Prep Power Rankings: Canterbury earns No. 1 for first time

Canterbury School celebrates during the WNEPBL Tournament. The Saints repeated as champions. (Rick Giles/Canterbury School)

The prep season is over, and it’s time to unveil the final power rankings for the 2026 season.

All NEPSAC coaches are invited to participate in our weekly Coaches Poll, and more than 20 responded this week. It appears the coaches factored postseason performance heavily in their rankings.

The top three seeds are all champions of their respective league tournaments. Last week’s top three seeds all suffered considerable drops due to postseason tournament losses.

Here’s a look at the final Prep Power Rankings for 2026.

NEPSAC TOURNAMENT HUBS

ISL: Milton Academy beats Tabor in championship
CNEPSBL: Worcester Academy wins second title in four years
WNEPBL: Canterbury repeats with win at Cheshire
Founders League: Avon Old Farms pulls off two upsets

1. Canterbury School

Record: 19-2, WNEPBL champion
Last week: 5th

Canterbury (19-2) earns the No. 1 spot in New England for the first time in program history. In the last five seasons, Todd Mathewson has coached Canterbury to more wins (84) than any other New England prep coach. This year’s team set the program record for wins while going 4-0 against WNEPBL powerhouses Cheshire and Salisbury. The victory in the WNEPBL Tournament championship game snapped Cheshire’s 22-game home winning streak.

As a team, Canterbury batted .350 with an on-base percentage of .470 and an OPS of 1.081. The Saints had 50 doubles, 12 triples, and 25 home runs in 21 games. They also tallied more walks than strikeouts and stole 87 bases.

Rutgers commit Logan Martel ’26 powered the offense, hitting .415 with a 1.508 OPS and 11 home runs. Merrimack commit Carter Heagle ’26 was a two-way monster, posting a 1.232 OPS with six home runs. He also put up solid numbers on the mound (3-1 record, 2.71 ERA, 27 strikeouts).

2. Worcester Academy

Record: 15-4, CNEPSBL champion
Last week: 6th

Worcester Academy won its second league title in coach Mike Abraham‘s four seasons. Worcester’s win over Deerfield in the CNEPSBL Tournament semifinal proved to be the highlight of the season, as the Hilltoppers overcame a 6-0 deficit. Freshman Mark Kenton ’29 finished off a five-run rally in the seventh innings with a walk-off single. Babson commit Frank Tillinghast ’26 was named tournament MVP.

3. Avon Old Farms

Record: 12-10, Founders League champion
Last week: Unranked

Rob Dowling led Avon Old Farms to a 19th Founders League championship as coach. The Winged Beavers didn’t have the regular season anyone expected, finishing 10-10 with a roster loaded with big-time D1 commits. The pitching staff alone entered the season with eight college commits, six of whom will play at the D1 level. However, pitching proved to be biggest area for improvement as the Winged Beavers struggled to an 8-10 start. The team ERA was 4.26 — up from 2.86 last spring.

Avon Old Farms’ cast of pitchers finally performed to their talent level in the closing weeks, as AOF pitchers combined for shutouts in three of the last four games. The Winged Beavers allowed only four runs in 18 innings of Founders League Tournament play. Fordham commit Austin Howard ’26, Georgia commit Patrick Clemmey ’26, and BC commit Matt DeFilippo ’27 pitched three innings each during a 4-0 shutout of No. 1 seed Choate in the semifinal. Bryant commit Tim Sample ’26, Clemmey and DeFilippo combined to allow just one run over the final eight innings of a 7-4 win over Loomis Chaffee in the championship game.

4t. Belmont Hill

Record: 18-4, lost in ISL quarterfinal
Last week: 1st

The first-round exit in the ISL Tournament caused Belmont Hill to drop from the top spot, but the Sextants deserve credit for closing out the season with wins against Nobles and BB&N. Cam Kelley ’26 finished off his prep career with a two-run, game-winning hit against Nobles. He hit .440 in ISL play on the season. Rylan Flynn ’27 hit .394 with five doubles, 11 RBI, and 12 runs scored. Northeastern commit Jack Tarbox ’27 dominuated on the mound all season, posting a 4-0 record and 0.51 ERA with 35 strikeouts.

