Major storylines impacting the upcoming 2026 national high school football season

Q: What are the major storylines for the 2026 high school football season?

Key storylines include a Texas running back vying for a historic ranking, a coach nearing the all-time wins record, and teams with notable win and losing streaks.

Q: Who is the Texas running back to watch in the 2026 season?

The Texas running back is expected to challenge for a spot among the five most prolific backs in high school football history.

Q: Which coach could become the all-time winningest in high school football?

A coach is on the verge of officially taking over the top spot in all-time coaching wins during the 2026 season.

Q: What notable teams are involved in the 2026 high school football season?

The season will feature a team potentially finishing with the third-longest win streak and another team facing an epic losing streak in the Deep South.

Major storylines impacting the upcoming 2026 national high school football season originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

We've taken a look this week at the top teams, the biggest coaching changes, the top returning players, and some of the big interstate matchups that will have an effect on the national title race in the upcoming 2026 high school football season.

Now, it's time to zero in on a few of the major stories we'll be following when the season kicks off in August.

That includes a Texas running back who could challenge for a spot as one of the five most prolific backs in high school football history. A coach who could officially take over the top spot in all-time coaching wins. A team that could finish the season on the third-longest win streak ever. And a team on an epic losing streak in the Deep South.

These are some of the random headlines that have us intrigued as the 2026 season approaches.

More high school football headlines

Texas running back could eclipse 10,000 career yards

There's a reason Landen Williams-Callis of the Randle [Richmond, TX] Lions was named The Sporting News Offensive Player of the Year last season.

Quite simply, he's one of the best high school running backs to ever play the game.

That was evident in his 3,502-yard junior season in which he also ran for 59 touchdowns while averaging 10.2 yards per carry. And it's not like he's playing Pop Warner football either – his exploits have come in the Texas UIL Class 5A ranks where he's led his team to a state championship in 2024 and a return trip to the title game last year where Lions lost to the South Oak Cliff [Dallas, TX] Bears.

Those deep runs have allowed Williams-Callis extra opportunities to pile up the yardage, and he enters his senior season this fall with 7,551 yards already. If he matched last year's total this fall, he would be well over 11,000 yards and could well finish as one of the top five high school running backs to ever play the game.

Heck, it's not even out of the question that he could finish as the all-time leading rusher in Texas, needing 3,827 yards to take over the top spot from Kaegan Ash who broke Ken Hall's 72-year-old state record last fall. That's the kind of career it's been for Williams-Callis, and his senior season could rewrite the record books once again.

High school football's all-time coaching wins record officially in jeopardy

There is some confusion as to the overall record of John "J.T." Curtis of the John Curtis Christian [River Ridge, LA] Patriots.

Curtis, who serves as the head coach of the school named for his father, is listed in some stories and internet searches as national high school football's all-time winningest coach with as many as 640 wins.

But some of those wins were disputed back in 2023 due to 30 games that were forfeited between 2013-2015, although that didn't stop the John Curtis faithful from celebrating win No. 622 that fall – a win that would have made Curtis the all-time winningest football coach in high school football history.

Without those 30 wins, however, Curtis is still short of the record held by John McKissick of South Carolina's Summerville where the legendary coach finished with a record of 621-156-13 in a head coaching career that spanned from 1952 to 2014.

Indeed, the official NFHS record book still had Curtis listed with just 600 wins headed into last year, a season in which the Patriots went 9-3. While the record hasn't been updated, yet, that would mean Curtis now has a record of 609-119-6 in a career dating back to 1969.

But if Curtis and his fans celebrated his accomplishment too early in 2023, the reality is now, he's approaching the actual official NFHS national record needing just 13 wins to own the record without dispute. With the Patriots guaranteed at least four playoff games in any season resulting in a state championship, he could finally get there this fall as long as Curtis is still on the sidelines and the Patriots can win at least 13 games.

Two more coaches look to join 500 wins club in 2026

The 2025 season kicked off last season without Philip Haywood on the sidelines for the Belfry [KY] Pirates.

Haywood was just 10 wins away from reaching the 500-win mark in a head coaching career that dated back to 1975 before he tragically passed away in January following the 2024 season due to injuries suffered in a car crash.

Belfry finished 12-2 last fall, and Haywood certainly would have been the seventh man to ever reach that milestone if not for that tragedy, but now, a year later, two other coaches are lining up to reach the 500-win plateau.

In Wisconsin, Edgar Wildcats' head coach Jerry Sinz entered his 51st season last fall with 483 wins before leading his team to a 13-1 finish that ended in a 42-18 loss to the Darlington Redbirds in Wisconsin's WIAA Division 6 championship game. His record now stands at 496-94, and provided that Sinz is back for Year No. 52 this fall, he'll need just four wins to get to 500.

