Week 7 football rankings

While there weren't a ton of startling upsets last week, a number of games helped clarify who are the top teams, especially in the smaller classes.

6A

#1- Gardner-Edgerton (6-0)

#2- Washburn Rural (6-0)

#3- Olathe North (5-1)

#4- Manhattan (5-1)

#5- Wichita Northwest (5-1)

#6- Derby (5-1)

#7- Wichita East (4-2)

#8- Free State (6-0)

#9- Blue Valley Northwest (3-3)

#10- Olathe East (4-2)

Blue Valley Northwest's loss to  Blue Valley Southwest is not all that bad. The defense allowing 62 points gives us pause, but BVSW continues to look better and better. Derby continues to get better, though the QB situation is interesting. Braxton Clark was playing good football prior to the injury and Easton Splane played well in his absence but was not as efficient and accurate as Clark. The Panther defense and stable of skill players could be enough, but the senior leadership of Clark could help if he's able to return for the playoff push. Overall it looks like 6A is the deepest classification and could produce the most good games in the playoffs.

5A

#1- Mill Valley (5-1)

#2- Blue Valley Southwest (5-1)

#3- Kapaun Mt. Carmel (5-1)

#4- Eisenhower (6-0)

#5- De Soto (5-1)

#6- Maize South (5-1)

#7- Hutchinson (4-2)

#8- Salina Central (5-1)

#9- Valley Center (4-2)

#10- Liberal (6-0)

Feeling really confident about the top three in the classification being the best three. Very intrigued to see if Eisenhower has the pieces to knock off Kapaun, Hutch (again), or Maize South, come playoff time. Liberal is a fantastic story in their unbeaten run under second year head coach Bryan Luetters, but can a WAC schedule produce a title contender? Time will tell.

4A

#1- Bishop Miege (5-1)

#2- St. Thomas Aquinas (4-2)

#3- St. James Academy (1-5)

#4- Louisburg (6-0)

#5- Tonganoxie (4-2)

#6- Buhler (5-1)

#7- Andover Central (3-3)

#8- Abilene (5-1)

#9- Wamego (4-2)

#10- Chanute (5-1)

Obviously Miege is the heavy-favorite in this class, but everyone wants to talk about how we keep ranking a one-win St. James team in the top three. It's simple, they've got great players and their schedule, inlcuding last week's 53-50 loss to Blue Valley West, is much, much tougher than the rest of the teams in 4A. Are there a number of other teams in the top 10 that would challenge SJA? Absolutely, but we still believe they are the third best team in the classification right now. It's quite possible an unbeaten Louisburg team could face St. James in the first round of the playoffs. It's also possible Miege and SJA square off in the first round so we may not have an idea of just how good the Thunder are compared to other 4A teams with better records. (We get that there is a bigger conversation here about the classification of private schools, we're not oblivious to it, but these are rankings and our goal is simply to try and predict who the best teams are with the idea that the playoff results will reflect our rankings.)

3A

#1- Andale (6-0)

#2- Cheney (6-0)

#3- Topeka Hayden (6-0)

#4- Wichita Collegiate (5-1)

#5- Clay Center (5-1)

#6- Wellsville (6-0)

#7- Scott City (5-1)

#8- Parsons (6-0)

#9- Holcomb (4-2)

#10- Hugoton (5-1)

Andale reloaded a squad that was hit hard by graduation, and much easier than we anticipated. This week's game against Cheney will tell us a lot. Are the Cardinals, or Hayden, or Clay Center capable of hanging with the Indians? Collegiate put up a fight last week, but still weren't really that close to ending the AHS streak. Parsons has a huge game with Frontenac this week. Regardless of that result it appears the Vikings will have a much more favorable path in the playoffs than last year.

2A

#1- Sabetha (6-0)

#2- Nemaha Central (6-0)

#3- Southeast of Saline (6-0)

#4- Hoisington (6-0)

#5- Kingman (5-1)

#6- Ellsworth (6-0)

#7- Norton (6-0)

#8- Silver Lake (5-1)

#9- Garden Plain (5-1)

#10- Osage City (5-1)

Southeast of Saline coach Mitch Gebhardt should win his 100th game with the program this week, and at least one coach we talked to says the Trojans are the best team in 2A this season. Sabetha, Nemaha Central, Hoisington, Kingman, and Ellsworth should all hear their names mentioned in the same conversation.

1A

#1- St. Mary’s Colgan (6-0)

#2- St. Marys (3-3)

#3- Marion (6-0)

#4- Smith Center (5-1)

#5- Conway Springs (5-1)

#6- Jefferson Co. North (5-1)

#7- Sedgwick (5-1)

#8- Olpe (4-2)

#9- Centralia (5-1)

#10- Plainville (3-3)

St. Marys and Marion has great wins last week and, along with Colgan, appear to have distanced themselves a bit from the rest of the field. Sedgwick's bad loss to Sterling appears it was a bit of an outlier and the Cardinals are going to score points against most anyone with the right weather conditions, but they'll have prove they can stop good running backs with big offensive lines to make a deep postseason run. Jayhawk-Linn has a potentially program defining game with Olpe this week. Valley Heights has enjoyed a breakout season, but will it come to a screeching halt with games against Smith Center and Wabaunsee the next two weeks?

8-Man I 

#1- Leoti-Wichita Co. (6-0)

#2- Moundridge (6-0)

#3- Lyndon (6-0)

#4- Chase County (4-2)

#5- Atwood-Rawlins Co. (6-0)

#6- Cair Paravel (4-2)

#7- Meade (5-1)

#8- Hoxie (5-1)

#9- Central Burden (6-0)

#10- Ell-Saline (5-1)

Moundridge is good, Chase County has continued to impress, and this classification is either the top four distanced from the rest, or it's very, very deep. South Sumner is 6-0 and gets a chance to prove just how good they are over the next two weeks against Argonia-Attica and Central Burden. West Elk gets their toughest test since the Week 3 loss to Central Burden in a 3-3 Oswego team that has scored at least 54 points each of the past three weeks. Little River's two losses are to very good Moundridge and Ell-Saline teams. Quinter can't afford a third straight loss against a third straight district power in Hoxie.

8-Man II

#1- Axtell (6-0)

#2- Victoria (5-1)

#3- Sylvan-Lucas Unified (6-0)

#4- Frankfort (5-1)

#5- Minneola (6-0)

#6- Osborne (5-1)

#7- Hodgeman County (5-1)

#8- Canton-Galva (5-1)

#9- Kinsley (5-1)

#10- Thunder Ridge (4-2)

Victoria made a statement with their dominant beatdown of Sharon Springs, but everyone appears to be a couple scores behind Axtell right now. Victoria at Sylvan-Lucas, Minneola at Hodgeman County, and Axtell at Frankfort will provide some more clarity this week.

6-Man

#1- Cheylin

#2- Ashland

#3- Cunningham

#4- Waverly

#5- Northern Valley

As long as Cheylin stays healthy, they remain quite a few steps ahead of the rest of the field.