4t. Choate Rosemary Hall

Record: 16-3, lost in Founders League semifinal
Last week: 2nd

Choate’s dream season came to an end in the Founders League semifinal with a 4-0 loss to Avon Old Farms. Still, the season will be remembered as an overwhelming success, as the Wild Boars climbed to No. 1 in New England after an 11-0 start. Northeastern commit Gianni Vora ’26 (.419 BA, 1.209 OPS) and UConn commit Shaun Flannery ’26 (.400 BA, 1.137 OPS) led the way offensively, while Notre Dame commit Nate Kesselmark ’27 dominated on the mound with a 4-0 record, 1.36 ERA and 38 strikeouts.

6. Cheshire Academy

Record: 14-2, lost in WNEPBL Tournament final
Last week: 3rd

In retrospect, the stakes for the WNEPBL Tournament championship between Canterbury and Cheshire was likely the No. 1 ranking in New England. Although Cheshire lost, 7-5, it was still an impressive season for a team that underwent a coaching change in April. Cheshire advanced to the WNEPBL final with a 7-5 victory over Salisbury in the semifinal. Saint Peter’s commit Connor Crosbie ’26 was 2 for 3 with two RBI and two runs scored. Jason Dewitt ’28 was 2 for 3 with three RBI. Justin Fanning ’27 pitched three innings without allowing an earned run. He struck out four.

7. Loomis Chaffee

Record: 16-4, lost in Founders League championship
Last week: 4th

Loomis seemed primed to land in the top three in the Power Rankings before falling to Avon Old Farms, 7-4, in the Founders League championship game. The Pelicans earned the right to play in the championship with a 7-2 victory over Taft in the semifinal. In the Founders League Tournament games, Rutgers commit Jacob Budarz ’27 was 3 for 9 with a home run. Cooper Lamb ’27 was 2 for 5 with a homer, four walks, two RBI, and two runs scored. Trinity commit Brady Winn ’26 earned the win against Taft, pitching 5 ⅓ innings without allowing an earned run. He recorded four strikeouts.

8. Milton Academy

Record: 10-7, ISL champion
Last week: Unranked

Milton Academy coach Brendan Morrissey led the sixth-seeded Mustangs to the ISL Tournament championship. Making the run all the more impressive was the manner in which Milton ran the table, outscoring its semifinal and championship game opponents by a combined score of 16-0. Notre Dame commit Jameson Gray ’27 and Asher Seelig ’26 combined for a no-hitter against Tabor in the championship, with Gray logging the bulk of the work with six scoreless innings.

Will Pearce ’28 was on base all tournament long, going 6 for 10 with two home runs, six RBI, and five runs scored. He homered in the semifinal win over Thayer and the championship game victory over Tabor. Babson commit Brandon West ’26 was productive in all three tournament games, going 5 for 10 with a home run, seven RBI, and five runs scored. He played every inning at shortstop and hit out of the No. 3 spot in the order.

9. Austin Prep

Record: 16-3, Independent
Last week: 7th

The Cougars always seems to get dinged in the rankings at the end of the season because they don’t play in a postseason tournament. However, one could make the case that the Cougars deserve to be ranked as high as No. 2 due to the 16-3 record and depth of talent on the roster. Austin Prep closed out its season with a 5-0 victory over No. 10 Winchendon. Merrimack commit Brady Andrews ’26 and Dylan Cunningham ’28 combined for the shutout. Virginia commit Bradley McCafferty ’26 had a two-run homer in his final prep at-bat. Austin Prep pitchers combined for eight shutouts and a 0.80 team ERA. The Cougars have not lost a game by more than one run in the last three seasons.

10. Winchendon School

Record: 19-6, NEPSAC Small Schools champion
Last week: 10th

Bucknell commit Ryan Ruggiero ’26 boosted his average to .500 in the NEPSAC Small Schools Tournament championship game against St. Paul’s, a 14-10 Winchendon victory. Ruggiero finished the season with 67 total bases — 25 more than Winchendon’s second-place finisher. He also had 18 stolen bases, 29 walks, and only 10 strikeouts. Sladen Johnson ’27 finished with a 7-1 record and 1.49 ERA on the mound. American International College commit Grayson Loos ’26 had the go-ahead home run in the championship game against St. Paul’s School.