NC high school football teams dominate top of Carolinas Top 25 after Week 1
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- North Carolina teams claimed seven of top ten spots in Carolinas Top 25 poll.
- Week 1 victories in border matchups boosted NC schools' rankings dominance.
- Despite NC's top-heavy showing, South Carolina holds 14 of 25 total rankings.
North Carolina high school football teams won a lot of the “border war” games with their S.C. counterparts in Week 1, and this week’s Carolinas Top 25 poll reflects that.
Those border games included Scotland County beating Dillon (36-33), Jefferson over S.C. Spartans (48-0), Cary Christian over Richard Winn, from Winnsboro, SC (50-16), Scotland over Dillon (36-33), Independence over Gaffney (27-21), Chambers over Clover (35-34) and Hough over South Pointe (14-10).
For South Carolina, wins included Fort Mill beating Ballantyne Ridge from Charlotte (52-6) and Latta (SC) over East Columbus, from Lake Waccamaw, (36-8) Friday.
This week, seven of the top 10 teams in the two-state rankings are from North Carolina, but overall, South Carolina still has more ranked teams, with 14 of the 25.
The Carolinas poll ranks the best teams in North and South Carolina and is sponsored by the McClatchy Media Company.
The rankings, which will appear weekly, are compiled by longtime high school football expert Chris Hughes.
Carolinas Top 25
Rk., School, Sate, Hometown, Rec.
1. Dutch Fork (SC, Irmo) 0-0
2. Grimsley (NC, Greensboro) 1-0
3. Hough (NC, Cornelius) 1-0
4. Providence Day (NC, Charlotte) 1-0
5. Northwestern (SC, Rock Hill 1-0
6. Mallard Creek (NC, Charlotte) 1-0
7. Weddington (NC, Weddington) 1-0
8. Independence (NC, Mint Hill) 1-0
9. West Charlotte (NC, Charlotte) 0-1
10. Summerville (SC, Summerville) 1-0
11. South Florence (SC, Florence) 1-0
12. Gaffney (SC, Gaffney) 0-1
13. South Pointe (SC, Rock Hill) 0-1
14. Spartanburg (SC, Spartanburg) 0-1
15. Cardinal Gibbons (NC, Raleigh) 1-0
16. Irmo (SC, Irmo) 1-0
17. Millbrook (NC, Raleigh) 1-0
18. Rolesville (NC, Rolesville) 0-1
19. Charlotte Christian (NC, Charlotte) 1-0
20. Sumter (SC, Sumter) 1-0
21. Westside (SC, Anderson) 0-1
22. Daniel (SC, Central) 1-0
23. Hoggard (NC, Wilmington) 1-0
24. Byrnes (NC, Duncan) 1-0
25. North Augusta (SC, North Augusta) 1-0
This story was originally published August 28, 2025 at 6:30 AM with the headline "NC high school football teams dominate top of Carolinas Top 25 after Week 1."
