Who were the PIAA football teams of the decade? MaxPreps ranks the Top 20

By: Chris Harlan
Thursday, June 4, 2020 | 1:39 PM

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The most dominant high school football team in the state last decade wasn’t from Western Pennsylvania, but six WPIAL programs did make the list.

MaxPreps created a formula to rank the teams of the decade and crowned St. Joseph’s Prep as the winner Wednesday. Among WPIAL teams, North Allegheny was fourth, Central Catholic fifth, Pine-Richland eighth, Clairton 10th, Aliquippa 12th and South Fayette 15th.

The formula awarded points for finishing in the MaxPreps state or national Top 25 rankings. Teams also earned points for winning a state championship or finishing as the state runner-up.

St. Joseph’s Prep compiled 377 points.

The Hawks of the Philadelphia Catholic League won five PIAA titles since 2010 and were the state runners-up once. They finished in the state rankings nine times and were nationally ranked twice.

Archbishop Wood (314 points) was second and Erie’s Cathedral Prep (226) was third.

North Allegheny edged Central Catholic by a single point to become the highest-ranked WPIAL team. NA had 203 points and Central Catholic had 202.

Here’s a list of all 20 teams with points in parenthesis.

1. St. Joseph’s Prep (377)

2. Archbishop Wood (314)

3. Cathedral Prep (226)

4. North Allegheny (203)

5. Central Catholic (202)

t6. La Salle College (170)

t6. Southern Columbia (170)

8. Pine-Richland (166)

9. Imhotep Charter (150)

10. Clairton (134)

11. Central Dauphin (125)

12. Aliquippa (122)

13. Parkland (121)

14. Bishop McDevitt (119)

15. South Fayette (110)

16. Coatsville (106)

17. Harrisburg (103)

18. North Penn (90)

19. Wilson (79)

20. Bishop Guilfoyle (71)

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.

Tags: Aliquippa, Central Catholic, Clairton, North Allegheny, Pine-Richland, South Fayette