Colorado high school football preseason rankings for 2026 season

Colorado high school football preseason rankings are here.

While they're not officially from CHSAA with a coaches' poll as in years past, they still carry significant weight.

That's because CHSAA is moving to a MaxPreps-only rankings formula in the 2026-27 school year, eliminating RPI ratings as a factor for rankings and playoff seeding.

MaxPreps has its preseason rankings out ahead of the Week Zero kickoff to the season on Aug. 21.

Four of the five defending 11-man Colorado state champions start the season at No. 1 in their respective classifications, with only Class 3A having a differing top team.

Here are the 2026 Colorado high school CHSAA football preseason rankings for the 2026 season, with the top 20 teams by class:

Colorado 5A football rankings

1. Cherry Creek
2. Valor Christian
3. Ralston Valley
4. Legend
5. Mountain Vista
6. Pine Creek
7. Arapahoe
8. Regis Jesuit
9. Grandview
10. Heritage
11. Fairview
12. Arvada West
13. Mullen
14. Erie
15. Eaglecrest
16. Cherokee Trail
17. ThunderRidge
18. Legacy
19. Fountain Fort-Carson
20. Riverdale Ridge

(Note: Fort Collins is No. 21, Rocky Mountain is No. 27 and Fossil Ridge is No. 29)

Colorado 4A football rankings

1. Dakota Ridge
2. Montrose
3. Columbine
4. Durango
5. Broomfield
6. Roosevelt
7. Pueblo West
8. Mesa Ridge
9. Lutheran
10. Ponderosa
11. Monarch
12. Fruita Monument
13. Vista Ridge
14. Frederick
15. Golden
16. Loveland
17. Douglas County
18. Cheyenne Mountain
19. Sand Creek
20. Bear Creek

(Note: Poudre is No. 25)

Colorado 3A football rankings

1. Palmer Ridge
2. Pomona
3. Windsor
4. Palisade
5. Mead
6. Holy Family
7. Thompson Valley
8. Conifer
9. Kent Denver
10. Pueblo East
11. Severance
12. Pueblo County
13. Pueblo South
14. Green Mountain
15. Eagle Valley
16. Berthoud
17. Timnath
18. Discovery Canyon
19. Lewis-Palmer
20. Evergreen

Colorado 2A football rankings

1. Wellington
2. The Classical Academy
3. Strasburg
4. Resurrection Christian
5. Elizabeth
6. Brush
7. Eaton
8. Delta
9. Basalt
10. Forge Christian
11. La Junta
12. University
13. Denver West
14. Alamosa
15. Pagosa Springs
16. Florence
17. Lamar
18. Weld Central
19. Coal Ridge
20. Montezuma-Cortez

Colorado 1A football rankings

1. Limon
2. Buena Vista
3. Wray
4. Centauri
5. Burlington
6. Monte Vista
7. Meeker
8. Colorado Springs Christian
9. Platte Valley
10. Highland
11. Holyoke
12. North Fork
13. Yuma
14. Cedaredge
15. Wiggins
16. Flatirons Academy
17. Denver Christian
18. Rye
19. Ellicott
20. Peyton

Congratulations to Limon for winning CHSAA’s 2023 2A Boys Football State Championship. It’s their 2nd-straight football state title and their 22nd overall (most of any CHSAA football program)

Congratulations, also, to Strasburg for finishing as the 1A runner-up! pic.twitter.com/PI1p6jspmW

— CHSAA (@CHSAA) November 25, 2023Colorado 8-man football rankings

1. Del Norte
2. Estes Park
3. Center
4. Sanford
5. Holly
6. Walsenburg
7. Akron
8. Sierra Grande
9. St. Mary's
10. Springfield
11. Haxtun
12. Hoehne
13. Dolores
14. Soroco
15. Elbert
16. Justice
17. Norwood
18. Gilpin County
19. Monument Academy
20. Plateau Valley

Colorado 6-man football rankings

None available yet. MaxPreps has all 6-man teams rated the same in its preseason rankings.

Chris Abshire covers high school and community sports for the Coloradoan.

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Colorado high school football preseason rankings for 2026 season