The fifth state rankings for the 2020 the season have been released by the NYSSWA. Below are the WNY teams that made the cut:
Class AA
Niagara Falls #30
Class A
Canisius #2
Park #3
Health Sciences #4
St. Joe's #9
Lew-Port #30
Class B
Allegany-Limestone #20
Timon #29
Fredonia #30
Class C
Tapestry #2
Middle College #4
Randolph #6
Westfield #14
Class D
Panama #1
According to the rankings...
- Section VI owns the coveted #30 ranking. Niagara Falls (Class AA), Lew-Port (Class A), and Fredonia (Class B) all have #30 on lock down. This would not be possible if we were still living in the stone ages of December 17, 2019 - back when the state rankings began this year and only 25 teams were ranked. I forgot to check which college football & basketball teams were ranked #30 in the AP & Coaches Polls, but I'll get on that.
- We finally have a Class AA winner from Section VI. It was getting a little touch-and-go there for a while not knowing whether we'd even be allowed to send a team to the Far West Regional in Class AA. But thanks to Falls' recent play, along with a Top 30 that's five teams more inclusive than a Top 25, We get a Falls vs UPrep rematch in March (One of Falls' two losses on the season was to UPrep at the Bishop Kearney Showcase in December).
- WNY now has four teams in the Top 10 of NYS Class A, including 2, 3, & 4.
- Canisius is now better than Park. I'm not sure if they think Cansius would have defeated Canadian power Crestwood or Brooklyn Collegiate (NYS Class AA #4), who Park lost to over the weekend, but those were the results that tipped the scales in favor of the Crusaders.
- Park sits at #3 in NYS Class A with four losses, so clearly the state rankings have put those losses into some sort of context, which I can appreciate. But Albany Academy is ranked #6 with three losses, which all came in Florida. They've climbed back up to #6 after dropping from #1 to #10. It's one of those discrepancies that stands out to me a little. Maybe those Florida teams weren't all that and the state rankings crew knew that...although I'm listing that possibility as doubtful.
- Allegany-Limestone moves up three spots in NYS Class B to #20, one spot ahead of where Olean was ranked last week, after defeating the Huskies head-to-head on Friday. The Gators are the current kings of Cattaraugus County.
- Randolph moved up one spot in NYS Class C to #6 after knocking off Cardinal O'Hara. That gives Section VI three of the top six teams in NYS Class C.
- Westfield makes it four Section VI teams in the top 14 of NYS Class C, moving up three spots after defeating NYS Class D #1 Panama on Friday.
- Park losing to Brooklyn Collegiate (#4 in NYS Class AA) was a bigger deal than Panama losing to Westfield. Despite the first loss of the 2020 season, Panama remains ranked #1 in NYS, ahead of four undefeated teams in the same classification and ahead of Section V's highest ranked squad from Prattsburgh. Most likely, the conversation went like this:
Committee: "What should we do with Panama after losing at home to Westfield?"
Tracy Presler from Prattsburgh storms into the room: "Stop the crazy talk!! Section VI has the D's!!"
Committee: "Nuf said"
Click HERE for complete NYSSWA State Rankings
-centercourt
Ha ha... That was a good one. At least Panama is a legit D school.
Posted by: Tracy Presler | Friday, January 17, 2020 at 03:00 PM