The GEICO State Champions Bowl Series that the Saint Louis Crusaders will be playing in on either Dec. 20 or 21 in Las Vegas has been around since 2014.
No games, however, were held in 2015. The series has been held consecutively since 2016, with games occurring in four different states. With games in Nevada this year, that will make five states.
The series has consistently tried — and mostly succeeded — in getting highly ranked national and state teams.
Teams from six states have participated, and that number will increase to seven when the four-time defending Hawaii Open Division state champion Crusaders (12-0) play. That number could also go higher, when the final three teams in this year’s series commit.
Florida has been represented five times; Arizona, Washington and Utah three times; and Georgia and Maryland twice.
Of the 18 teams who have played, 11 were ranked in the MaxPreps Xcellent 25, and the highest nationally ranked teams have been No. 5 Booker T. Washington (Miami, Fla.) in 2014 and No. 5 St. Frances Academy (Baltimore) in 2017.
There have been two teams ranked No. 6 — St. Thomas Aquinas (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) in 2016 and St. Frances Academy in 2018.
Also, of the 18 teams who have played, eight have been ranked No. 1 and five have been No. 2 in their respective states.
St. Thomas Aquinas, according to multiple sources, is a possible matchup for Saint Louis this year. The Raiders (13-0) play Edgewater (Orlando, Fla.) in the Class 7A state championship game Dec. 14.
This year’s two games in Las Vegas will be televised on ESPNU.
On three occasions, GEICO State Champions Bowl Series teams have made it through their seasons undefeated — Booker T. Washington (15-0 in 2014) and St. Frances Academy (13-0 in 2017 and 10-0 in 2018). Saint Louis has a chance to be the fourth.
GEICO STATE CHAMPIONS BOWL SERIES HISTORY
2014 (at Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Fla.)
>> No. 5 Booker T. Washington (Miami, Fla.) 34, No. 14 Bingham (South Jordan, Utah) 28
>> No. 11 Central (Miami, Fla.) 37, Bothell (Bothell, Wash.) 27
>> Trinity Christian (Jacksonville, Fla.) 35, No. 20 Eastside Catholic (Sammamish, Wash.) 21
2016 (at Ford Center at The Star, Frisco, Tex.)
>> No. 6 St. Thomas Aquinas (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) 33, No. 19 Bingham (South Jordan, Utah) 25
>> No. 16 Chandler (Chandler, Ariz.) 44, Valdosta (Valdosta, Ga.) 24
2017(at Grand Canyon University, Phoenix, Ariz.)
>> No. 5 St. Frances Academy (Baltimore) 41, No. 19 Bingham (South Jordan, Utah) 3
>> No. 11 Chandler (Chandler, Ariz.) 55, Northwestern (Miami, Fla.) 20
2018
>> No. 6 St. Frances Academy (Baltimore) 43, at Lee County (Leesburg, Ga.) 14
>> Eastside Catholic (Sammamish, Wash.) 17, at Centennial (Peoria, Ariz.) 0
GEICO STATE CHAMPIONS BOWL SERIES
MaxPreps Xcellent 25, national computer and state rankings and final season won-lost records through the years
2014
>> Booker T. Washington (No. 5 Xcellent 25, No. 13 computer, No. 2 in Florida) — 15-0
>> Central (No. 11 Xcellent 25, No. 14 computer, No. 3 in Florida) — 10-1
>> Bingham (No. 14 Xcellent 25, No. 33 computer, No. 1 in Utah) — 13-2
>> Eastside Catholic (No. 20 Xcellent 25, No. 115 computer, No. 2 in Washington) — 13-2
>> Trinity Christian (No. 49 computer, No. 7 in Florida) — 12-2
>> Bothell (No. 59 computer, No. 1 in Washington) — 15-1
2016
>> St. Thomas Aquinas (No. 6 Xcellent 25, No. 7 computer, No. 2 in Florida) — 14-2
>> Chandler (No. 16 Xcellent 25, No. 12 computer, No. 1 in Arizona) — 14-1
>> Bingham (No. 19 Xcellent 25, No. 40 computer, No. 2 in Utah) — 14-1
>> Valdosta (No. 58 computer, No. 4 in Georgia) — 14-2
2017
>> St. Frances Academy (No. 5 Xcellent 25, No. 4 computer, No. 1 in Maryland) — 13-0
>> Chandler (No. 11 Xcellent 25, No. 26 computer, No. 1 in Arizona) — 13-2
>> Bingham (No. 19, Xcellent 25, No. 18 computer, No. 1 in Utah) — 13-1
>> Northwestern (No. 28 computer, No. 4 in Florida) — 14-3-1
2018
>> St. Frances Academy (No. 6 Xcellent 25, No. 5 computer, No. 1 in Maryland) — 10-0
>> Eastside Catholic (No. 53 computer, No. 1 in Washington) — 13-1
>> Lee County (No. 67 computer, No. 5 in Georgia) — 15-1
>> Centennial (No. 81 computer, No. 2 in Arizona) — 14-1
Hmmm…Intresting that there’s no Cali teams invited in this Bowl Series…
I watched St Francis who is above St Thomas when they played Mater Dei they brought it a solid run team and defense unfortunately they came up short against the passing attack of Mater Dei that team reminds me of Georgia Tech with there colors. This game would make for a solid test/gauge game against the Crusaders. Crusaders are the best that I have ever seen since teams passed no disrespect and they should go for it all the way. This game would be like considered there fiesta/sugar bowl!!!:)
^^^ Good observation. De La Salle, St. John Boscoe and Mater Dei. At least one of them should be there every year.
