2026 MIAA football season preview: 10 things to know before opening night

Massachusetts high school football returns Thursday, September 10. Here is what matters going in.

1. The calendar

Practice opened August 24, with fifteen mandatory practice days before the first game. The regular season runs eight weeks, the qualifying window closes October 31, and tournament brackets are released November 1, with the Round of 16 beginning November 6. Thanksgiving Day is November 26, and the eight Super Bowls follow at Gillette Stadium in early December (the MIAA has not yet posted 2026 dates; last year's were December 4–6).

2. This is the last season of the 16-team format

Since the eight-division system arrived in 2020, sixteen teams per division have qualified for the tournament, 128 in all. That ends after this season. In May, the MIAA Football Committee approved an overhaul for 2027: a nine-game regular season, the top eight per division, a new "Super 8" top tier drawn from the strongest Division 1 and 2 programs, and nine state champions instead of eight. Later reporting describes nine divisions with a 30-team minimum and one fewer playoff round. The three-win minimum to qualify goes away. Thanksgiving stays exactly where it is.

The committee's own numbers explain why: under the current format, seeds 9 through 16 had won only 8.7 percent of their first-round games.

3. The defending champions

Last December at Gillette: Xaverian beat St. John's Prep 41–35 for the Division 1 title; Catholic Memorial won Division 2; King Philip took Division 3; Scituate edged Tewksbury 42–41 in Division 4; Shawsheen Valley Tech won Division 5; Fairhaven won Division 6; Cohasset won Division 7; and Randolph won Division 8. Full list on our champions page.

4. Where the 2025 season ended, statewide

St. John's Prep finished the regular season with the highest MIAA rating in the state (8-0, 28.37), followed by King Philip, Springfield Central, Scituate and Xaverian. The final 2025 Massachusetts 16 is the baseline every team is measured against until the first 2026 ratings arrive.

5. Ratings start in October

The MIAA publishes power rankings roughly three to four weeks into the season and then every Tuesday and Friday. The first 2026 Massachusetts 16 will publish the same day the first MIAA ratings do. Until then, opinion polls are the only rankings around.

6. Turnover on the sidelines

More than 36 programs open the season with a new head coach, according to the Globe's preseason storylines, which also flagged something new for Massachusetts: transfer-portal-style movement, with eight Catholic Memorial players leaving for independent schools.

7. Recruiting

Fourteen Massachusetts players in the class of 2027 carry 247Sports ratings, led by four-stars Peter Bourque (committed to Virginia Tech) and Isaiah Rogers (Notre Dame).

8. The girls flag vote

The Patriots-run girls flag football league has grown from 8 teams in 2023 to 90 this year. The MIAA has twice declined to sanction it, but a new petition process is open: proposals with support from 15 percent of member schools are due October 1, and Governor Healey publicly backed sanctioning at Patriots camp in August. Emerging-sport status needs 57 schools; championship status needs 76.

9. The program-health story

Football sign-ups in Massachusetts are down 17 percent over fifteen years, against 7 percent nationally. Ninety-six schools now play in 34 co-ops, and a handful of North Shore programs are exploring eight-player football. A statewide officials shortage has pushed some Boston games to Thursday nights.

10. Where to watch

NFHS Network holds exclusive streaming rights to MIAA tournament games; regular-season streams vary by school. Tournament tickets are sold through GoFan from the Round of 16, and the Super Bowls at Gillette go through Ticketmaster. Last year's finals drew 16,800 across the three days, down from roughly 19,000 in 2024.

Our scores page fills in as the MIAA publishes results, and every one of the state's programs has a team page.