November 22, 2009

Dallas Jackson
Rivals High Senior Analyst

Dallas Jackson is the high school sports expert for RivalsHigh.com. Send him a question or comment at DallasJ@Yahoo-Inc.com and follow him at twitter.com/rivalshigh.

The new RivalsHigh Top 100 rankings will be posted on Monday, but here's a sneak peak at some of the things we're looking at across the country:

Close shaves for top teams

With the playoffs in full swing, there are hardly any walk-through games for the remaining teams in action.

Consider this: Twelve teams in the RivalsHigh 100 were involved in games decided by six points or fewer - and three of them lost. Just look at Texas alone.

Previously ranked No. 3 Dallas (Texas) Skyline Raiders picked up a good victory over a once-ranked DeSoto squad, 41-36. Southlake Carroll boosted its stock and will move up from No. 50 with the 35-34 victory over previous No. 27 Allen Eagles. Allen will remain in the national Top 100. The Euless (TX) Trinity Trojans and Longview (TX) High Lobos also managed to fight off close competition by beating Plano (TX) High 41-38 and Waco (TX) Midway 14-13, respectively.

Missouri City (TX) Hightower, however, was not as lucky; the Hurricanes season came to an end with a 26-21 loss to Beaumont (TX) West Brook.

Texas was not the only state hit hard with tough competition as three of the four ranked teams from Louisiana had to earn their spot in the rankings.

The Lutcher (LA) High Bulldogs will see their stock drop after narrowly escaping Lake Charles (LA) St. Louis, 25-20. The West Monroe (LA) High Rebels will also see a drop in stock after holding off New Orleans (LA) St. Augustine by one point, 27-26. And previously ranked No. 69 Monroe (LA) Neville escaped New Orleans (LA) McDonogh 35, 39-36.

Other schools that managed to keep their seasons alive include previous No. 13 Cleveland (Ohio) Glennville, which beat Solon (OH) High, 28-27; No. 34 Utica (MI) Adlai Stevenson, which held off No. 84 Clarkston (MI) High, 37-35; No. 66 Monroeville (PA) Gateway, which edged Bethel Park (PA) High 38-35 in overtime; and No. 82 Orlando (FL) Dr. Phillips, which got by a game Orlando (FL) Olympia team 23-22.

And while not in the six-points-or-less category, previously ranked No. 7 Chesapeake (VA) Oscar Smith overcame an 11-point third quarter deficit to beat Chesapeake (VA) Grassfield, 28-21.

Another top team wasn't as lucky. No. 22 Valdosta (GA) Lowndes fell to Kingsland (GA) Camden County, 10-7. Lowndes will also remain ranked nationally.

The pit of the peach

Texas isn't the only state that's tough. The quarterfinals are set in Georgia and six of the eight teams remaining will be in the RivalsHigh 100 on Monday - the other two have been ranked this year as well.

RivalsHigh.com's No. 1 team in state, Loganville (GA) Grayson, will take on the fourth-ranked Newnan (GA) High.

Warner Robins (GA) Northside, our current No. 2 team in state, will do battle with Suwanee (GA) Peachtree Ridge. Peachtree Ridge is not currently ranked but has bounced in-and-out of the national rankings all season.

Suwanee (GA) North Gwinnett will have to prove it is the No. 3 team against defending state winner and current No. 5 team, Kingsland (GA) Camden County.

And newly ranked this week Marietta (GA) Lassiter will have its hands full with previously ranked Moultrie (GA) Colquitt County.

Closing the gap

Each week there is a re-rank of each state and thus national rankings are shifted.

Some teams have their stock rising but have not quite closed the gap to overtake the team ahead of them in state.

If the current trend continues there may be a new No. 2 team in Texas as Southlake (TX) Carroll is inching ever closer to the top two and almost jumped Dallas (TX) Skyline this week.

The same thing may happen in Louisiana as well. Monroe (LA) West Monroe had a great chance to overtake Lutcher (LA) High this week, but almost laid an egg and cost its season as well. River Ridge (LA) John Curtis waiting in the wings for either to slip up.

State title winners

Two more state title winners were named this week, and both have been longtime members of the RivalsHigh 100 as their state's No. 1 teams.

Milwaukee (WI) Marquette University School won a physical battle with Menomonee Falls (WI) High, 7-0. The game capped off an undefeated 14-0 season for the Hilltoppers and will move the squad up toward the national Top 50.

South Jordan (UT) Bingham also was crowned state champions Friday night by defeating Kaysville (UT) Davis, 35-24.

Sound off!

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