High School Football- Week one caused some havoc to The Gazette’s preseason top 10 rankings for the seven classifications with 17 new teams entering the rankings.
8-man football tied for the most teams joining the top 10 with four new teams. Southeast Warren, Moravia, and Fremont-Mills fell out of the top 10 after the Warhawks suffered a 47 to 28 loss to #8 Montezuma and the Mohawks were handled by #9 Bedford 63 to 20. Gladbrook-Reinbeck remained on top of the rankings with CAM and Winfield-Mt. Union tying for 2nd. WACO’s 26-20 win over Fremont-Mills has the Warriors stationed at #5 with Remsen St. Mary’s.
The Wolves, who were led by Cam Buffington’s 194 rushing yards and five total touchdowns, will host the WACO Warriors, led by Clayton Miller’s leadership at the quarterback position, on September 8th.
West Hancock is still on top of the rankings for Class A with Lynnville-Sully and Woodbury Central tied for 2nd. North Linn and Maquoketa Valley enter the rankings at the #9 and #10 spots after Columbus Community was knocked out of the rankings due to their 33-7 loss to Mediapolis and Gehlen Catholic fell to Hinton 10-0.
For Class 1A, Grundy Center is atop the rankings with MFL MarMac and Underwood coming in at 2nd and 3rd, respectively, despite Underwood’s week one loss. Important to note that the loss came against Van Meter, the #1 team for Class 2A, and only by seven points. Sigourney-Keota had one of the largest drops as the Cobras fell to PCM 22-15 causing them to drop out of the top 10 from the #4 spot. Additionally, West Branch’s 42-14 defeat to Class 3A’s #2 team, Williamsburg, caused the Bears to fall out of the top 10.
Van Meter holds onto the Class 2A crown for another week with Central Lyon and Sprit Lake trailing right behind, respectively. Mediapolis’s beatdown of Columbus Community has the Bulldogs celebrating in the #8 spot in the rankings. Osage and West Marshall fell out of the rankings with PCM jumping up to the #6 slot after their win over Sigourney-Keota. PCM takes on Class 1A’s #9 ranked team, Pella Christian, this Friday.
Solon’s one-sided loss knocked them out of the top 10 from the #7 spot with Assumption, the team that beat them 34 to 7, taking their spot. Mount Vernon is still the team to beat in Class 3A followed by Williamsburg and Harlan. Independence was also dropped from the rankings but receiving the most votes. Fort Madison is also receiving votes.
In Class 4A, Xavier is the top team with ADM and Lewis Central both ranked #2. North Scott comes in at the #4 slot. Indianola and Norwalk round out the top team after Newton and Waverly-Shell Rock were rocked out of the top 10.
Lastly, Class 5A was the other classification that saw four new teams enter the rankings: #5 Ankeny, #7 Prairie, tied-#9 Bettendorf, tied-#9 Waukee. Southeast Polk, Dowling Catholic, and Johnston highlight the top three team, respectively. #3 Cedar Falls had the largest fall after Prairie took them down 20-17, which forced the Tigers out of the top 10. Iowa City High, Pleasant Valley, and Waukee Northwest all tumbled out of the top 10 as well in an action-packed week one.