Mount Carmel held on the top spot in the Super 25 from the beginning to the end of the season. This is the second consecutive year a team has pulled that off. Loyola did the same last year.
Many fans watched the Caravan for the first time in the Class 8A state championship game against Oswego on Wednesday. Several readers reached out to say they were unimpressed with the very-hyped team. It wasn’t a pretty game. Oswego’s defense was excellent and the weather hampered the Caravan’s vaunted passing attack.
However, it is still the most talented high school football team in Chicago history. Probably not the best, but the most talented. And the majority of the talent is very young. Mount Carmel isn’t going anywhere. We will see which players leave (or arrive) before next season but it is possible that next year’s Caravan will become the most talented team in Chicago high school football history.
Remember that picture of the eight Mount Carmel stars with Power Five offers that was on the back page of the Sun-Times in the preseason? There are only three players leaving from that group of eight: seniors Joey Quinn, Claude Mpouma and Braeden Jones.
Corner Tavares Harrington, linebacker Roman Igwebuike, receivers Quentin Burrell and Marshaun Thornton and lineman Caleb Tucker are all back next year and will be a year bigger and more experienced.
Mount Carmel football players with Power Five scholarship offers pose for a photo on Wednesday August 20, 2025. Front row, left to right: Tavares Harrington, Roman Igwebuike, Quentin Burrell, Marshaun Thornton. Back row, left to right: Joey Quinn, Claude Mpouma, Braeden Jones, Caleb Tucker. Kirsten Stickney/For the Sun-Times
Kirsten Stickney
Starters Nathan Samuels (RB), Chase Clark (RT), Isaac Saldana (CB), Cullen Winters (FS) and Brandon Rogers (SS) also return. And there is a large group of talented young players ready to join the varsity.
The Caravan is likely to begin the season right where they finished it—back on top of the Super 25.
Final rankings breakdown
The preseason rankings did not hold up as well as usual this season. The Class 8A and 7A public school programs, as a whole, did not perform as well as expected.
It’s surprising to see smaller private schools Montini, St. Francis ahead of some of Lincoln-Way East, Maine South and Batavia, but those were easy decisions based on the season’s results.
Montini, which won the Class 4A state title, ranked all the way up at No. 3 may surprise some readers. The Broncos went undefeated and beat Fenwick. That win has them ahead of the Friars in the final rankings. Montini also had quality wins against Carmel on the road, Morris and St. Laurence.
Some fans may believe ranking Oswego at No. 6 and Lockport at No. 18 is too low based on playoff success. Both teams had fantastic runs on the weaker side of the Class 8A bracket. It was hard to rank them any higher based on the full season of results.
Final Super 25 high school football rankings for 2025
With record and preseason ranking
1. Mount Carmel (14-0) 1
2. Brother Rice (13-1) 8
3. Montini (14-0) 21
4. Fenwick (11-3) 22
5. Nazareth (11-2) 7
6. Oswego (11-3) NR
7. St. Francis (11-3) 18
8. St. Rita (9-5) 14
9. St. Charles North (10-2) 15
10. Providence (10-4) NR
11. Carmel (8-3) NR
12. Downers Grove North (10-3) 5
13. Glenbard West (9-2) 24
14. Lincoln-Way East (9-3) 3
15. Fremd (11-2) 10
16. Batavia (10-3) 6
17. Maine South (10-2) 4
18. Lockport (9-4) NR
19. Bolingbrook (9-3) NR
20. Warren (9-2) 11
21. Lyons (8-3) NR
22. Barrington (10-2) NR
23. Lincoln-Way Central (9-2) NR
24. Prairie Ridge (10-1) 20
25. Lincoln-Way West (10-2) NR