Football season is upon us as we begin our 19th season of covering Kansas high school football at Kpreps!
Kpreps.com kicks off the 2026 season with the release our Kpreps.com Top 5 rankings. The Kpreps rankings are a collaborative effort from multiple media sources across the state and will be released each Monday throughout the season.
Visit our Rankings page, take a look at our preseason rankings and let the debate begin!
Class 6A
Defending-champion Manhattan opens the season in the top spot after capturing the schools’ fourth state football title with a 27-0 shutout of Olathe Northwest last fall. The Indians will now try and reach the 6A title game for a third consecutive season and for the fourth time in the past five seasons. But several challengers await, including the Mill Valley Jaguars – one of the state’s most successful programs. Mill Valley moves up from Class 5A after winning five consecutive state titles from 2019 to 2023. Derby is also no stranger to the top of the 6A poll. The Panthers are seeking their first state championship since the 2020 season.
Class 5A
At first glance Class 5A may seem wide open. Salina Central is the defending champion after defeating Basehor-Linwood 51-34 in last year’s title game. Typically, we would be talking about the likes of Mill Valley and St. Thomas Aquinas challenging at the top of this class, but the Jaguars (6A) and Saints (4A) will compete in different classifications for this new two-year cycle. Defending 4A champion Kapaun Mt. Carmel rejoins 5A after a dominant run to the 4A title a season ago. The Crusaders have plenty of offensive firepower back to make a run at 5A this season.
Class 4A
There will be a new 4A champion this fall as the aforementioned Kapaun Mt. Carmel Crusaders move back up to Class 5A for this cycle. The team Kapaun defeated in the title game, Bishop Miege, will be one of the favorites with the Stags returning the entire offensive unit from a season ago. Powerful St. Thomas Aquinas joins the classification this cycle from Class 5A. The Saints won the 5A state title in 2024 before exiting in the second-round last year. Another former 5A contender joins the 4A ranks this season as Great Bend moves down a class. The Panthers were among the top-ranked teams in 5A all of last season after an 11-1 campaign.
Class 3A
Andale is coming off of its second consecutive Class 3A state title and enters the 2026 season on a 26-game win streak. The Indians have become the standard in Kansas having won the state title in six of the past seven seasons. Topeka Hayden has finished as the 3A state runner-up in each of the last three seasons. Several other talented contenders will try and knock Andale from atop the 3A podium.
Class 2A
Nemaha Central captured the 2025 Class 2A state title thanks to a couple of early touchdowns on special teams. The Thunder have won three state titles in the past four seasons in Class 2A, but will move up to Class 3A this cycle. That may open the door for Sabetha which suffered two losses, by a combined three total points, to Nemaha Central last fall. Southeast of Saline finished as 2A runners-up last fall, but graduated a talented senior class. Traditional power Silver Lake and contenders Osage City, Beloit, Council Grove, and Garden Plain are also poised to challenge in a wide-open classification.
Class 1A
Sterling completed a perfect season with a 35-34 victory over Rossville in the 1A state championship game to capture the schools’ second state football title and the first since 1982. The Black Bears then went on to a 28-0 record in boys’ basketball. While the Black Bears graduated several key players including all-stater Zane Farney, there is plenty of experience returning to make another run. Rossville, Smith Center, and Centralia are among several tradition-rich programs that will challenge in 1A as they do each year. Check out our 1A poll on the Rankings page to find out which schools begin the year in the top five!
Kpreps – Class 1A Rankings
Class 8M-I
In 8-Man, Division I, South Central finished off an unbeaten season with a 34-8 victory over Lincoln in the state championship game. The Timberwolves are loaded with returning talent and poised for another run at the title. But several programs are expected to challenge with generational teams including Lincoln, WaKeeney-Trego, and Oberlin-Decatur Community. Click on the Rankings tab to find out which teams made our initial poll.
Class 8M-II
Hanover ended the four-year run of its rival Axtell atop the Eight-Man, Division II classification. The Wildcats also snapped Axtell’s 58-game win streak during the regular season. Hanover eventually edged Victoria 28-20 to win its eighth state title and seventh since 2008 under Coach Matt Heuer. The Wildcats have plenty of returning talent to repeat, but Axtell, Victoria, and several newcomers to Division II look to dethrone the Wildcats.
Class 6-Man
Cunningham captured a second 6-Man state championship with a 51-8 win over Weskan. The Wildcats make the move to Eight-Man, Division II this fall leaving the door open for a new 6-Man champion. Last year’s runner-up Weskan may be the favorite with perhaps the classification’s top player in Karsyn Wright. South Barber narrowly knocked off Weskan in the state semifinals last fall and looks to be one of the primary challengers in the growing 6-Man classification.
Visit the Rankings page each week to view a complete list of the top five teams in each classification and how they performed last week.
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