Manatee (Bradenton, Fla.), John Curtis (River Ridge, La.), DeSoto (Texas) Hold Strong In Top Three Spots In USA TODAY High School Sports Super 25 Football Rankings

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Dec 04, 2012, 09:39 ET

-- Centennial (Corona, Calif.); Skyline (Issaquah, Wash.), Moeller (Cincinnati) and Norcross (Georgia) enter rankings --

MCLEAN, Va., Dec. 4, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- No. 1-ranked Manatee HS (Bradenton, Fla.), No. 2 John Curtis (River Ridge, La.) and No. 3 DeSoto (Texas), along with the rest of the top seven teams from last week's rankings, continue to hold strong in the USA TODAY High School Sports Super 25 national high school football editorial rankings for the week of Dec. 3.

Four previously ranked teams—No. 8 Vista Murrieta (Murrieta, Calif), No. 12 Whitmer (Toledo, Ohio), No. 14 Bentonville (Ark.) and No. 20 Camden County (Kingsland, Ga.)—suffered state playoff losses last week that knocked them out of the rankings.

The USA TODAY High School Sports Super 25 rankings appear in today's print edition of USA TODAY Sports and are also available online at USA TODAY High School Sports (www.usatodayhss.com).

The USA TODAY High School Sports Super 25 is now in its 30^th year as the most prestigious high school ranking platform in the nation. Gatorade is the Official Fuel of the Super 25 rankings platform, which includes computer rankings of every major high school football, baseball, boys and girls basketball and boys and girls lacrosse team in the nation.

The biggest shake-up in this week's Super 25 comes out of California, where Centennial (Corona, Calif.)—debuting in the No. 18 slot this week—defeated last week's eighth-ranked team, Vista Murrieta, in the Inland Division final. Centennial will now take on No. 13 Narbonne (Harbor City, Calif.) in the Southern California Open Division I bowl.

Also making its first appearance in this year's Super 25 is Skyline (Issaquah, Wash.), which wraps up its undefeated season at No. 23 and as the 4A state champion.

Moeller (Cincinnati) moved back into the Super 25 at No. 24 after defeating last week's
No. 12 team, Whitmer (Toledo, Ohio), for the Division I state championship title. Meanwhile, Norcross (Ga.) debuts at No. 25 after defeating then-No. 20 Camden County (Kingsland, Ga.) to advance to the state semifinals against Colquitt County (Moultrie, Ga.) this Friday.

Bellevue (Wash.) is ranked No. 4 after defeating Eastside Catholic (Sammamish, Wash.) in the 3A state championship last week, while Katy (Texas) stayed solid at No. 5 moving into the 5A-II state quarterfinals against Cypress Ranch (Cypress, Texas) at Rice Stadium in Houston this week.

Following is the complete listing of this week's USA TODAY High School Sports football rankings.

USA TODAY High School Sports

High School Football Super 25

For Week of Dec. 3, 2012

Manatee, Bradenton, Fla. (13-0)
John Curtis, River Ridge, La. (13-0)
DeSoto, Texas (13-0)
Bellevue, Wash. (14-0)
Katy, Texas (13-0)
Butler, Matthews, N.C. (15-0)
De La Salle, Concord, Calif. (13-0)
Hoover, Ala. (14-0)
Ensworth School, Nashville (13-0)
Bishop Gorman, Las Vegas (13-1)
Good Counsel, Olney, Md. (11-1)
Dr. Phillips, Orlando (13-0)
Narbonne, Harbor City, Calif. (14-0)
Kirkwood, Mo. (13-0)
Trinity, Louisville (13-1)
Bishop McDevitt, Harrisburg, Pa. (14-0)
Cass Technical, Detroit (12-2)
Centennial, Corona, Calif. (13-1)
Gilman School, Baltimore (9-2)
Glenbard West, Glen Ellyn, Ill. (14-0)
Lawrence Central, Indianapolis (15-0)
North Allegheny, Wexford, Pa. (14-0)
Skyline, Issaquah, Wash. (14-0)
Moeller, Cincinnati (12-3)
Norcross, Ga. (13-0)

For more information on the Super 25, visit USA TODAY High School Sports.

The USA TODAY Sports Media Group encompasses all sports initiatives across USA TODAY Sports and Gannett's more than 100 well-known local media brands. It also includes the sports wire photography service USA TODAY Sports Images, USA TODAY High School Sports and the hundreds of sites within USA TODAY Sports Digital Properties such as thebiglead.com and mixed martial arts site MMAjunkie.com, among others. USA TODAY is owned by Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI).

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