Arizona Republic releases preseason Top 10 for Class 5A high school football, setting the early watch list for 2026

The Arizona Republic has published its preseason Top 10 for Class 5A football, giving the state an early look at which programs are expected to set the pace entering the 2026 season.

The list, voted by The Republic, arrives just as coaches and players begin shifting from fall camps and scrimmages to the first games that can quickly separate contenders from pretenders. In Arizona, those first checkpoints also arrive on different dates depending on school size, which can affect how quickly teams get tested against unfamiliar opponents.

For the smaller classifications, the 2026 season opens earlier. The Arizona high school football schedule for Class 3A, 2A and 1A begins Aug. 20, Aug. 21 and Aug. 22. That means several weeks of evaluation and early momentum are already possible before the bigger-school divisions even take the field.

Class 6A, 5A and 4A follow with a later opening window. Those big-school matchups are scheduled to start between Aug. 27 and Aug. 29, placing the bulk of early-season attention on the first weekend where many of the state’s most closely watched programs get their real-season footing.

Preseason rankings do not determine playoff brackets by themselves, but they often shape expectations and the public storyline around teams, especially in high-level divisions where paths to the championship can be narrow. Once league play begins, the teams that remain consistent tend to turn early attention into the kind of sustained performance that matters most in late-season tournaments.

The key next question for the Class 5A title picture is how these programs handle the transition from preseason form to week-to-week game management, including line play on both sides of the ball and the ability to limit big mistakes early in games. With the season’s timing staggered by classification, the bigger-school teams will have the chance to answer that question immediately once their opening window begins at the end of August.