The rankings can be a tricky thing.
They can be real tricky when you have rankings from, comparatively speaking, a small area.
Add to it the teams from that area play a lot of their games against teams that are not.
Then throw in the wrinkle, No. 1 goes down and goes down hard.
After that, as usual, the rankings were talked about.
One person wished us luck sorting out this mess.
Others were very strong on how they felt.
Frankly as this post was being typed, where things were going to shake out wasn’t a sure thing, .
As the thought process went along there was a case to drop Analy to No. 4.   That 55-14 score and how it got to 55-14, made it hard to keep them No. 1.
Despite the loss, not one person, except for the one that wished us luck who didn’t state his opinion, thought Analy should be removed from No. 1.
The power rankings of the teams we cover still have Analy No. 1.
With so many games being between local and out of the area team,  it is hard to do the Team A beat Team B by this much while Team C only beat them  by this much.
Two games did stick out in trying that.   Both included McClymonds, who was the team that caused all this complication with the big win over Analy.   Two weeks ago they defeated Salesian 32-22.   It wasn’t as close as the score would indicate, but it wasn’t nearly as one sided as last Friday’s win over Analy.
That game combined that Salesian defeating Middletown 33-7 to open the season (that score was as one sided as it might appear).    Middletown is in these local rankings and went into last week barely hanging on to No. 10.
About that time, it was decided that this whole thing is being over-thought, so go for it.
So here we go.
No. 1 Analy (3-1) (Last Week No. 1)…How the heck can you ranked a team No. 1 that lost a game 55-14?  No.1 team has gotten mulligans before in the YSN65.com rankings, and this is a big one.   As I said above there wasn’t one person who didn’t think Analy shouldn’t be ranked No. 1.  The Tigers are still 3-0 against local teams and the games weren’t close.   Did Analy have a bad game Friday night or is McClymonds that good?  The answer to that is yes.  If they played ten times, McClymonds would probably win most of them, just not by that big of a score.
No. 2 Windsor (4-0) (No. 2)…This is not a lock.  Windsor’s schedule looked a lot more intimidating at the beginning of the season than it does now.  The best example of that is Miramonte.  They won the NCS Division 2 championship last season beating powers Clayton Valley and Casa Grande along the way.  This season they are 1-4.  Windsor hasn’t met a team over .500, but most of its wins haven’t been close.
No. 3 Rancho Cotate (2-2) (No. 3)…After losing two close games to teams with a combined record of 9-1 they have dominated.  The win over American Canyon is really impressive.   The next two weeks they have home games against Montgomery and Cardinal Newman.
No. 4 Cardinal Newman (2-2) (No.4)…There is no doubting the schedule here.  Back to back one sided losses hurts the cause.   They are probably undervalued.
No.5  Montgomery (2-2) (No. 6)…Thrilling win over Maria Carrillo sets them up with a trip to Rancho Cotate.
No. 6 Maria Carrillo (2-2) (No. 5)…Based on the game, you can’t argue with the rankings that have Montgomery and Maria Carrillo close to each other.  It was a thrilling game that didn’t end well for the Pumas.  Next up is Cardinal Newman.
No. 7 St. Helena (4-0) (No. 7)…They didn’t have much of a problem in beating undefeated Kelseyville.  The Saints are now the highest ranked local team in the State Playoff rankings at No. 6 in Division 4.
No. 8 Middletown (3-1) (No. 10)…Since losing the opener, they have won three straight outscoring opponents 92-13.
No. 9 Cloverdale (3-1) (NR)…They had a week off after a surprising 40-21 loss to Berean Christian.  The week off helped as they beat undefeated Clear Lake 26-0.  In their three wins they have given up seven points.
No. 10 Fort Bragg (3-1) (No. 9)…A magic three touchdown rally to edge Lower Lake 29-28.  They have an offense averaging nearly 40 points a game.
Honorable mention:  El Molino, Sonoma Valley, Tomales
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Isazah King, Lower Lake…It isn’t too often that a player on a losing team makes player of the week, but this is an exception.  The quarterback passed for 67 (that isn’t why), rushed for 247 yards and two touchdowns (that’s one reason why).    On defense he also had a sack along with two hurries AND intercepted a pass and returned in 98 yards for a touchdown.   Despite all of that, Fort Bragg rallied from a 28-7 halftime deficit and edged Lower Lake 29-28.
My email address is jacpasquini@comcast.net