Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2009

Weekly poll wrapup

Erps. Almost forgot.

The AP football voting is something that's always in the back of my mind early in the week. Whenever it pops into the front, I say to myself, Oh, I'll get to it later.

Well, now it's almost too late, but not quite. Here's my vote for this week:

4A

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

Comment My top four stayed the same. The big shakeup was in the middle thanks to the mess that is the Greater Spokane League, which saw CV knock off Ferris 34-31 while G-Prep got upset by Mead 17-13. So CV, which I've had on my radar for a while, gets a big boost up, while I keep Ferris in (barely) and squeeze Ike onto my ballot. I'm still not 100% sold on the strength of the CBBN, though.

Thanks to Mike Vlahovich of the Spokesman-Review for this explanation on the GSL playoff picture:

Doin’ the math

When all is said and done in Greater Spokane League football, Mead and University will have played nine games, with the other teams eight.

The extra games accommodate the split 4A-3A league schedule. For playoff purposes the extra game is of no advantage to either team.

For instance, if they finish 7-2 or 6-3 and other 4A teams are 6-2 or 5-3, teams will be considered tied based either on identical numbers of wins or losses.

Then, this tiebreaker formula applies: Head-to-head record; wins against like-classification teams; quality wins (beating a higher-placing opponent). If multiple ties can’t be resolved then teams will play a mini-game.

Central Valley (6-0) needs one win to clinch the GSL’s No. 1 4A postseason berth. The Bears have a two-game lead with two to go, but, as Giampietri said Friday night, “it’s not easy ahead of us. Gonzaga Prep is going to be a handful and Mead’s going to be a handful.”

Mead, after knocking off Gonzaga Prep on Friday, and University are 5-2 and play this week. Ferris and Gonzaga Prep are both 4-2.

Three teams advance to state play-in games against the Columbia Basin Big Nine and any of the five can qualify with as many as four finishing tied. The final two weeks will sort things out.

3A

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

Comment Only one minor shakeup, with Juanita dropping out after getting blasted by Bellevue. Enumclaw moves in.

2A

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

Comment No change to my top four. Reconfigured quite a bit at the bottom with Interlake losing for a second straight week and Selah losing to Ellensburg.

1A

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

Comment Nobody drops out. Cascade falls a couple notches after losing to Cashmere, while River View stays put after proving to me it is the fourth-best SCAC team.

2B

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

Comment Ten wins. Ten teams staying put.

Also, here are this week's state cross country rankings.

Til next time ...