A look at the most dominant football teams in the state based on wins and state titles.
MaxPreps.com released their top 15 Pennsylvania Football Dynasties from 2003 to 2012. In the East these are the teams that made the list, North Penn (1), St. Joseph’s Prep (12), Bishop McDevitt (3), LaSalle HS (12), Easton Area (11), Cumberland Valley (3), Archbishop Wood (12), Parkland (12) and Bethlehem Liberty (11).
Who is number one? Click here and find out. What do you think?
12 Responses
Can a time period starting at 2003 reasonably be counted as constituting a dynasty? To me, a dynasty should be thought of as extending over a significant period of time. Taking the history of major league baseball into account, the Yankees are certainly a dynasty. The Big Red Machine of the 70s (Which had its dominance cut short by the beginning of free agency) certainly could have been thought of as a dynasty, if one had considered only a 5 or 10 year period – but that isn’t how “dynasties” come into being: They last through some considerable period of time.
Guess you forgot about Wilson ( West Lawn)?
Woulda, coulda shoulda…………
The PCL didn’t join ’til 2008, so you can’t speculate very well what would have happened previous to 2008.
It only accounts for the past 10 years, the fact that teams like LaSalle & SJP are even on the list is admirable.
As far as Prep vs NP in 2003, SJP would have to be one of the top 10 teams in the nation to have had a chance against NP that year. NP was an machine, best team they ever had, very CB West-like back in the day.
The posts that people submit about AAA & AA teams not on the list and should be, are valid in my opinion. Many of those teams ( like Jeanette for example) could have beat many of those teams on that list. Of course, it’s all speculative.
Well, you can make your case as far as small schools being on the list, but you must realize that it’s the Top dynasty in PA high school football. It’s the best of the best and every team on the list would be even more dominated if they were an AA or A team. No doubt, Southern and Clairton could compete in the big school divisions, but they would be stopped short of the championship game every year. No 1A school is topping the likes of Archbishop Wood, Central Catholic, Prep, Lasalle, McDevitt. And lets not forget that the PIAA let the Philadelphia Catholic league in the state tourney in 2008. Who knows how many state titles LaSalle, Prep, Wood would have.
Let me give you the run down in 2003, North Penn, of district 1, won the state championship but if St.Josephs Prep was around chances are the Prep beats NP. St.Joes went 12-0 and unseated in the league play. Featured two running backs that rushed for 1,000+ and 3 high D-1 o-lineman. Defensively their avgerage Points allowed is 6.5. A featured a DB that had 12 interceptions. This is just one of many cases to make. Overall, I think the list is corrected with the possibly of teams be ranked even higher
Berwick who?????
I am reading the link above and it says the list is based off of wins, state titles and strength of schedule. The list is totally biased against the big schools. Southern Columbia should be number 1 or 2 on this list.
We people (from the coal region) ARE football nuts. Yes, I agree that the poster should have seen that this poll is from 2003 to 2012 which would clearly eliminate Berwick from any kind of ‘Dynasty’ label but Brian has a VERY good point as far as how can you just flat out forget about Southern and Clairton? Some of those teams from various years could have easily competed at the AA and AAA level and done very well! Does the Dynasty label only belong to the ‘Big’ schools? Or, does it mean that you can dominate at your level?
Are you people nuts? They clearly said it’s from 2003 to 2012 (the last decade, duh) and you all want to bitch about teams from the 1980s.
CB West and Berwick were well before 2003! Try reading for a change.
@ Ron
A lot of hanky panky going on with those Bulldog teams! Recruiting from out of state?
Try CB West as a true Dynasty!!
Yes Max Preps I don’t see Berwick on this list.
Yes this is a disappointing list.
Max Preps should have done more research about PA Dynasties from 1981 to 2002. In that period of time Berwick won more games than anybody in PA, won 6 AAA state titles, and was named 3 times USA TODAY #!. Can any of Max Preps teams even come close to Berwick in that period of time?!!
I find it disappointing large schools are only on this list. I wouldn’t call it the top 15 dynasties if it doesn’t include all schools. Southern Columbia should be on that list. They won state titles in 03,04,04,and 06. Clairton should definitely be on that list. They have the nations longest win streak. If you’re not going to include small schools then make a big school list and a small school list. It’s unfair to the smaller schools who have had as much success, if not more, than the larger schools. I’m not saying the smaller schools would beat the larger schools but there are many small schools who you could consider dynasties.