The fourth state rankings for the 2017 the season have been released by the NYSSWA. Below are the WNY teams that made the cut:
Class AA
No teams ranked
Class A
Park #1
Williamsville South #8
Timon #14
St. Francis #16
Class B
Health Sciences #6
St. Mary's #16
Dunkirk #19
Lackawanna #20
Class C
East #11
Chautauqua Lake #12
Class D
Franklinville #9
Ellicottville #11
Sherman #13
** According to the rankings...
- The mighty have fallen. The back-to-back CHSAA state champions are no longer considered a top 25 team in NYS Class A, after occupying the top spot there this season. The loss to Horseheads, coming off of two losses, was a crippler in the state's eyes.
- Meanwhile, there's a new #1 in NYS Class A - the Park Pioneers. If they win both of their games next week, they should still be #1 heading into their game at Canisius, which would only fuel the fire on Delaware Avenue. Man, the MMA is going to be fun this season.
- It seems there's no guarantee that Park winning both games this week keeps them at #1 in NYS Class A. There are a pair of instances this week where teams from Section VI were literally leapfrogged by other teams from last week's rankings, despite not losing a game. Williamsville South remained #8 as they were ranked last week in Class A, but saw Irondequoit of Section V move ahead of them in the state rankings. So according to the rankings, the Billies no longer face Elmont and the bearded coach in the state semifinal. They now lose the regional to Irondequoit.
- Meanwhile, Health Sciences scores a big win over Early College at the I-90 Showcase, a team that came in ranked in NYS B, but falls a spot from #5 to #6 in NYS Class B. Westhill jumped ahead of the Falcons in the state poll, which bumped them back. It appears Westhill won the Syracuse CBA Tournament over break, which I'm assuming had to be a major accomplishment to see them shimmy up the rankings like that.
- The Lancers of St. Mary's made a big splash into the NYS Class B rankings, going from unranked to #16, for beating Williamsville North & Williamsville East at the Five Guys Tournament.
- Dunkirk dipped four spots in NYS Class B for losing to Rochester SOTA. However, East Aurora was dropped altogether, going from #6 in NYS Class B to out of the top 25, following its loss to unranked Newark. Not sure why Newark still isn't ranked, especially after traveling to Buffalo and knocking off the #6 team in the state. They passed the eye test from me with flying colors, and I still believe East Aurora is a top 25 Class B team in the state.
- Chautauqua Lake's loss to Franklinville was slightly more punishable than East's loss to Clyde Savannah. The Thunderbirds fall from #2 to #12 in NYS Class C, while East went from #4 to #11, and now sits one slot ahead of Chautauqua Lake.
- Franklinville was rewarded for its win and is now state ranked, something I've suggested for a couple weeks. The Panthers IAABO Tournament championship landed them at #9 in NYS Class D. However, still not as high as Ellicottville was ranked in Class D last week.
- Ellicottville's loss to Randolph caused them to fall from #5 in NYS Class D to #11. The Eagles defeating Sherman the day before dropped them to #13 in the state from #7.
Click HERE for the complete NYSSWA State Rankings.
- centercourt
The worst canisius team in the last six years. They will lose to Timon and Park this year.
Posted by: balll1234 | Tuesday, January 03, 2017 at 12:46 PM