Sunday, December 07, 2008

Week 17 National Prep Football Poll released

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Six of last week's Top 25 teams -- including four Top 10 squads -- were upset in playoff action over the weekend, but top-ranked St. Thomas Aquinas (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) remained unscathed.

Aquinas is ranked No. 1 in the National Prep Poll for the 11th consecutive week.

After defeating Ohio Division I runner-up Cincinnati Elder, 35-24, in their season opener, the Raiders have beaten 12 consecutive South Florida foes by 28 points or more.

With a victory this Friday against Largo, Aquinas would qualify for its 12th state championship game in 18 seasons and a possible showdown with No. 17 Lakeland.

Moving up to No. 2 in the Week 17 poll is Long Beach (Calif.) Poly. With a win Saturday against No. 18 Tesoro (Rancho Santa Margarita) in the CIF-SS Pac-5 championship game, the Jackrabbits would likely earn Southern California's bid to the Open Division state championship game to be played on Dec. 20.

Should Poly lose to Tesoro and No. 3 Corona Centennial repeat as Inland Division champion, the Huskies could slip into the Open Division title game.

With No. 10 Allen's upset of then-No. 2 Euless Trinity, undefeated and fourth-ranked Hightower (Missouri City) looks like the team to beat in the tough Texas 5A/I playoff bracket. Two of the Hurricanes' four playoff wins have come against teams that entered the game with unbeaten records.

Rounding out the Top 5 is Camden County (Kingsland), the favorite on paper to win Georgia's 5A state championship this weekend. The Wildcats were 20-point winners at then-regionally ranked Newnan in the state semifinals last Friday.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why has Trinity dropped so far from your polls after losing to an amazing Allen team, when there is still a team up there that has an 11-1 record, #23 Cleveland Ohio. whose only loss this season was to another top ranked team. You left Cleveland up there when their season is over?? I'm sorry i don't really understand this when one of the best teams in the nation loses to another great team and they move down to #5 i think in their region. This poll this year has been messed up a bit.
Allen should be higher up btw, there are 2 teams ahead of them that have one loss each, but those teams didn't lose to the #1 team in the nation at the time, Byrnes lost to an unranked team, but after avenging that lone loss they move up past Allen, who avenged their lone loss to a much higher ranked team. this poll is dumb now, im sorry.

Jamie DeMoney said...

One thing to keep in mind when comparing Trinity and Glenville is this: Glenville played well and lost to St. Ignatius by 1 point in their rematch playoff loss. On the other hand, Trinity played arguably its worst game of the season and lost by 13 points to Allen, who was playing the game without arguably its best and most important player: JR QB Matt Brown. Trinity just did not look the part of a Top 25 team in that game, in our estimation.

With regard to Byrnes versus Allen. They are very close. The Byrnes loss to Dorman was not a bad loss. Dorman was a Top 25 team after beating Byrnes. Byrnes was a Top 5 team to start the season and played pretty much up to that ranking most of the season, again, in our opinion. That is why they are currently in the Top 10.

I am reserving some more time on my schedule this week to respond to questions about the rankings here. So, fire away.

Anonymous said...

once again i do not understand your rankings...what is going to happen if tesoro beats long beach poly??? they played a much much much tougher schedule than corona centennial and went undefeated in winning the PAC5...chances are they would go to the cal open division title game (poly goes if they win) would you rank tesoro above corona centennial??? also why has st. bonaventure dropped so much from your national and REGIONAL rankings??? they have done nothing wrong to warrant that...they lost to #2 long beach poly 12-7 in the final seconds of the game...after that they dropped from your national rankings which didnt make sense in the first place...now they handle their business and dominate teams, especially their playoff teams who are not that bad to begin with, and will probabaly end up playing in the cal d3 bowl game and continue to drop from your west coast regional rankings (c'mon you leapfrogged orange lutheran over sb last week who got HAMMERED by tesoro) can you justify your rankings???

Anonymous said...

Why don't you feel that De La Salle is not only not in the top 25 but not even in the to 25 in the country?

