Large Schools
1. Timon (AA) - Over one third of the way through their schedule, and still undefeated, after taking care of St. Joe's at home & earning a tough win at Syracuse Academy of Science on Saturday afternoon. The Tigers head to Park on Tuesday, before hosting the other green team in the MMA, who gave them a pair of competitive games last season.
2. Niagara Falls (AAA) - Put on a nice showing at the Burger King Classic in Erie over the weekend, battling with the defending state champs from PA, Lincoln, Park in a loss, and then bouncing back the following night to knock off tournament host Cathedral Prep. CP is always a strong program and a difficult venue to play at, so certainly a quality win there for the Wolverines. They also traveled to McQuaid during the week and earned a double overtime victory there. The road grind continues for the for independent Falls with a trip to Cicero-North Syracuse this week.
3. Canisius (AA) - Speaking of defeating McQuaid, the Crusaders dialed up a full court trap that McQuaid was unable to break during the fourth quarter of a comeback victory on Saturday afternoon. At one point in the game, a Canisius run reached 38-5. They also took care of Nichols during the week to stay unbeaten locally, and look to continue that trend with road trips to St. Mary’s & St. Francis this week.
4. Frontier (AA1) - The Falcons continued their winning way with a road trip at Clarence, using stifling defense to take a 29-12 lead early. After a nonleague game against Ken West on Tuesday, a big matchup goes down Thursday evening when defending league champion Jamestown arrives.
5. Orchard Park (AA1) - The Quakers also stayed undefeated, after rolling past CSAT last week. League action gets underway for OP this week, with a pair of home games against Williamsville North and Lancaster.
6. Jamestown (AA1) - The Red Raiders have begun the season 2-0 in league play, after consecutive double figure victories over Lancaster and Clarence. Time to eat your Wheaties JHS, you’re gonna need to be strong for the next two coming up… roadies at Frontier on Thursday and that green team from South Buffalo occupying the top spot in these rankings, on Saturday.
7. Health Sciences (AA2) - Won big against Hutch Tech in their only action last week. Two more Yale Cup games await the Falcons this week, road games at East and I-Prep.
8. St. Joe's (AA) - The Marauders lost their only game played last week at Timon and hope to string some wins together, starting this week against St. Francis and Cardin O’Hara.
9. Nichols (AA) - After seeing the second half getaway at Canisius, the Vikings need a bounce back win at O’Hara this week to try and gain some mojo that will be needed at Timon on Thursday night.
10. Lancaster (AAA) - Finished strong against Williamsville North on Saturday afternoon to earn a bounce back win, after falling at home to Jamestown earlier in the week (their first loss of the year). At weeks end, they head to undefeated Orchard Park and then play a non-league game against Westfield at SUNY Fredonia on Sunday.
Small Schools
1. Randolph (C) - After a 20-point victory at Cassadaga Valley, the Cardinals have some relevant games ahead this week. They host Falconer on Tuesday and play at Frewsburg on Thursday. Then, on Saturday afternoon, it's a battle of state ranked teams from NYS Class C when Randolph goes to York.
2. Salamanca (B2) - Began the New Year with a 15-point win against Olean for a 13th consecutive league win and a third straight over the Huskies. They could make it 15 straight if they can get past the Gators on Tuesday and win at Dunkirk later in the week.
3. Newfane (B1) - And even longer league win streak belongs to the Panthers, who made it 21 wins in-a-row in the N-O this past week. Next up Medina and Roy-Hart.
4. Fredonia (B1) - Picked up a hard fought win over Allegany-Limestone last week. Monday is rivalry night when Dunkirk visits and then the team travels to Southwestern on Thursday,
5. Westfield (C) - Idle last week, the Wolverines return to action with three games coming up against Brocton, Chautauqua Lake, and Class AAA Lancaster on Sunday evening.
6. Middle College (B1) - My praise for the Kats was backed up with a 34-point victory over Bennett last week. Three challenges await this week with South Park visiting Monday, a trip to McKinley on Wednesday and a return trip to McKinley Saturday afternoon where they will face Tapestry.
7. Burgard (B1) - The Bulldogs have yet to crack the state rankings, but they’ve cracked all six opponents that have tried them so far this year, and only one wasn’t by double figures. Four more games coming up this week.
8. Akron (B1) - Improved to 8–1 on the season with wins against Wilson and Medina. They start the week against Roy-Hart, and finish the week against the team I just watched and think will certainly give them a game when Cleveland Hill arrives Friday night.
9. Panama (C) - I never should’ve moved the Panthers out of my rankings in the first place, considering their only loss came at the hands of Westfield. They knocked off Maple Grove by 11 points last week and have two more league games coming up against Sherman and Clymer this week.
10. Allegany-Limestone (B2) - After Eden and Falconer both both took losses last week, I took a hard look at all of the small schools I had to work with for this last spot. A case could be made for Eden, considering they just dropped their first game to Tapestry, a team they beat handily in a prior meeting.
However, rather than only study results, I am relying on the eye test for this spot. My eyes tell me that Cleveland Hill will beat Eden on Monday night. I’m not ready to put those Golden Eagles here just yet, as they lost four straight games prior to Friday’s win over East Aurora, and one of those losses was to Springville. And although the team was not a full strength during that four game skid, they lack the résumé of wins.
So the reason I opted for Allegany-Limestone in this last spot is three fold. They defeated the same East Aurora team Clev Hill just beat by more points and traveled to Buffalo to do so. They also just played a five-point game at Fredonia, currently ranked #4. Losses this season have come at the hands of large schools Lockport, Clarence, and Pioneer, along with unbeaten Randolph and Otto-Eldred, who also beat Salamanca.
Lots of thought went into this, and that doesn’t mean I’m correct, but if I had to put the three teams I’ve been comparing here in a round robin tournament today, I’ll take the Gators to come out on top. We will revisit this next week.
-centercourt
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