Football: Behind the new rankings
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Here’s a sneak peek at the new rankings that will be published in Monday’s paper, with comments on team movement after the jump:
1. Corona Centennial (7-0)
2. Long Beach Poly (7-0)
3. St. Bonaventure (6-1)
4. Crespi (6-1)
5. Sherman Oaks Notre Dame (7-0)
6. Tesoro (7-0)
7. Orange Lutheran (6-1)
8. Oaks Christian (7-0)
9. Los Osos (6-1)
10. Bishop Amat (6-1)
11. Mater Dei (5-2)
12. Los Alamitos (7-0)
13. Redlands East Valley (7-0)
14. St. John Bosco (6-1)
15. Mission Viejo (6-1)
16. Chaparral (6-1)
17. Edison (5-2)
18. Servite (4-3)
19. Vista Murrieta (6-1)
20. Upland (6-1)
21. Rancho Verde (7-0)
22. Serra (7-0)
23. Valencia (6-1)
24. Moorpark (6-1)
25. Narbonne (6-1)
Moving Out: Loyola. Didn’t see this one coming, but the Cubs lost to Alemany, 21-16, Saturday at Glendale College. Maybe that’s what you get for not playing home games on Fridays. Thousand Oaks also fell out after Moorpark pulled out a 20-17 victory.
Moving In: Moorpark (see above) and Narbonne, which prevailed, 27-24, in triple overtime over previously unbeaten San Pedro. The Gauchos have plenty of talented skill-position players and colleague Eric Sondheimer said Los Alamitos Coach John Barnes raved about Narbonne after pulling out a close victory a few weeks ago. Sounds like two pretty good reasons to give the Gauchos the final top-25 nod, no?
Moving Up: Consider this the Top 25, shake-up edition. Tesoro moved all the way up from No. 15 to No. 6 after we realized we didn’t give them enough of a bump last week for beating Mission Viejo. Orange Lutheran also seems to really be clicking after beating a strong St. John Bosco team, so we moved the Lancers from No. 18 to No. 7. Bad things happen to good teams, and Lutheran’s turnover-plagued loss to Bishop Amat last month surely qualifies. It seems like the Lancers have fully recovered from that debacle. Los Osos and Bishop Amat each moved up one spot after victories, though the Grizzlies certainly could make an argument for getting a better deal after knocking off Upland. I’m just not sure Los Osos is ready to take a big leap at this point. Mater Dei beat up on JSerra, which isn’s a big deal, but it seems as if the Monarchs are starting to put it together. So we moved them up from No. 14 to No. 11. If its victory over Edison is any indication, Los Alamitos has been underrated all season. That’s why we put the undefeated Griffins at No. 12, up from No. 19. Mission Viejo moves up one spot, to No. 15, after an easy-as-expected victory over Aliso Niguel. Chaparral gets a six-spot bump after knocking off previously unbeaten Vista Murrieta, fulfilling Coach Tom Leach’s pregame vow that Chaparral was ‘the better team.’ Serra and Valencia also got nudged up one and two spots, respectively, following victories.
Moving Down: Redlands East Valley. Hate to admit it, but we probably had the Wildcats ranked too high all season, something that hit home when they struggled to beat Carter. This was the first I had ever heard of Carter, so that didn’t help the East Valley cause. St. John Bosco lost to a quality Lutheran team, so we only penalized the Braves one spot. A case could be made that we were a little too hard on Edison, dropping the Chargers all the way from No. 6 to No. 17 in the wake of their loss to Los Alamitos, but this was Edison’s second loss, so that figured into the steep fall. Servite took a one-spot hit after beating Santa Margarita, but that was more of a reflection of so many teams moving around than anything the Friars did wrong. Vista Murrieta had a tough week, with a junior varsity player dying and its starting quarterback sidelined because of a broken hand. Then it lost a squeaker against Chaparral on a missed extra point. Upland fell eight spots, to No. 20, in the wake of its loss to Los Osos. Rancho Verde, like Servite, moved down one spot in the wake of a victory. Rancho’s problem the rest of the way is that it won’t play ANYBODY of note in its league.
On the Doorstep (in no particular order): Alemany (6-1), San Clemente (6-1), Oxnard (7-0), Thousand Oaks (6-1), Saugus (4-3), Westlake (5-2), Newport Harbor (4-3), Miller (7-0), Compton (6-0), Esperanza (6-1).
--Ben Bolch