Photo: @moderatelymoco
By Jason Makstein
Week 1 of the 2026 MCPS high school football season is complete, with all 25 Montgomery County public school teams in action.
The opening week included a surprising five shutout wins by MCPS teams and three close games decided by two points or fewer. Churchill and Walter Johnson each won by a single point, while Springbrook held off Einstein by two. Poolesville was the only MCPS team to face an opponent from outside the school system.
Here is how every team finished in Week 1.
Quince Orchard 28, Paint Branch 0
Quince Orchard opened the season with a shutout victory over Paint Branch.
Churchill 20, Bethesda-Chevy Chase 19
Churchill edged B-CC by one point in one of the closest games of the week.
Damascus 55, Richard Montgomery 18
Damascus started the season with a 37-point victory over Richard Montgomery.
Wootton 47, Rockville 0
Wootton scored 47 points and kept Rockville off the scoreboard.
Walter Johnson 20, Gaithersburg 19
Walter Johnson scored a last-minute touchdown to come back and beat Gaithersburg by one point.
Blair 39, Wheaton 21
Blair pulled away for an 18-point win over Wheaton.
Sherwood 57, Magruder 0
Sherwood recorded the highest point total by an MCPS team in Week 1 and shut out Magruder.
Seneca Valley 38, Clarksburg 0
Seneca Valley opened with a 38-point shutout victory over Clarksburg.
Northwest 29, Blake 14
Northwest defeated Blake by 15 points in its season opener.
Northwood 20, Watkins Mill 10
Northwood doubled up Watkins Mill for a 10-point Week 1 win.
Walt Whitman 46, Kennedy 0
Whitman scored 46 points while holding Kennedy scoreless.
Winters Mill 57, Poolesville 0
Poolesville fell to Winters Mill, the only non-MCPS team included in the Week 1 results.
Springbrook 14, Einstein 12
Springbrook held off Einstein by two points to close out the Week 1 slate.
Rankings update coming before Week 2
Before the season, Capital Sideline simulated the full 2026 MCPS football season 10,000 times to produce our preseason rankings and projections. Week 1 gave us the first real results to compare with those projections. We will update the rankings before next week’s games to reflect what happened on the field.
Capital Sideline will continue tracking MCPS football scores and results throughout the 2026 season.
