Final VHSL Top Ten Football Rankings for 2021

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Published Aug 7, 2022

Final VHSL Top Ten Football Rankings for 2021

Matthew Hatfield • VirginiaPreps

Publisher

@hatfieldsports

The 2021 Virginia High School Football season is in the books... and completed literally seven months after the condensed one from the 2020-21 school-year came to a close. That's because the VHSL decided to move Fall Sports - such as football - back in the calendar to better give an opportunity

Say what you want, and there will always be critics, but the VHSL, coaches and players all over the Commonwealth deserve considerable credit for navigating tricky waters and difficult times.

Ironically enough, two State Championships were won in the same calendar year by a few different schools: Oscar Smith in Class 6, Stone Bridge in Class 5 and Riverheads in Class 1.

Oscar Smith's wins were the most dominant, prevailing by a combined margin of 104-38 over Northern Virginia schools South County and Madison. Stone Bridge's were the most dramatic, edging Highland Springs in overtime on a TD catch in overtime by Jacob Thomas, who threw the game-winning score as time expired in regulation to Zeke Wimbush vs. Maury at ODU. Riverheads goes down as the most historic, becoming the first school to win six straight titles.

Riverheads will enter the 2022 season riding a 50-game winning streak, trailing only Phoebus (52 wins in a row, which was snapped in 2011 by Woodside). Speaking of the Phantoms, they outlasted Liberty Christian to win the Class 3 crown. It marked their eighth state title for Phoebus and first since 2011.

After falling short in the Championship round in both 1998 and 1999, Varina won its first ever state title by beating Broad Run in the Class 4 Final, while King William routed Graham to win its first State Championship in 21 years. Wake Forest-bound running back Demond Claiborne scored 52 touchdowns to place third in VHSL history for a single-season behind only Heritage-Lynchburg alum Elijah Davis (59 TD's) and Hopewell grad TreVeyon Henderson (53 TD's).

We take a look at our Final Rankings for the season, plus you can view the playoff brackets for all six classifications below as well as where each team checked in at in our Preseason Top Ten in the charts...

See Final Playoff Brackets Here

Class 6 Top Ten:

Dropped Out from previous Top Ten: #9 Thomas Dale (7-3) and #10 Fairfax (9-2)

Rank	Preseason	School	Record

1	1	Oscar Smith	13-1
2	4	Madison	13-2
3	NR	Battlefield	13-1
4	2	South County	11-3
5	7	Freedom-PW	10-3
6	9	Centreville	10-3
7	HM	Robinson	10-2
8	NR	Western Branch	10-3
9	3	Manchester	8-3
10	NR	West Potomac	8-5

Class 5 Top Ten:

Dropped Out from previous Top Ten: #7 Massaponax (7-2) and #10 Woodgrove (7-3)

Rank	Preseason	School	Record

1	1	Stone Bridge	15-0
2	3	Maury	8-2
3	2	Highland Springs	10-4
4	4	Green Run	13-1
5	NR	Kempsville	9-2
6	HM	Mountain View	11-2
7	HM	Hermitage	10-3
8	5	Riverbend	9-3
9	10	Salem-VB	8-3
10	NR	Midlothian	7-3

Class 4 Top Ten:

Dropped Out from previous Top Ten: #8 Kettle Run (9-2)

Rank	Preseason	School	Record

1	9	Varina	13-1
2	3	Broad Run	13-2
3	1	Salem	12-2
4	8	King's Fork	11-2
5	5	Patrick Henry-Ashland	10-3
6	6	Dinwiddie	9-1
7	HM	King George	10-1
8	2	Tuscarora	10-3
9	HM	GW-Danville	9-2
10	NR	Matoaca	9-2

Class 3 Top Ten:

Dropped Out from previous Top Ten: #7 Lafayette (9-2)

Rank	Preseason	School	Record

1	4	Phoebus	14-1
2	1	Liberty Christian	13-1
3	HM	Abingdon	12-2
4	6	Brookville	8-4
5	NR	York	11-2
6	10	Brentsville District	11-3
7	8	Heritage-Lynchburg	9-3
8	3	Lord Botetourt	8-4
9	7	Hopewell	6-4
10	NR	Christiansburg	10-2

Class 2 Top Ten:

Dropped Out from previous Top Ten: #9 Central-Wise (8-4)

Rank	Preseason	School	Record

1	5	King William	13-1
2	2	Graham	13-1
3	1	Appomattox	11-2
4	9	Glenvar	11-2
5	HM	Central-Woodstock	11-2
6	4	Stuarts Draft	9-3
7	NR	Nottoway	11-1
8	10	Ridgeview	9-4
9	7	Clarke County	10-2
10	3	Union	8-4

Class 1 Top Ten:

Dropped Out from previous Top Ten: #6 Central-Lunenburg (8-3)

Rank	Preseason	School	Record

1	1	Riverheads	14-0
2	2	Galax	11-3
3	8	Holston	13-1
4	7	Essex	8-2
5	6	King & Queen	10-2
6	10	Patrick Henry-Glade Spring	9-4
7	NR	Twin Springs	9-2
8	HM	Buffalo Gap	9-4
9	NR	Parry McCluer	9-4
10	4	Northumberland	7-3

Matthew Hatfield serves as Publisher for VirginiaPreps.com, part of the Rivals.com Network. Check out Hatfield’s Twitter page for more sports related updates, and you can also read his work in the Suffolk News Herald. To contact Matthew, please e-mail hatfieldsports2k4@yahoo.com, and don’t forget to listen to him from 10 AM to Noon on 757 Saturday Sports Talk on ESPN Radio 94.1.