Updated Team Rankings for Tuesday, Sept. 11
Anyway, like I was sayin’, eating crow is absolutely wonderful. You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, saute it. There’s uh, crow-kabobs, crow creole, crow gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried. There’s pineapple crow, lemon crow, coconut crow, pepper crow, crow soup, crow stew, crow salad, crow and potatoes, crow burger, crow sandwich. That – that’s about it.
With apologies for stealing that paragraph from Forrest Gump’s friend ‘Bubba’ Blue, no matter how you prepare crow, one thing is for certain, I’m eating it this week.
After all, last week I was the one saying that it was too soon to be dropping Skutt Catholic from the top spot in Class B and replacing the Skyhawks with Elkhorn South. I then went out last week and watched as the Storm swept Class A #4 Millard West to move to 7-1 while Skutt Catholic beat Millard West 2-1 in the Millard North Invite third-place match after losing to St. James Academy – the #21 team in the country.
Skutt still probably doesn’t deserve to lose its top spot at the rankings. The Skyhawks are still 9-3 with all three losses coming to teams from outside the state and all three of those teams are ranked among the top 100 in the nation. But, at this point, it’s really a matter of Elkhorn South earning the top spot rather than Skutt Catholic losing it. The Storm have dropped just one set all year, that coming against Class A Gretna.
Perhaps making this debate between Elkhorn South and Skutt Catholic even more intriguing is the fact that the teams don’t play during the regular season. They could face each other in the district tournament on Oct. 30. So, until then, we’re left to simply debate which of the two Class B powerhouses is better.
For now, we’re moving Elkhorn South up to the top spot. It won’t be easy for Elkhorn South to stay there, as the Storm has a brutal schedule, starting with a match tonight against Class A #5 Papillion-LaVista. Elkhorn South must also navigate the Lincoln Pius X, Lincoln Public Schools and Lincoln Northeast tournaments yet this month while also hosting 3-of-5 matches with Millard South and Omaha Marian.
It’s hardly a walk in the park the rest of this month for Skutt as well. The Skyhawks host St. Thomas Aquinas of Kansas tonight and end the month at the Asics Challenge in Chicago.
I get the feeling the Elkhorn South-Skutt Catholic debate will rage on for quite a while.
Not a ton of crazy movement in the rankings this week. Gretna moves up to #9 in Class A while Waverly comes into the Class B rankings at #8. Battle Creek is into the rankings in Class C-2 at #8 while Hampton and Crawford make entrances in Class D-2 at #9 and #10, respectively. Class D-2 BDS suffered its first loss of the season but holds onto the top spot as the loss was to Class C-2 #2 Superior.
Here are the updated rankings in each class:
Rank, Team, Record, Last Week’s Ranking
Class A
1.) Millard North (13-0) 1
2.) Lincoln Pius X (4-1) 2
3.) Papillion-LaVista South (4-3) 3
4.) Millard West (6-5) 4
5.) Papillion-LaVista (5-2) 5
6.) Gretna (9-2) 9
7.) Millard South (6-7) 6
8.) Omaha Marian (4-2) 7
9.) Lincoln Southwest (2-2) 8
10.) Lincoln Southeast (6-3) 10
Class B
1.) Elkhorn South (7-0) 2
2.) Skutt Catholic (9-3) 1
3.) Omaha Duchesne (8-2) 3
4.) Hastings (8-1) 4
5.) Alliance (4-0) 8
6.) Elkhorn (3-2) 9
7.) Sidney (6-0) 10
8.) Waverly (7-4) NR
9.) Bennington (8-4) 5
10.) Norris (9-3) 6
Class C-1
1.) Wahoo (7-0) 1
2.) St. Paul (7-0) 2
3.) Lincoln Lutheran (10-0) 3
4.) Bishop Neumann (9-0) 4
5.) Grand Island Central Catholic (6-2) 6
6.) Kearney Catholic (4-1) 5
7.) Omaha Concordia (5-6) 7
8.) Minden (5-1) 8
9.) Syracuse (5-0) 9
10.) Broken Bow (7-1) 10
Class C-2
1.) Stanton (8-1) 1
2.) Superior (7-1) 2
3.) Blue Hill (9-1) 3
4.) Hartington Cedar Catholic (10-2) 4
5.) Thayer Central (3-0) 5
6.) Arcadia-Loup City (6-2) 6
7.) Freeman (9-2) 8
8.) Battle Creek (6-2) NR
9.) Doniphan-Trumbull (5-4) 9
10.) Clarkson-Leigh (3-1) 10
Class D-1
1.) Archbishop Bergan (11-0) 1
2.) Johnson-Brock (10-1) 2
3.) Humphrey-Lindsay Holy Family (6-0) 3
4.) Nebraska Christian (4-0) 4
5.) Central Valley (3-0) 6
6.) Hartington-Newcastle (5-1) 7
7.) Giltner (6-0) 8
8.) Diller-Odell (5-2) 9
9.) Lutheran High Northeast (8-3) 5
10.) Cambridge (7-1) 10
Class D-2
1.) BDS (7-1) 1
2.) Ewing (5-0) 2
3.) CWC (5-0) 3
4.) Mullen (6-1) 6
5.) Exeter-Milligan (7-4) 4
6.) Cody-Kilgore (6-0) 8
7.) Falls City Sacred Heart (7-4) 5
8.) Red Cloud (6-2) 9
9.) Hampton (6-3) NR
10.) Crawford (7-1) NR