High School Football: Winners and Losers from Dec. 15-20

Now that the high school football state championships around the country are wrapped up, we bring out our final Winners and Losers of the 2025 season. The week of Dec. 15-20 provided more surprises and upsets around the country as games become that much more important around this time of the year. We’re looking at the players who impressed, the coaches who stood out and the fans who are either celebrating or scratching their heads. This week, we’re highlighting the biggest winners and losers – the people and moments that made the past few days memorable as the 2025 high school football campaign concludes.

WINNERS

Buford Wolves (Ga.): Whether they care or not, the Buford Wolves are being given high consideration by many pundits across the country when it comes to be handed the mythical national championship. The Wolves being able to defeated Carrollton, 28-21, for Georgia’s Class 6A state championship last week, it gave more credence to those crowning the Wolves the best in the land. Buford became the biggest benefactor of any team last week when it came to their national high school football standing and now we wait and see how all of this pans out. Regardless, the Wolves finish the season undefeated at 15-0 and return home with a well earned 6A championship.

Christian Lawrence, RB, Thomas County Central (Ga.): We crowned Wake Forest signee Caleb Lawrence of Thomas County Central as Georgia’s Player of the Year and for what he did for the Yellow Jackets, it’s really hard to say otherwise. Lawrence put up monster numbers throughout the season, but the running back saved his best for last as the future Deacon set a Georgia state championship rushing record in the Yellow Jackets 62-21 win over Gainesville for the GHSA Class 5A state championship. The senior workhorse finished the game rushing for 380 yards on 39 carries and scored five touchdowns. There was many great performances by runners all throughout the season like DeSoto’s SaRod Baker and Knox’s Myles McLaughlin, but Lawrence did so every week and on the biggest stage and that means something at the end of the day.

North Shore Mustangs (TX): For Willie Gaston, it’s the start to his own legend as a Texas high school football coach as he led North Shore to its fourth state championship since the 2018 season against their foes, the Duncanville Panthers. We won’t know until the coming days and weeks, but Gaston might’ve coached against Reginald Samples in his final ever game. In a series between two squads that has so much history over the last decade, it speaks to the legacy that Gaston is now building himself with the Mustangs. It’s the first state title for Gaston as the head coach of North Shore and we have a feeling this will be the first of many for him the Mustangs moving forward.

LOSERS

Carrollton Trojans (Ga.): We put Buford right at the top when it came to the winners and we start off with Carrollton on the ‘losers’ side, but make no mistake about it, the Trojans were a drive and stop away from being the best in the Peach State. Carrollton made one too many mistakes throughout the course of the game last week on Tuesday night, which ended up hurting them at the very end. Turnovers were the biggest eye opener as Joey King’s bunch battled throughout, even held the 7-0 advantage going into halftime. This group will be back as one of the favorites in this classification as they return plenty of experience, including quarterback Christian cypher, who proved himself as one of the best freshmen quarterbacks in the country.

Reginald Samples, Duncanville (TX): Was Saturday afternoon’s loss for Duncanville to North Shore the final Texas high school football game Reginald Samples will ever coach in? I don’t have one (an answer). Right now I’m disappointed. To give any answer now wouldn’t give any service to the question … I’m not thinking about that,” Samples said to reporters after the game. If it is, it caps one of the most legendary coaching careers in recent memory for Texas high school football. Heck, maybe ever. And we don’t put Samples on here because of the letdown, but more so that the Lone Star State could be losing a coaching legend. It would’ve been the greatest ending for Samples to go out on top, but the Duncanville lead man made it be known, win or lose, that won’t impact his decision making going forward.

Florida high school football state championship attendance: We circle around back to this because combining the overall attendance of Florida high school football’s state championship games pales in comparison to all of their neighboring rivals. Heck, it even got Venice (FL) head coach John Peacock asking questions via X, formerly known as Twitter, about what the causes might be for such lower amounts of spectators coming out to the games in Miami. As someone that has been at the last few Florida high school football state finals, I’m unsure whether any of it is actually tied to who is playing in the team, where it’s being played at or what venue it’s at. This has more so to do with the overall disconnect between the community and the teams involved more than anything. With transferring around becoming the norm, community members don’t exactly know or recognize the kids on the teams as they didn’t ‘grow’ with the program. That’s my thoughts, anyways, on a possible reason why folks are turning away more than ever.

How to Follow National High School Football

For high school football fans looking to keep up with scores around the nation, staying updated on the action is now easier than ever with the Rivals High School Scoreboard. This comprehensive resource provides real-time updates and final scores from across the state, ensuring you never miss a moment of the Friday night frenzy. From nail-biting finishes to dominant performances, the Rivals High School Scoreboard is your one-stop destination for tracking all the gridiron excitement across the country.