Tuesday, Oct. 06, 2009

This week in the rankings

But first, let me wipe the egg off my face.

On Friday night, I went out to Finley for the Burbank-River View football game. I got to talking at one point with Coyotes AD Jay Aune about the state of the program, and I mentioned something about the playoffs.

Yes, he said, and it's too bad that we lost a playoff berth this year.

Huh? The SCAC lost a state football playoff berth That was news to me. But he explained that it happened late and that it was also the case in volleyball and basketball that the SCAC would be down to three berths this year.

Talking to River View coach Brett Jay after the game, he also was under the impression that the SCAC had only three state berths, and that's why the game -- a 36-7 Panthers win -- had added importance, because it gave the Panthers a leg up in the fight for third place in the East.

And in my deadline hurry, I reported as such in my game story.

Oops!

Turns out, while the SCAC did lose a berth this year in volleyball and basketball -- the result of the addition of several westside Christian schools to the 1A ranks -- the league did not lose a berth in football -- probably because said Christian schools are more likely to play boys soccer than football. The SCAC still gets four spots in the state bracket.

This fact has apparently led to some mad e-mailing among the ADs about the Week 10 schedule, which now will include four divisional crossovers for state berths and three fill-in games for the also-rans. It shouldn't be too big a deal, since it'll be the same format the league used last year.

And with that mea culpa out of the way, on to the AP balloting.

4A

1, Skyline. 2, Bothell. 3, Auburn. 4, Jackson. 5, Central Valley. 6, Gonzaga Prep. 7, Ferris. 8, Wenatchee. 9, Curtis. 10, South Kitsap.

Comment Nine of my 10 teams from a week ago won. Eastlake lost, and SK takes its place.

3A

1, Lakes. 2, Union. 3, Bellevue. 4, Liberty (Renton). 5, O'Dea. 6, Timberline. 7, Mount Spokane. 8, Meadowdale. 9, Juanita. 10, Camas.

Comment Same thing as 4A -- nine winners. Glacier Peak lost to Meadowdale in OT, so Camas jumps in at No. 10.

2A

1, Ellensburg. 2, Archbishop Murphy. 3, Lynden. 4, Interlake. 5, Othello. 6, Prosser. 7, Burlington-Edison. 8, W.F. West (Chehalis). 9, Selah. 10, West Valley (Spokane).

Comment 10 for 10 here. Real easy to vote.

1A

1, Connell. 2, Montesano. 3, Cascade Christian. 4, Cashmere. 5, Zillah. 6, Royal. 7, Cascade (Leavenworth). 8, Orting. 9, Onalaska. 10, Goldendale-Klickitat.

Comment Nine out of 10, with only Port Townsend losing -- getting shelled by Cascade Christian 42-7. Goldendale-Klickitat moves in.

2B

1, Colfax. 2, Asotin. 3, La Salle. 4, Adna. 5, Tacoma Baptist. 6, Waitsburg-Prescott. 7, South Bend. 8, Wahkiakum. 9, Napavine. 10, Naselle.

Comment More volatility here. Napavine and Naselle both lost and got dropped four spots each. White Swan got routed by La Salle, so the Cougars are out and the Mules of Wahkiakum are in.

As usual, football isn't the only sport with rankings coming out.

The state cross country rankings saw some shaking up after Saturday's Sunfair Invitational -- but not as much as you might have thought.

Meanwhile, the state volleyball coaches rankings also were released Monday.

4A

1, Mead. 2, Graham-Kapowsin. 3, Olympia. 4, Southridge. 5, Kamiakin. 6, Richland. 7, Curtis. 8, Eisenhower. 9, Skyview. 10, Jackson.

3A

1, Bishop Blanchet. 2, Eastside Catholic. 3, Mount Spokane. 4, Auburn Mountainview. 5, North Kitsap. 6, Timberline. 7, Seattle Prep. 8, Mount Si. 9, Bonney Lake. 10, Enumclaw.

2A

1, Burlington-Edison. 2, Black Hills. 3, Selah. 4, Tumwater. 5, Archbishop Murphy. 6, Fife. 7, Pullman. 8, Grandview. 9, West Valley (Spokane). 10, Colville.

1A

1, King's. 2, Lynden Christian. 3, Onalaska. 4, Annie Wright. 5, Castle Rock. 6, Cascade (Leavenworth). 7, Royal. 8, Bellevue Christian. 9, Cedar Park Christian. 10, Chelan.

2B

1, LaConner. 2, Colfax. 3, Riverside Christian. 4, Kittitas. 5, Tekoa-Oakesdale. 6, Toutle Lake. 7, Adna. 8, Ocosta. 9, Lind-Ritzville. 10, Bear Creek.

1B

1, Northport. 2, LaCrosse-Washtucna. 3, Wilson Creek. 4, Colton. 5, St. John-Endicott. 6, Crescent. 7, Moses Lake Christian. 8, North Sound Christian. 9, Almira/Coulee-Hartline. 10, Neah Bay.

As you can see, the top four CBBN teams all are still in the 4A top 10.

Of the four, Eisenhower might be the one that will drop in the end. The Cadets' biggest question mark is at setter, where the other three teams have established full-time setters who are difference-makers.

That was shown Tuesday in Southridge's three-set win over Kennewick. The Lions have some firepower in the middle with juniors Kelsey Julian and Kaytlyn Coleman, but don't have a go-to setter the likes of Suns junior Andrea Smith, who controlled the match on the other side of the net.

Lions coach Scott Carswell said of Smith, "Even when they were out of system, she was able to get the ball back in play so someone could take a swing at it."

It's like a point guard in basketball who, with the shot clock winding down and the offense out of whack, can still create something offensively so that he or a teammate can get a reasonable shot off rather than just hoisting the ball at the rim.

The Suns had 41 kills in the three-set match to the Lions' 19. "And we probably had the same number of attempts," Carswell said. "But not the swings."

Smith right now would make my midseason All-CBBN volleyball team at setter along with Richland's Krysta Olberding -- I'll make it a 6-2 lineup with a libero, Wenatchee's Amanda Roy, about whom Kamiakin coach Mary Opitz was gushing over after their match last week.

My six hitters would be Julian, Richland's Chelsey Bettinson, Southridge's Heather Worley, Ike's Tori Fisher, West Valley's Rachel Hanses and Hanford's Jordan Bird.

Volleyball aficionados -- and I know you're out there -- tell me who you'd pick.

Til next time ...