Photo courtesy of Shelly Phillips
Mason Whitesell and Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Brocton remained the No. 16 team in Class C of the New York State Sportswriters Association’s football rankings released on Wednesday.
With the football regular season winding down, the top teams in the state are taking their places in the New York State Sportswriters Association rankings with Clymer/Sherman/Panama and Salamanca retaining their positions at No. 2 in the Class D and C polls, respectively.
After falling from the top spot in Class D, reigning three-time state champion Tioga out of Section IV climbed back up to No. 12 with a 32-12 win over Newark Valley. Also working its way up the Class D rankings was Randolph with another big win against Wilson 49-0 to claim the No. 8 spot this week.
Franklinville/Ellicottville defeated Gowanda/Pine Valley 27-18 over the weekend, but both teams remained honorable mentions in Class D.
More notably, Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Brocton earned its first win at Southwestern in nearly a decade, posting an emphatic 28-0 result. However, the Eagles (5-1, 5-1) still remained in the No. 16 spot of the Class C rankings, while fellow Section VI teams Medina (5-1, 5-1 Class C North), Portville (4-2, 3-2 C South) and Newfane (5-1, 4-1 C North) are in direct order behind them.
The only team ahead of Salamanca (6-0, 6-0 C South) is reigning state champion Waverly (5-1) of Section IV, while Southwestern (3-3, 2-3 C South), Falconer/Cassadaga Valley/Maple Grove (4-2, 3-2 C South) and Eden/North Collins (3-3, 2-3 C South) remain honorable mentions.
Coming up short in its last three matchups has Jamestown (2-4, 1-3 Class AA) among the honorable mentions of Class AA. Lancaster’s 20-13 victory over the Red & Green has the Legends (4-2, 4-1 Class AA) at No. 27, while Bennett (5-1, 4-0) is No. 6 in the state and the highest public school ranked. Iona Prep (5-2) of the Catholic High Schools is No. 1.
Frewsburg went toe-to-toe with 8-man’s No. 1 team, Pembroke of Section V, last week and fell 52-22, dropping the Bears (4-1, 3-1) to the No. 8 spot. The Dragons (5-0, 4-0) retained their top position.
Maine-Endwell of Section IV remained undefeated at 6-0 and sits atop Class B, while Section VI’s Pioneer (6-0, 4-0 Class B2) is No. 5, Lackawanna (6-0, 5-0 Class B3) is No. 8, Health Science (4-2, 3-0 Class B1) is No. 17 and South Park (5-1, 3-1 Class B2) rounds it out at No. 23.
The top of Class A remains a tie between the reigning back-to-back state champions Somers (6-0) of Section I and Section VIII’s Garden City (6-0).
Representing Section VI are Clarence (5-1, 3-0 Class A1) at No. 11 and Sweet Home (5-1, 4-0 Class A2) at No. 16.
BOYS SOCCER
Prior to dropping its final Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Athletic Association Division I matchup to share the league with Allegany-Limestone, Southwestern (14-2-0, 9-1-0) climbed up the Class B state rankings, reaching No. 13 from No. 16 last week.
Defending state champion East Aurora (11-2-0) is trending in the same direction as the Trojans, moving up two spots to No. 3, only behind Section III’s Westhill (13-1-1) and Section IX’s Mount Academy (10-0-1). Section II’s Mechanicville dropped from the top spot down to No. 4 and Section XI’s Babylon fell from No. 2 to No. 7 to make room for the new top three.
Lafayette heads in the wrong direction, dropping several spots to No. 15 after losing to Hamburg and drawing a tie with Wilson this past week.
The Lakemen’s draw against Lafayette moves them all the way up to No. 4 in Class C.
Another new team is on top of Class C with Section X’s Lisbon (13-0-0) remaining undefeated to earn the position and Section IX”s Rhinebeck (12-0-1) moved down to No. 3.
With only losses to Fillmore and Southwestern, Allegany-Limestone (14-2-0, 9-1-0) is just outside the top 10 of Class C at No. 11 as it jumps up one spot from last week. Randolph (12-3-1, 8-2-0) also moved up a spot into No. 13, but dropped the Division II league title with a 2-0 loss to Portville on Wednesday.
Lancaster (13-1-0) remains at No. 3 in Class AAA, while Section XI’s Brentwood (12-0-2) retains the top spot
Clarence (11-2-0) is the lone Section VI team in the Class AA rankings, jumping into the No. 15 spot from an unranked position last week. Section XI’s Smithtown West (12-0-0) remains at the top of Class AA with the perfect season intact.
Brockport (12-0-0) is also undefeated and stays put atop Class A, while a pair of Section VI schools join in with Grand Island (13-0-1) at No. 3 and Williamsville East (13-1-0) at No. 12 from No. 4 last week.
GIRLS SOCCER
Frewsburg (14-1-0) stays put in Class C at No. 5, trailing only St. Mary’s of Lancaster (11-1-1) among Section VI schools and Section II’s Stillwater (12-1-1) is No. 1.
Portville (12-1-0) is just outside the top 10 with the No. 12 spot.
Ellicottville (11-3-1) moved up one spot in Class D to No. 18, while Section V’s Fillmore (13-1-0) stayed at the top spot.
Allegany-Limestone (14-1-0) is the lone local Class B team in the rankings, falling back to No. 6 from the No. 4 position. Section III’s Marcellus (12-0-2) remained in the top spot and Royalton-Hartland (11-1-1) of Section VI jumped up a spot to No. 19.
Section I’s Rye (11-0-1) remains in first in Class A, while Section VI’s Lewiston-Porter (11-2-0) is No. 7 and Williamsville South (8-2-2) is at No. 15.
Section I’s Albertus Magnus (10-0-1) is No. 1 in Class AA, while Section VI’s Clarence (14-1-0) moves up to No. 6 and Lockport (12-1-0) remains at No. 12.
Then in Section XI’s Ward Melville (11-0-1) stays put atop Class AAA, while Lancaster (7-6-1) represents Section VI tied for No. 20 with Section XI’s Sachem East (11-1-1).