Jamie DeMoney said...

To Anonymous #2 (this would be a lot easier if you left a name for me to respond to):

I think what you don't understand about our rankings is two things: 1) In order for us to reward one team and move them up for playing well and beating a good team, that means by mere physics alone that another team must drop. 2) Unlike some other polls, we do not subscribe to the theory that each team must do no worse than hold its position so long as it does not lose.

With that said, let me address your specific questions.

If Tesoro beats Poly, we'll see what happens. A lot is going to depend upon who the CIF selects to play in that open division championship game. Because winning the CA overall state championship will hold a great deal of significance in our rankings, and rightly so. So, let's wait and see on Tesoro vs. Centennial. Would Tesoro jump Centennial just by making that game? Not necessarily. However, if Tesoro beats Poly and then wins the open division championship and does so in a more impressive fashion than Centennial might win in the Division I championship (if selected) ... then yes, Tesoro could very well finish No. 2 in the nation. And rightly so, considering who they would have beaten in order to get there.

For our poll, nothing is more important than who you beat, when you beat them, and how you looked beating them. (We have watched film on nearly every team in our poll.)

Specific to St. Bonaventure. Yes, the Seraphs played LBP down to the nub (5 points), but lost. However, it was not LBP's only close win. Remember that Bishop Amat (which lost 4 games this year) played Poly even closer than Bonny did. I don't think you are lobbying for Amat to be ranked based on that alone, are you?

Specific to Orange Lutheran, remember who the Lancers lost to in Week 2? That's right. Bishop Amat. But the primary reason that OLu jumped ahead of Bonnie in last week's rankings was OLu's win over previously unbeaten and nationally ranked Notre Dame. The fact that we had OLu in our preseason Top 25 and they appeared to be playing back up that ranking (in our eyes) did not hurt, either.

The biggest issue for St. Bonaventure going forward with regard to their ranking is simply relative strength of schedule. It is not as strong as the Pac-5 teams.

Hope that is justification enough for you.

Jamie DeMoney said...

To the DLS anonymous guy:

Please describe to me what you have seen from DLS this season -- other than the name on their jerseys -- that would make the Spartans appear to be a national Top 25 team?

This might be the least physical DLS team I have seen, certainly since the '04 team that went 8-3-2.

I do think this DLS team is better than that one. But the Spartans will have to do some real damage in the state championship round (if they make it) to be considered for a spot in the national rankings.

Anonymous said...

( i was the first anonymous guy ) I just dont think its right when Trinity has played some of the best teams in the nation and state of Texas (John Curtis, Cedar Hill, Allen, Colleyville Heritage, Plano, Allen) All of those teams and winning against them all, and losing another to a team they previously beat without their own star runningback. alot of people may have forgotten that Allen was a healthy team but Trinity beat them by ten points without their star senior runningback, AND on Allens home turf. which was rated one of the toughest places to play in Texas. It doesnt seem fair to drop them that low after having an amazing season against some amazing teams in Texas, voted best highschool football state in the United States.

Anonymous said...

thanks for justifying your rankings...so pretty much your saying st bonnies problem is usc's problem (down year 4 the pac 10) S.O.S...i kno bishop amat lost 2 poly by 4 pts but that was one of poly's worst games of the year (mainly in part to their idiot coach) poly played probably their best defensive game of the year against sb as did bonnies (poly won because they played flawless TURNOVER FREE fball and still almost loss) against amat you could tell they were not the REAL lb poly and that close loss in part does not make amat deserving of a ranking, just like you said amat lost 4 games so even if they lost to aquinas by 1 pt (they still lost 4 games)...

bonnies preseason schedule wasnt that bad, of course their league was weak but their playoff schedule hasnt been bad @ all...they beat newbury park who was ranked all year in cif, paso robles who was #2 in their league (sb beat the #1 team also), and then absolutely hammered a good team in saugus...next up a very good team in moorpark whos only loss was by 3 pts to nd/so n if bonnies wins probably cardinal newman in the bowl game...

