ESPN channels to air 6 high school football games during kickoff event

As prep football gets back into full swing, the Worldwide Leader in Sports will bring back its ESPN High School Football Kickoff for the 15th year.

From Aug. 16-25, ESPN will feature six games featuring 28 players ranked in its top 300 for the classes of 2025 and 2026. According to the press release, eleven of these players have committed to Div. I college football programs.

Though it’s just the first week of the season for many teams, this event will showcase some of the best matchups of the season, including two games between top 10 teams: Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas, Nev.) plays St. Thomas Aquinas (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.), and St. John Bosco (Bellflower, Calif.) goes up against Chaminade-Madonna (Hollywood, Fla.).

Below is the full schedule and the channels on which the game will appear. All times are Eastern Time. The rankings align with the USA TODAY High Sports Super 25 preseason rankings, released earlier this week.

Friday, Aug. 16

No. 12 Carrollton (Ga.) at Woodward Academy (College Park, Ga).

Game time: 8 p.m.

Channel: ESPN2

Thursday, Aug. 22

Grayson (Loganville, Ga.) at Thompson (Alabaster, Ala.)

Game time: 8 p.m.

Channel: ESPN2

Friday, Aug. 23

No. 10 Milton (Ga.) vs. No. 16 American Heritage (Plantation, Fla.)

Game time: 7 p.m.

Channel: ESPN

Saturday, Aug. 24

No. 3 Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas) at No. 8 St. Thomas Aquinas (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.)

Game time: 4 p.m.

Channel: ESPN

No. 5 St. John Bosco (Bellflower, Calif.) vs. No. 6 Chaminade-Madonna (Hollywood, Fla.)

Game time: 8 p.m.

Channel: ESPN2

Sunday, Aug. 25

Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School, (Ga.) at Baylor School (Chattanooga, Tenn.)

Game time: 1 p.m.

Channel: ESPN

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