugural MaxPreps Flag Football Showdown as flag football’s first unified, rankings-backed national platform for girls high school flag football, while USA TODAY Sports published Alabama preseason rankings on August 4. Together, those moves show a sport that is no longer being tracked only in isolated state pockets. California, Alabama and Illinois are the early power centers, and the rest of the field is now trying to build the same institutional depth.