Here are The Sporting News' CIF-Southern Section top 25 football team rankings for Week Five of the 2025 season (Sep. 22-28)
The rankings will be updated every week throughout the season.
PREVIOUS RANKINGS: Week One | Week Two | Week Three | Week Four
1. St. John Bosco (5-0 – 1st last week)
The only indisputable ranking in this week's entire top 25 is that St. John Bosco is at the very top of it. The Braves cruised to a 49-20 win over St. Louis, Hawaii's No. 1 team, and they now take a bye week before starting Trinity League play.
2. Mater Dei (3-1 – 2nd)
Breaking: Mater Dei is still Mater Dei. One week after falling to Corona Centennial and needing a big win to stay in the top two, the Monarchs went to Las Vegas and beat the top-ranked team in the country, Bishop Gorman, with whom they shared a national championship in 2023. Their spot in the rankings gets even more convoluted this week as Santa Margarita, which handed Corona Centennial its only loss, hosts Bishop Gorman.
3. Corona Centennial (4-1 – 4th)
One of the best things possible happened for Centennial's stock last week when Mater Dei rebounded to beat Bishop Gorman. The next best thing that could happen would be if Santa Margarita, the only team Centennial has lost to, also beats Bishop Gorman this week. The Huskies are very likely to run the table through league play as usual, so those two former opponents will transitively give them their best opportunities remaining to raise their stock before the playoffs start.
4. Sierra Canyon (5-0 – 6th)
Sierra Canyon has still given up just one offensive touchdown (and two total) this whole season after facing another easy top-50 team in the country in Orange Lutheran. The Trailblazers dismantled OLu 41-9 and are nearly a lock for another undefeated regular season.
5. Santa Margarita (3-1 – 5th)
How odd is this – Santa Margarita is currently two spots below a team it beat and one spot above a team it lost to. With Mater Dei bouncing back from the Centennial loss to beat Bishop Gorman (NV) and Mission Viejo getting upset by McCallie (TN), there's no way to keep the who-beat-whom order perfectly intact without ignoring the notable results of some interstate games. Things would get even more complicated if the Eagles upset Bishop Gorman on Saturday, and we aren't ruling it out. Especially if 4-star receiver and USC commit Trent Mosley makes a healthy return from injury.
6. Mission Viejo (4-1 – 3rd)
Mission Viejo's perfect regular season came crashing to a halt in Tennessee with a 25-14 loss against McCallie, the state's No. 4 team, which shut the Diablos out for the first half. McCallie already has a loss preventing it from jumping so high that Mission Viejo's stock doesn't take a huge hit, at least this early in the season.
7. Orange Lutheran (3-2 – 7th)
In the statewide rankings, we switched OLu with De La Salle after Sierra Canyon crushed the Lancers 41-9. It might prove to be too harsh based on what Sierra Canyon does this postseason, but either way, Orange Lutheran will have plenty of opportunities to get its spot back and then some throughout in Trinity League play plus the postseason.
8. Servite (3-1 – 8th)
Servite finishes non-league play as the heavy favorite at battle-tested St. Paul following a bye week. Then it opens Trinity League play against Santa Margarita. One of the Friars' top players through their 4-1 start has been senior RB Gavin Gutierrez, who's broken out for 581 total yards and five touchdowns in four games to exceed his junior year totals.
9. Los Alamitos (6-0 – 9th)
Another week, another high-scoring win over a good team for the Griffins, who scored 35 points in the first half in a 49-42 win over Granite Hills (El Cajon). Their initial jump to No. 9 was fueled by a lopsided win over Serra, but at this point, they'd stick around even if Serra had a stock-dropping loss. Not only are they California's only 6-0 team, but they've already beaten a small handful of serious foes as well.
10. Serra-Gardena (3-2 – 10th)
This was another week that didn't help Serra's stock but automatically didn't warrant a drop either. The Cavaliers beat struggling Oaks Christian 19-10, which was the fewest any of Oaks Christian's opponents scored, but that's still a two-score win. And it's plausible that Oaks Christian's talented defense is waking up. Daylawn Reed led the way with 151 yards and two touchdowns rushing, and three Cavaliers grabbed an interception.
11. Damien (5-0 – 13th)
Damien gets to spend its week bye week celebrating a 5-0 start and preparing for something of a rivalry game as it hosts dangerous Rancho Cucamonga. It rolled to a 40-18 victory over underrated Salesian (Los Angeles) and has outscored its first five opponents 156-99. The particular reason for a jump in the rankings this week is a boost in the stock of JSerra, which Damien has beaten.
