By bill prentice | HS Prep Sports Published Aug. 30, 2026

Lightning stopped the game twice. It did not stop Christopher Columbus.

The Explorers walked into Brian Piccolo Stadium unranked, sat through two weather delays, jumped No. 2 Bishop Gorman 20-0 before the Gaels found the field, and held on for a 33-28 win that rewrites the top of the national board. Bishop Gorman had beaten St. John Bosco 38-28 a week earlier. Now the Gaels are 2-1 and everybody behind them has a lane.

That was one of four. Week 2 sent four unranked programs home with a Super 25 scalp.

The upset that will get replayed all season

A'mir Sears played both ways and won the game twice. The senior caught two touchdown passes and picked off three Bishop Gorman throws. Cecil Smith opened the scoring on a 47-yard catch at 6:54 of the first. Columbus led 20-0 in the second quarter.

Gorman answered the way a No. 2 team should. Michael Blackmond took one 74 yards on the final play of the half, Seager Milholen ran in the two-point conversion, and the Gaels came out of the tunnel with a pulse. Then Columbus stretched it back out — a Tony Brown III touchdown catch at 9:43 of the fourth and a 35-yard field goal at 7:58 for a 33-15 cushion.

What happened next is why this one lives on the highlight shows. Bishop Gorman scored on a 7-yard Aizen Costales-Torres catch with 2:33 left, recovered an onside kick, scored again on an Azavier McDaniel reception with 1:12 left, and recovered a second onside kick. Two onside kicks. Same drive sequence. Columbus still closed it.

Verified Week 2 scoreboard

Ordered by USA TODAY Super 25 rank entering the week.

Rank	Team	Result
1	IMG Academy (FL)	Won vs. Cornerstone Christian (TX), 59-10
2	Bishop Gorman (NV)	Lost to Columbus (FL), 33-28
3	St. Frances Academy (MD)	Won vs. DeLand (FL), 49-35
4	Centennial (CA)	Lost to No. 23 Santa Margarita (CA), 21-20
5	St. John Bosco (CA)	Won vs. Roman Catholic (PA), 45-25
6	St. Thomas Aquinas (FL)	Won vs. No. 22 DeSoto (TX), 56-14
9	Thompson (AL)	Won vs. Clay-Chalkville (AL), 37-13 (Aug. 27)
10	Baylor (TN)	Won vs. Loudoun Sports Academy (VA), 37-12
11	Basha (AZ)	Won vs. No. 20 Chandler (AZ), 37-26
12	Waxahachie (TX)	Won vs. Ennis (TX), 72-14
13	Carrollton (GA)	Won vs. Columbia (GA), 61-6
14	Hamilton (AZ)	Won vs. Brophy College Prep (AZ), 25-6 (Aug. 27)
15	DeMatha (MD)	Won vs. Archbishop Spalding (MD), 35-14
16	Duncanville (TX)	Lost to Allen (TX), 26-7
17	Carol City (FL)	Lost to Lee County (GA), 23-20
19	Southlake Carroll (TX)	Won vs. Jenks (OK), 34-33 (Aug. 27)
20	Chandler (AZ)	Lost to No. 11 Basha (AZ), 37-26
21	Brentwood Academy (TN)	Won vs. Brentwood (TN), 49-14
22	DeSoto (TX)	Lost to No. 6 St. Thomas Aquinas (FL), 56-14
23	Santa Margarita (CA)	Won vs. No. 4 Centennial (CA), 21-20
24	East St. Louis (IL)	Lost to American Heritage (FL), 35-28 (OT)

IMG did not lose. IMG rolled.

Early aggregator copy had IMG Academy dropping a 62-59 track meet to Cornerstone Christian. That never happened. IMG won 59-10, and Cornerstone Christian's own page confirms the 10-59 loss. The Ascenders are 2-0 with 118 points scored and 13 allowed. The No. 1 team did not blink.

Same correction on the Saturday showcase. St. Thomas Aquinas beat DeSoto 56-14. Basha beat Chandler 37-26. Both finals are in. Nothing is outstanding.

The four that crashed the party

Columbus (FL) over No. 2 Bishop Gorman, 33-28. Covered above. The Explorers were 1-0 and invisible nationally 48 hours ago.

Allen (TX) over No. 16 Duncanville, 26-7. A season-opening haymaker. Duncanville scored seven points. Seven.

Lee County (GA) over No. 17 Carol City, 23-20. The Trojans stunned a nationally ranked Florida program by three on Aug. 28.

American Heritage (FL) over No. 24 East St. Louis, 35-28 in overtime. Confirmed as an OT finish. Florida went 3-1 against ranked out-of-state opponents this weekend.

Ranked-on-ranked, decided

Three Super 25 teams beat other Super 25 teams, and one of them was a one-point classic. Santa Margarita took down Centennial 21-20 — No. 23 over No. 4, in California, by a single point. Basha handled Chandler by 11 in the Arizona showcase. St. Thomas Aquinas did not just beat DeSoto, it buried the Eagles by 42 in a matchup billed as a Florida-Texas top-25 showdown.

What moves, and what I'm calling

Seven Super 25 teams lost. Five of those losses came against teams that were not in the poll at all, or against teams ranked far below them. The top five should reorder behind IMG, and Bishop Gorman is going to slide further than one loss deserves.

Here is my call, and I'll wear it if I'm wrong. Columbus will not be a top-10 team in November. Santa Margarita will. One of those wins came from a program built for a season; the other came from a program that caught the best week of its life against a team stuck in a lightning delay 2,400 miles from home. Bishop Gorman finishes the year inside the top five anyway.

Next up: Bishop Gorman gets Lone Peak on Sept. 4 and Mater Dei on Sept. 18. IMG plays St. Louis on Sept. 5.

Which Week 2 result do you think the pollsters will overrate the most? Drop it in the comments, then run your own board against the RepMax National Rankings Tracker and see whose team you have moving.

THE BLITZ: Week 2 Burned the Top of the Board — Four Unranked Teams Just Took Down the Super 25