It’s about the time for high school football to start all around the state, but it’s never to early to rank the hottest teams, season started or not.

High School Rivals has already issued their popular list of the top 100 high school football teams in the US and there are definitely some familiar names on it.

At #20 is Sammamish’s Skyline whose first game isn’t until September 5th when they take on #79 Jesuit, from Oregon. At #53 is Lakes, from Lakewood who play their first game September 4th against nearby rival Bonney Lake. Bellevue (#63) also plays their first game on September 4th, hitting the grass with Marriot from British Columbia.

Three schools not seem like a huge number, but when you look at the list and realize that Texas, Virginia, Florida and Georgia, places where pro teams wish they could get the attention high school football gets, have a combined total of 25 percent of the listings with the rest divided up amongst California and then all other states, well, it’s pretty impressive. Besides, history has shown that once play begins several other Washington teams will make the list at least once or twice during the season.

The Seahawks, the Huskies and the Cougars get the lion’s share of media attention, of course, but serious football fans (or even the curious who don’t want to shell out the big bucks it takes to go to see the big boys) should definitely check out the high caliber quality of play available on the high school scene.

The Seattle School District Athletic department maintains a department web directory which includes links to sports schedules by school for all the local schools in the Metro league (including Seattle’s public high schools, Bainbridge Island, Holy Names, O’Dea and other local private schools.) All the other school districts have similar listings, so check out the ones in your area. You never know–that kid at Memorial Stadium today just might be the man playing at Qwest tomorrow.