so im not really buying in2 the S.O.S argument because then corona centennial should not even be considered to be ranked so high...they play nobody(havnt played anybody since i believe week 2 against mater dei who even had a down year) in that case rank oaks christian because their S.O.S. isnt that far away from cc (im just joking dont rank oc haha) as you can tell im not on the cc bandwagon...if they had poly, olu, amat, mater dei, servite, etc...they would have @ least 2 losses...

i also dont think any norcal team deserves a ranking (dls would b pushing it), they dont play anyone...socal is much tougher and i expect a clean sweep 4 socal this year in the bowl games...why has bellevue climbed so high???

noonereal said...

I noticed that you brought Bosco back into the fold after being the only poll to have ignored them since there opening day loss to X. I was wondering what your though process was in taking them back?
Thanks

Jamie DeMoney said...

Noonereal:

How do you figure that we were ignoring Don Bosco Prep when they were ranked #2 or #3 in the Northeast region the entire season? Just because a team is not in the Top 25 does not mean they are being ignored.

DBP sneaked into the Top 25 this week after playing very good football after the St. X loss. I've also seen several of their games on tape, and I think they are definitely one of the better teams I have seen.

DBP's loss to a 4-6 St. Xavier team (granted, one of the best 4-6 teams in prep football history) certainly will keep them from rising much higher in the rankings, though. Especially since their win over DLS does not look as impressive with DLS not being a nationally or regionally ranked team right now.

Anonymous said...

Thank you, I'm so glad to see the 2008 14-0, Camden County Wildcats (coaches & players) of Kingsland,Ga get their well deserve they are one of the best football programs in the country. I think this is the highest i have seen them ranked they were #9 in the country in 2003 when they won the State Championship. this years team never took any team likely they went to Hoover, Al and took care of business and team that was put in front on them they handle it like Gladiators fought to the end. Weather conditions, field conditions, people down talking them about their region being weak. now they have to travel another 600+ miles to the Georgia Dome in Atlanta to play the championship game they would have traveled 1200+ mile in 2 weeks after this game on Saturday. our prayers go out to our team hard work will pay off in the end bring home the hardware. DOME TO DOME!!!! GO WILDCATS!!!!

Anonymous said...

Finally, South Pointe (Rock Hill, SC) is finally ranked in you national top 25. I've been calling for it for a while and it's finally happened because SP has been the most dominant team in South Carolina this year and they can play with Byrnes no doubt. The only shame is that Byrnes and South Pointe don't get the chance to because they are the best teams in the Carolinas and two of the best in the country play each other. What a game that would be.

I would also like to add that if Marcus Lattimore of Byrnes is not a top 25 recruit next year, then something is wrong with the College Football Recruiting system. Lattimore has been dominant the last two games against quality opponents (Dorman and Sumter, SC) during the last two rounds of playoff rushing for 268, and 305 yards (the 305 occurred in the state title winning game). Lattimore is the real deal and a special player and carried Byrnes to the 4A Division I state title. What a running back!!!

Anonymous said...

These rankings have dropped off this year. They are not what they used to be as nothing makes since.

Lakeland Florida is top 10 football team this year, but have had them ranked below 20 all season, and finally have pushed them up.

South Pointe is the best team in South Carolina but you just now thought they should be ranked.

But hey what can you expect from a guy who Gave St.X the title last year before the season started. But when the season was over it should have went to Miami Northwestern.

You have ranked teams losing to ranked teams, and they are falling completely out. Dorman should be ranked, Euless Trinity should be ranked, Louisville Trinity should be ranked, and on.

But anyway. These rankings have not been the same the last two years. Hopefully they make more sense next year, because hope for this year is just about done.

Anonymous said...

CONGRATS TO PRATTVILLE HIGH SCHOOL,FOR WINNING THIER THIRD CONSECUTIVE 6A STATE TITLE!

Anonymous said...

actually Camden was ranked 5th in 2003 when they won state

Search PrepNation.com