Montgomery County Football, Boys & Girls Soccer, Volleyball, Field Hockey & Flag Football Power Rankings!

POWER RANKINGS
In this edition of the newsletter, we rank the top eight teams across six fall sports in Montgomery County. Click here or scroll below to read.

FOOTBALL

2025 saw the Cougars of Quince Orchard win their second straight title and fourth in five years. An easy choice as the preseason number one, but should they falter, Paint Branch and Sherwood are close behind. The Panthers may have been a first round exit a season ago, but they had one of the best offenses in the county, scoring over 50 points in four games. Despite losing last year’s starting QB in Vincent Do, many of their other key pieces will return, which places them at two. Sherwood comes in at three and they easily could be swapped into the two spot. They are placed at three because Alijah Bah of the Panthers had a better 2025 than Warriors running back Frankie Saunders and I expect the run game to play a large role in the Paint Branch offense. Winston Churchill is in fourth with sophomore quarterback Hunter Humphries leading the charge. Damascus, Blake and Wheaton all had up and down 2025 seasons and are losing some key pieces ahead of the 2026 campaign, resulting in their placements. Damascus got the higher spot because of how explosive their offense was at times a season ago, but retaining all-region running back MJ Sullivan is going to help keep the pressure on their opponents. Richard Montgomery falls in the eight spot, which was the toughest spot to rank. The Rockets graduated most of their star power a year ago, but I gave them the edge because I like what I’ve seen from sophomore quarterback Davis Bowen in practices. 

BOYS SOCCER

Walt Whitman takes the top spot in the preseason rankings. They highly outscored their opponents all season long, including a 13-1 run through the four games leading up to their title game defeat. Churchill and Blake take positions two and three thanks in part to key returners in Tobi Filayi of the Bulldogs and the Bengals’ Alhaji Koroma. The Blair Blazers are fourth, having lost just six seniors to graduation. They are keeping Julian Reyes Rubio and Will Argueta Castro, among others who will play key roles in 2026. Next are the Kennedy Cavaliers, who finished last season strong ahead of their first round loss in the playoffs. The final three spots go to Rockville, Northwest and Sherwood. Rockville will look to defend their 2025 regional championship and only lost a smaller number of players to graduation. Perhaps a surprise to see Northwest this low, but the defending champions of MCPS lost 17 members of last year’s squad, which leaves significant holes to fill. The Warriors take the final spot after a strong 2025 season. This ranking may be underestimating the team, but I couldn't rank them higher yet because I trust the teams above them just a slight bit more ahead of the 2026 campaign.

GIRLS SOCCER

Bethesda-Chevy Chase and Blair take the top two spots in the preseason rankings and are extremely close to one another. Both teams had extremely strong 2025 seasons, making deep playoff runs and neither lost too many seniors to graduation. I gave the edge to the Barons due to Blair losing one of the top players in the county in Meron Koro. Also, the Barons retained star senior goalkeeper Brooke Doukouris, who will lead the way in 2026. Quince Orchard is third, followed by Sherwood. Another placement where it could go either way. Both squads also had successful 2025 seasons, but fell slightly behind the two above. Fifth place is Magruder, due to Lauren Cunningham’s excellence in goal. Whenever the Colonels emerged victorious, Cunningham was perfect in the net. Walter Johnson is next. Their Achilles heel in 2025 was the two matches that ended in draws, but should they eliminate those, the Wildcats could move their way up. Richard Montgomery and Walt Whitman round out the top eight. The Rockets finished 2025 at 9-3, fourth in the standings and the Vikings came back from an 0-2 start to finish strong at 7-0-1.

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VOLLEYBALL

The return of Katie Mitchell, Saesha Dhote and Kinsley Flores brings the Richard Montgomery Rockets to the top of the rankings in 2026. All three bring veteran experience to the team, and have a chip on their shoulder after a second place finish behind Wootten in 2025. Sherwood and Wootton take second and third. While Wootton went undefeated last year, they lost multiple key players including MoCo player of the year Taryn Su. The Warriors lost just three players total, which gives them the slight advantage and the higher ranking. The Winston Churchill Bulldogs didn’t have the best record a season ago, but they are retaining a large portion of last year’s squad and head coach Cindy Hillard has a history of success, placing them fourth. The final four spots go to Quince Orchard, Walter Johnson, Walt Whitman and Magruder. All four squads lost key seniors and have revenge games against rival opponents. The order can certainly change between these four, but they start in these spots due to finishing positions from a season ago and the starters who will return for this season.

FIELD HOCKEY

The Damascus Swarmin’ Hornets lead the way in the preseason rankings as they will be led by multiple college commits in Mary Miller and Katie Roberts. Bethesda-Chevy Chase comes in second with three all county first team selections returning in 2026. Next is Walt Whitman and Winston Churchill. The Vikings will be led by Antonia Parrado who was selected to the USA U16 national team this past spring. The Bulldogs went undefeated a season ago, but lost seven key players, which drops them a few spots. Wootton is next, being led by midfielder Kate Bardill, who made the 4A west second team in 2025. Sherwood is next, and will be led by young talent. They lost 12 seniors so the underclassmen will have to step up, which is definitely in the cards. The Einstein Titans and Blair Blazers round out the top eight, with both losing top talent. Blair lost a higher quantity of players in Lilah Coleman, Juliet Craig, and Ruth Wajda-Gotwals, which dropped them slightly below the Titans.

FLAG FOOTBALL

Clarksburg leads the way, coming off of back to back championships in 2024 and 2025. They are led by star quarterback Aysia Jones-Robinson and look to complete the three-peat. Damascus is second, followed by Paint Branch. The Swarmin’ Hornets retain a lot of their talent from a season ago, similar to the Panthers. The slight edge goes to Damascus because of rising sophomore Olivia Keys, who caught five touchdowns and six interceptions in her freshman year. The Panthers retain juniors Rebecca Douzemai and Aria Bandio, who will both have huge roles in 2026. Fourth place goes to Walter Johnson, who retained multiple star players, including Ruby Bonior and Annaelle Dogbe. Rockville is fifth due to their ability to win and win big. Sixth is Northwest, followed by Winston Churchill and Richard Montgomery in seventh and eighth which rounds out the list. Those final three squads all have high potential to make deep runs and all are confident leading into 2026. However, they don’t quite have the star power of the teams ranked above to move up on the list. 

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