National champs? See where North Crowley falls in high school football national rankings

The North Crowley Panthers finished their season with a state championship in Texas’ largest classification.

Head coach Ray Gates and company beat nationally ranked DeSoto, Duncanville and Westlake en route to a perfect 16-0 record to earn a national spotlight. Is North Crowley the best team in the nation?

The Panthers are ranked as Max Preps’ No. 3 team and fall behind Mater Dei (13-0), a private school from California, and Milton (14-0), a public school from Georgia. Max Preps updated its rankings on Monday, Dec. 23.

Duncanville, North Crowley’s state semifinal opponent, was Max Preps’ No. 6 ranked team.

North Crowley is currently ranked No. 2 in the On3 national rankings, making the Panthers the nation’s top-ranked public school team. On3’s last rankings update came on Dec. 17, and Mater Dei is its top-ranked team.

In the High School Football America national final rankings, North Crowley finished at No. 6 despite having more wins than all higher-ranked teams.

The Panthers have victories over programs with 24 combined state championships. North Crowley did not finish the season as the top-ranked team in any main national rankings.

Gates, after the championship win, was asked if North Crowley should be a national champion.

“Absolutely,” Gates said. “We should be public school national champs. With the type of schedule we’ve gone through, we didn’t leave any stone unturned.”

In the final Fort Worth-area regular season rankings, North Crowley finished at No. 1, while Southlake Carroll finished at No. 2. Both programs made state championship games; Southlake Carroll fell to Austin Vandegrift.