12. JSerra (2-2 – 15th)
The Lions have already shown a lot of resilience this season before even starting Trinity League play. They opened with a shutout loss to Sierra Canyon and absolute heartbreaker to Damien, and have since won some very well-contested games against tough opponents in Kamahameha Kapalama (HI), Oak Hills, and Leuzinger. Now they have a bye week.
13. San Juan Hills (4-1 – 11th)
In a 38-28 win over previously-unbeaten Mira Costa, San Juan Hills didn't make a statement per se but still took care of business against strong competition without any scares. The Stallions have a good chance of sweeping the Bravo League for the second year in a row despite facing a tough slate of opposition.
14. Murrieta Valley (3-1 – 12th)
After two blowout wins, the Nighthawks' schedule is about to return to being quite tough. Their next five opponents? San Clemente, Norco, Chaparral, Corona Centennial, and Vista Murrieta.
15. Leuzinger (2-1 – 18th)
Oddly enough, Leuzinger jumps three spots after picking up its first loss. A 39-35 loss to JSerra isn't bad at all – although blowing a modest lead in the fourth quarter must've hurt. And the Olympians got a transitive stock boost when Tustin beat Yorba Linda, as Leuzinger has beaten Long Beach Poly which has beaten Tustin.
16. Long Beach Poly (2-2 – 20th)
Like Leuzinger, Poly rises thanks to Tustin's win over Yorba Linda after beating Tustin 28-27 via comeback on Sep. 5. As expected Jackrabbits blew out Jordan (Long Beach) to open Moore League play.
17. Tustin (3-2 – 23rd)
After a season-opening win over San Clemente got the ball rolling, Tustin beat Yorba Linda 21-7 last week to lock up its spot in the top 25 for a while, at least barring a major upset. The Delta League is juicy as usual, but the Tillers are the heavy favorite to sweep again entering conference play.
18. Yorba Linda (4-1 – 14th)
The challenging offensive night against Tustin was enough for Yorba Linda to fall out of the statewide top 25, but Yorba Linda's stock among Southern Section teams doesn't take a big hit. Now it gets a week to regroup before starting Bravo League play against underrated Villa Park.
19. Vista Murrieta (4-0 – 21st)
There have been some recent years in which Vista Murrieta had to consistently crack 30 points to have a decent chance at beating other Division 2-ish Southern Section heavyweights. Not this year. The Broncos showed their balance in a 21-14 win over previously-unbeaten Beaumont a week after holding Bishop Amat to 10 points, and they're now allowing just 16.5 points per game on average.
20. Edison-Huntington Beach (3-1 – 16th)
After a narrow loss to Yorba Linda earlier in the season, Edison was inevitably going to be bound to Yorba Linda's stock for a while. So with Yorba Linda taking a bit of a hit by losing to Tustin, the Chargers must drop as well despite winning their 21st consecutive Bell Game against traditional rival Fountain Valley.
21. Beaumont (4-1 – 17th)
Beaumont is tracking towards its second consecutive 9-1 regular season after coming up just short against Vista Murrieta in a battle of unbeaten teams. It was another strong defensive effort for the Cougars despite the loss.
22. Pacifica-Oxnard (4-0 – 22nd)
Coming off a bye week, Pacifica looks to crack 56 points again for the fifth time in five tries in its non-league finale against Hamilton (Los Angeles). Then its time for yet another intriguing edition of Marmonte League play.
23. San Clemente (3-2 – 24th)
Last week brought another quality win for the Tritons, who defeated Chino Hills 26-13. This week they seek to upset Murrieta Valley at home for what wouldn't be the first time in recent history.
24. Chaparral (2-2 – 25th)
The Pumas are back to .500 after a tremendous offensive display in a 64-14 rout of Great Oak. Through four games, they've already scored 185 points. However, their schedule only gets tougher from here with Mission Viejo, Vista Murrieta, and Murrieta Valley on deck.
25. Downey (4-1 – Bubble)
There's been a solid case for Downey being a top-25 team in the section since before the season even began. A 21-20 victory over Inglewood proved to push the Vikings over the edge after Week Four.
ON THE BUBBLE:
Rancho Cucamonga, Oak Hills, Inglewood, Bishop Amat, Valencia (Valencia), Palos Verdes, Norco, Mira Costa, Notre Dame (Sherman Oaks), Crean Lutheran
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