State Championships Provide Students Opportunity to Become Champions for Life

For the millions of high school students who have had the privilege of participating in education-based sports and activities, the term “going to state” will forever be etched in their memories.

Beginning with the Montana High School Association’s Class 2A State Golf Championship that was held October 2 and culminating with the Texas University Interscholastic League Football Championships on December 19, more than three million participants will be involved this fall in the pursuit of that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to participate in a state championship.

NFHS-member state associations are conducting state championships in many other sports and performing arts activities over the next two months. Altogether, with multiple classes in most sports, more than 1,000 schools – and millions of students – will be crowned STATE CHAMPION this fall.

In football, Alaska led the way with its three state football championships in October. Later this week, state football championships will be determined in North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming among other states hoping to beat the winter weather.

October also was a busy month for the rising sport of girls flag football as several state associations are just beginning to conduct state championships. Currently, 20 states have sanctioned the sport, with 19 others instituting independent or pilot programs. 

Not surprisingly, Alaska was the first state to hold its girls flag football championship this fall – October 10 in Wasilla as North Pole High School won its second title in three years. Later in October, Legend High School of Parker, Colorado, won the Colorado High School Activities Association 5A title, defeating Arvada West, 7-0. In Illinois, St. Charles North High School defeated Prospect High School in the Illinois High School Association Girls Flag Football Championship and finished with a 26-0 record.

The Kansas State High School Activities Association hosted its first girls flag football championship in October as St. James Academy of Lenexa defeated St. Thomas Aquinas of Overland Park, 26-7. The North Carolina High School Athletic Association will stage its inaugural girls flag football championship on Saturday (Nov. 14) in Hickory, North Carolina. In addition, later this month girls flag football state championships will be contested in Alabama, Arizona and Georgia.  

By the time the 12 state Texas UIL football champions are crowned Dec. 16-19 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, championships will be held this month and next in girls and boys volleyball, girls and boys cross country, field hockey, girls and boys soccer, girls and boys tennis, girls and boys swimming/diving, and girls and boys golf.

Fifteen state associations provide state championships in girls field hockey, while more than one-half conduct girls and boys soccer championships in the fall. Ten boys and 18 girls tennis championships are held in the fall, while 22 boys and 27 girls golf championships are conducted in the fall, and several states hold swimming and diving championships in the fall. All 51 state associations stage football, girls volleyball, and girls and boys cross country events during the October-December timeframe.

We must pause at this point, however, and say that the first step to making the state playoffs is to have an opportunity to compete. Unfortunately, in some areas of the country, funding for afterschool sports and other activities has been reduced – with isolated threats of cutting all “extra” curricular programs.

A number of school districts are having to incorporate – or increase – pay-to-play fees to offset reductions in state funding. In the recent elections, funding referendums failed in several Ohio and Indiana districts, and schools in Pickerington, Ohio, and Elwood, Indiana, are considering cutting programs altogether after failed referendums.

With only two to three percent of a typical school’s operating budget devoted to afterschool sports and activities, we hope that answers can be found to keep these programs alive. Through a combination of corporate support, fund-raising from booster clubs or pay-to-play feres, the importance of sports and performing arts cannot be overstated. Very simply, these programs are the very reason that many students attend school.

While we celebrate another season of the ultimate high school experience – playing in a state championship – we encourage every school, every community and every state to do whatever is needed to keep these vital programs running in our nation’s schools. While students can become a STATE CHAMPION by playing in a state championship, they become CHAMPIONS FOR LIFE by participating in school-based sports and activities.  

Republishing Notice: This article may be republished by media outlets. If republished, please credit Davis Whitfield as the author and The NFHS Report as the original source.

Davis Whitfield began his tenure on August 1, 2026, as executive director of the NFHS, the national leader and advocate for high school sports and performing arts programs based in Indianapolis. He was chief operating officer of the NFHS for 11 years prior to his promotion to the executive director position. Prior to joining the NFHS staff in 2015, Whitfield was commissioner of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association (NCHSAA) for five years. He began his career in sports administration in 1995 at Campbell University in Buies Creek, North Carolina, where he was assistant athletic director for operations and facilities for three years. He then served in the athletic department at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, including two years as director of operations and facilities management and two years as assistant athletic director for operations and facilities. Prior to joining the NCHSAA staff, Whitfield was on the administrative staff of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) for 7½ years, including the final 2½ years as associate commissioner.