Texas High School Football Programs With the Most State Championships

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Winning one Texas high school football state championship can make a coach a legend in his town. A few programs have done it again and again. Here are the Texas high school football programs with the most state championships, and what made each one a dynasty.

The record holder: Aledo, 12 titles

No program in Texas has won more than Aledo. The Bearcats, from a fast-growing town just west of Fort Worth, have 12 UIL state championships: 1998, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022 and 2023. Eleven of those came in a 15-season stretch, one of the most dominant runs in American high school football. Aledo moved up to 6A for the 2026–27 alignment, which will test whether the dynasty can keep winning against the state’s biggest schools.

The leaderboard

Counts below come from Lone Star Gridiron’s championship records, with Aledo’s total updated through its 2023 title. Sources count shared titles and early championships slightly differently, so you may see a number one higher or lower for some schools.

Program	Region	State titles
Aledo	DFW (Parker County)	12
Carthage	East Texas	9
Katy	Houston area	9
Richland Springs (six-man)	Central Texas	9
Southlake Carroll	DFW	8
Abilene	West Central Texas	7
Brownwood	Central Texas	7
Celina	North Texas	7
Mart	Central Texas	7
Plano	DFW	7
Austin Lake Travis	Austin area	6
Converse Judson	San Antonio area	6
Daingerfield	East Texas	6
Stephenville	North Central Texas	6
Wichita Falls	North Texas	6

Fourteen more schools have five titles each, including Allen, Highland Park, Galena Park North Shore, La Marque, Odessa Permian, Stamford and Waco.

Dynasties worth knowing

Katy Tigers

Katy has been the standard in the Houston area for decades. The Tigers’ titles have come across several generations of coaches, and their 2017 move into Legacy Stadium gave the program one of the best venues in the state. A Katy home game in the playoffs is one of the best atmospheres in Texas.

Carthage Bulldogs

Carthage, a town of under 7,000 in deep East Texas, shows how a small community can become a powerhouse. The Bulldogs have stacked titles in the 3A and 4A ranks, and their playoff runs bring the whole Panola County crowd with them.

Southlake Carroll Dragons

Carroll’s run in the 2000s produced some of the most famous teams in Texas history and future college stars, and the Dragons were regularly ranked among the best teams in the nation. Their rivalry with nearby suburban powers still draws huge crowds.

Celina Bobcats

Celina’s titles came largely under coach G.A. Moore, one of the winningest coaches in Texas history. The Bobcats are a model of the small-town North Texas dynasty, even as the town has boomed into a suburb.

Richland Springs Coyotes

The most decorated six-man program in Texas, Richland Springs proves that small-school football is every bit as competitive. A six-man state title game is worth watching if you have never seen the format.

Odessa Permian Panthers

Permian’s titles came between the 1960s and early 1990s, and the 1988 team became the subject of Friday Night Lights. No program has a bigger name outside Texas.

What makes a Texas dynasty?

• Coaching stability. Almost every program on this list had a coach stay 10 years or more.
• A feeder system. Junior high teams run the same offense and defense as the varsity, so players arrive ready.
• Community. In one-high-school towns like Aledo, Carthage and Celina, the whole town backs one team.
• Offseason culture. Texas athletic periods during the school day give players year-round strength training.

Books and gifts for the Texas football fan

• Friday Night Lights by H.G. Bissinger, the classic book on Texas high school football culture.
• Dave Campbell’s Texas Football for preseason previews of every program.
• A jersey shadow box for displaying a championship jersey, ring or ticket stub.

Did your school win a state title? Tell us about it on the Texas Journeys Facebook page.

Read next: How the UIL Football Playoffs Work and The Real Story Behind Friday Night Lights.