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We have our weekly to the 2026 VA/DC Power 25, this one being the fourth overall update.  In 2025, the Virginia High School League pushed the season start and finish back one week, which has created some stark differences in where public and private teams are at in their season. Without further ado, we are going to highlight a few teams that have seen some movement in the Power 25. See some discussion on the Power 25 and many other topics on the most recent episode of High & Tight.

VA/DC Power 25 Update Notes

+ Atlee (7-1) remains as the top overall team in the Power 25. The Raiders went 2-0 on the week, defeating Deep Run and Patrick Henry (Ashland). Evan Salapka (Richmond) is back in full form, throwing five innings on Friday night and striking out eleven while not allowing a hit. While this is a three game week, there is no real big challenge for this Atlee team before Friday's matchup versus cross-town rival, Hanover. The perennial Class 4 contender does not really have a "heavy week" in terms of game quality for a few weeks. Fully expect this Atlee team to continue to roll through their regular season.

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+ There have been some small shakeups inside the Top 5, with Paul VI moving back up to #2, replacing STAB. Following PVI is Independence, who also moves up two spots to #3. Landing in the #4 spot is the Miller School Maverick squad that is coming off of a massive week. The Mavericks were the #1 Preseason Power 25 team. MSA fell to #13 after struggiling in their first two weeks of the season. They continued to have some ups and downs over the next two weeks before moving to #25. After they moved to #25, the Mavericks reeled off four Tier 1 wins in a six day span, and five total in an eight day span from April 11-April 18. They have more higher tier wins than any other team in the state, and they faced every single team's ace this past week: Brown (Cox), Steeper (STAB), Weppner (Battlefield), Tew (GCA), and Hummel (Cape Henry). Sliding back to #5 in the Power 25 are the St. Anne's-Belfield Saints. STAB dropped two games this past week, one an extra inning game to Miller School, which then seemed to roll over to the next day and aiding in a huge win for the Collegiate Cougars over STAB in Charlottesville. 

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 + Now there are only two undefeated teams remaining in the Power 25, with Abingdon (12-0) and Lake Braddock (11-0) holding strong with their unbeaten status.

• Speaking of big matchups.. Abingdon hosts John Battle on Friday. This will be arguably the biggest matchup in Southwest VA this season to date, and one of the more highly anticipated games in recent memory for a regular season game in that area.
• Lake Braddock has a massive week for that undefeated record. The Bruins will face rival West Springfield in a home/home series this week. With the Spartans potentially getting a big returner this week, could this week bring the first loss to the Bruins' season?

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 + Battlefield drops out of the Power 25 and Collegiate moves into the the rankings for the first time this season.

• Battlefield came out of the gate a little slow this season, starting 2-3 and have not seemed to recover. While they do not really have an extremely "bad loss", they do have a head scratcher or two, as well as no real signature win. The other part, in terms of standing in the Power 25, the Bobcats have only two remaining games versus an opponent that would be considered a Tier 1 game (4/27 Oakton, 5/5 @ Indy).
• While Collegiate has does have four losses, two of them have been one run games versus solid opponents, and another versus Miller School. Coach Slater's Cougars have big wins over #5 STAB, Cape Henry, Benedictine x2, and a shutout victory over Douglas Freeman. Collegiate's schedule shapes up really well over the next 3-ish weeks, with their two biggest games coming versus St. Christopher's. 

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VIRGINIA/DC 2026 POWER 25

*4/20/26*

Rank	Prev	High School	Level	Record
1	1	Atlee HS	VHSL Class 4	7-1
2	4	Paul VI Catholic	VISAA DI/WCAC	17-4
3	5	Independence HS	VHSL Class 6	11-1
4	25	Miller School	VISAA DI	17-7
5	2	St. Anne's-Belfield	VISAA DI	18-2-1
6	6	Cox HS	VHSL Class 5	8-1
7	7	Abingdon HS	VHSL Class 3	12-0
8	3	James River (Midlothian) HS	VHSL Class 5	9-1
9	9	Great Bridge HS	VHSL Class 5	7-2
10	11	Mills Godwin HS	VHSL Class 5	9-1
11	8	Bishop O'Connell	VISAA DI/WCAC	14-5
12	10	Western Branch HS	VHSL Class 6	10-3
13	12	Madison HS	VHSL Class 6	10-1-1
14	14	Highland School	VISAA DII	13-6
15	13	Ocean Lakes HS	VHSL Class 5	9-2
16	15	Greenbrier Christian	VISAA DII	15-4
17	18	New Kent HS	VHSL Class 3	8-1
18	20	Lake Braddock HS	VHSL Class 6	11-0
19	21	Centreville HS	VHSL Class 6	10-2
20	16	Oakton HS	VHSL Class 6	10-2
21	22	Liberty Christian	VHSL Class 3	7-2
22	19	Glen Allen HS	VHSL Class 5	7-3
23	23	Hanover HS	VHSL Class 4	8-2
24	24	Jefferson Forest HS	VHSL Class 4	11-1
25	NR	Collegiate	VISAA DI	12-4

Just A Bit Outside: Courtland (9-1), Freedom-SR (7-1), Herndon (9-3), John Battle (9-1)

Dropped Out: Battlefield (6-6)