CIF doesn’t allow them to play in this series I guess. CIF champions play 14 games in total and their season ends mid-December. I think its reasonable that they don’t play in these bowl games.
I don’t see any teams from Texas.
Could St. Louis win the USA TODAY National Football title with a win against St. Thomas Aquinas?
Bosco will play De La Salle and with a close win could move down or get supassed by St. Louis? Bosco has one lost against mater dei and should of lost another game to servite who missed a few PATs. Servite was beaten by Bishop gorman. St. Louis closest game was Punahou who is ranked in the top 20 of a few polls. Beating the #2 team in the nation would move St. Louis to at least #2 because the teams in front of them don’t play anybody else. A thumping by St. Louis and a weak showing by bosco could possibly move St. Louis to number 1 in the USA TODAY polls. That would be amazing
*To another note statistically speaking according to max preps, the OPEN DIVISION is one of the strongest in the country and the top 4 teams are stronger than anybodys TOP 4 anywhere. Even the trinity league if you average the teams out by rankings. The open division is literally making everyone better and this is the first time where 3 teams were ranked in the maxpreps top 25 from hawaii. I hardly remembered two teams. I don’t know why nobody was talking about this.
IMUA
St Louis wont over take a 1 loss Mater Dei squad. Simply because of S.O.S.
It certainly will be interesting….take a team like Liberty. They played arguably the toughest schedule in the country. They beat Gorman in OT 2 weeks ago and should win the Nevada state championship this Saturday. They would finish 10-5 on the year. 15 games in high school wow! I like to see where the pollsters put a team with 5 losses.
Is that the same Liberty that lost to Milville?
@7 Currently mater dei is ranked #2 in the country and st louis is #5 in the country when it comes to strength of schedule according to maxpreps thats why I think they could surpass them in the USA TODAY polls. For some reason USA has st thomas ranked #2 which would pull weight in those rankings. If st louis were to dominate. I don’t think they would move that much in maxpreps maybe #3 with a huge win. But its interesting to see how it would play out.
I wish St. louis played Bosco. I think they would have a good chance at winning here in hawaii though i’d still say bosco would be a small favorite. The common opponent they have is millilani with bosco winning by 32 and st louis winning by 33/35. Its hard to judge scoring margins for STL because they tend to play conservative late and always kneels on late scoring drives.
@8 Liberty will not be ranked in the top 25. too many losses. they lost to millilani which no top team should lose to.
@Imua
STL will not pass Mater Dei or Bosco because they play multiple Top 15 teams every year!
Case in point Mater Dei, Bosco and St Francis all have 1 loss and are still ahead of STL; STL hasn’t lost in 3 years but hasn’t played a Top team until the upcoming Gieco bowl.
@11
they do play multiple teams top 25 team but STL played 5 top 40 teams including punahou twice (top 20) and if the play St. Thomas at the #2 team in the nation and crush them, they will have smashed the #2 team and be undefeated which could possibly push them higher only in the USA TODAY polls. I dont think they will suprass #3 in maxpreps. But they have to smash st. thomas if they wanna be 1 or 2 and alot of things have to happen with the other teams.