Right behind Sinz is Lafayette, Louisiana's, Jim Hightower, the coach of the St. Thomas More Cougars whose career record now stands at 490-142-1 after an 8-4 finish in 2025. While Sinz is a virtual lock to get to 500 – probably by mid-season – Hightower and his Cougars will have to finish at least two games better in the win column than they did in 2025.

Tracking longest winning streaks (plus one notable losing streak)

Garden City's 66-game win streak is the nation's longest

Last year, it was the Marion Local [Maria Stein, OH] Flyers that entered the season with the nation's longest win streak at 64 games.

That streak eventually reached 76 last fall before the Flyers finally lost for the first time in five seasons in a 24-7 setback to the St. Henry [OH] Redskins in the third round of Ohio's OHSAA Division VII playoffs. According to the NFHS record book, Marion Local's 76 wins are the third-longest win streak ever in national high school football behind only the 151-game run by the De La Salle [Concord, CA] Spartans from 1992 to 2003 and the 109-game streak by the Independence [Charlotte, NC] Patriots between 2000 and 2007.

Now, it's the Garden City [NY] Trojans' turn to carry the target that comes with being the team with the nation's longest win streak. Garden City's streak actually stretches back even farther to the first game of the 2020 season that was moved to the spring due to the COVID pandemic. On March 13, 2021, the Trojans defeated the Carey [Franklin Square, NY] Seahawks, 34-0, and they haven't lost since with the streak now standing at 66 games.

That includes a 6-0 record in that truncated 2020 season followed by five straight seasons of 12-0, including last year's run to Long Island's Division II championship in a 10-7 win over the East Islip [Islip Terrace, NY] Redmen. Another 12-0 finish this fall would allow the Trojans to move into that third-place spot ahead of Marion Local just one year after the Flyers' run ended.

Sheridan looks to extend its state-record 55-game win streak in Wyoming

The Sheridan [WY] Broncs enter the 2026 season with the nation's second-longest win streak – a 55-game run that is already the longest streak in Wyoming prep history.

The Broncs enter the season having posted four consecutive 12-0 seasons along with winning the final seven games of the 2021 season en route to five straight WHSAA Class 4A state titles.

The Carl Albert [Midwest City, OK] Titans are the only other team in the nation with an active win streak of more than 50 games. Their 53-game run spans four seasons now with four OSSAA Class 5A state championship trophies for their efforts.

Columbia enters another season looking for its first win since 2015

Say this for the Columbia [Huntsville, AL] Eagles: they show up and suit out each fall determined to finally end a losing streak that started with a 38-22 loss to the Johnson [Huntsville, AL] Jaguars on October 23, 2015.

That came one week after the Eagles won back-to-back games in a 34-16 win over the Ardmore [AL] Tigers. Now, more than a decade later, the Eagles are still looking for their first win since that game on October 16, 2015 in a streak that now stands at 101 games.

The Eagles' streak has become such a big story that, last year, the team hired former NFL star Sammie Coates and partnered with Gatorade and NFL Films to produce a documentary series on their efforts to break the streak. "All the Reasons Not to Quit" was released last fall, but unfortunately for Coates, his first Eagles' squad came up winless just like the nine teams before him.

If there's a silver lining for the Eagles, it could be that they showed signs of being more competitive last fall, including a four-point loss to the East Lawrence [Trinity, AL] Eagles in a 28-24 decision on September 26. That was the first time they stayed within a single score of an opponent since falling, 27-20, to the Lee [Huntsville, AL] Generals in the 2016 season finale.

Crowded field atop national all-time wins list

The list of winningest teams in national high school football history is getting a little bit crowded at the top.

The Valdosta [GA] Wildcats are still the sport's all-time winningest program with 977 certified wins through the end of the 2025 season. Just nine games back is the legendary program from Massillon, Ohio – the Washington Tigers who have 968 wins of their own.

But there are three Kentucky schools next line, including two teams tied with 965 wins in their respective histories. The Male [Louisville, KY] Bulldogs entered last season two games ahead of their in-state brethren from Mayfield, but the Cardinals finished 10-2 last season to pull even after the Bulldogs managed just an 8-5 record.

Just behind them is the Highlands [Fort Thomas, KY] Bluebirds with 953 wins, coming off a 10-3 campaign of their own. The three Bluegrass State programs are likely to continue jockeying for position in the years to come, but they are all safely ahead of the nation's No. 6 team on the all-time wins list – the Mount Carmel [PA] Tornadoes are currently sitting on 912 wins just two ahead of the Muskegon [MI] Big Reds.