Sports Line’s power rankings
Week three of the high school football season has come and gone, leaving teams to settle into their place in Sports Line’s weekly power rankings. Some teams making the biggest jumps were Skyline, American Falls and Blackfoot. The Grizz and Beavers each picked up their first wins of the season, and the Broncos continue to pick up steam at 3-0
The power rankings measure all schools in districts 5 and 6, which play 11-man football. Points are gained or lost based on performance each week. The mathematical formula is designed to measure how each team plays against its competition, giving us a tool to measure smaller schools against larger schools. A plus or minus sign next to each school’s name indicates a gain or loss in their ranking from the previous week.
Although the Aberdeen Tigers didn’t have the best week in our formula, the Tigers come in at No. 1 for the third-straight week. Aberdeen is scoring a lot of points, more than 36 per game on average. To top it off, the Tigers are giving up just 7 – with a shutout over American Falls. Aberdeen’s average points in the ranking dropped slightly from last week, but the Tigers are riding two early road wins to the top of the list.
Jumping two spots into second place, the Snake River Panthers have looked impressive in two games this year. The Panthers picked up a 56-6 victory at Sugar-Salem, giving Snake the road-win bonus. The Panthers remain unbeaten at 2-0 on the season, and the offense has scored 56 points in each of their victories. Wyatt Vogler looked impressive in all three phases in the win over the Diggers. Keep an eye on him and the other on the rest of the team.
In their first road game of the season, the Blackfoot Broncos picked up win No. 3, a 36-7 triumph over Idaho Falls at Ravsten Stadium. Stan Buck and club only continue to pick up steam, and the Broncos should cruise in their conference opener Friday night against Century in Bingham County. But, the team needs to be careful of the trap game with Madison coming to town for the Buck Bowl Sept. 26.
Despite a win over a very good Manti, Utah, team, the Shelley Russets drop two spots to No. 4 this week. The reason is simple. The Russets only beat the Templars by one point. That hurt Shelley in our point differential category. Combined with the 132 average the Russets earned in our formula the first two weeks, this week’s 78-point tally was just enough to keep them inside the top five.
The Shelley Russets did themselves a major favor by winning big in Driggs. The victory over Teton not only put the Russets all alone in second place, but placed the Russets in first place in the conference standings. Travis Hobson and company now have five weeks until the next division game. Plenty of time to work on anything the Russets need to, but don’t expect Big Red to let off the accelerator.
Rounding out the top five, the West Side Pirates finally put together a solid performance with a 46-20 victory over West Side a week ago. The Pirates face Melba on Saturday afternoon at Burley High School. Then, West Side will begin their string of four straight conference games. That’s one more than in years past with the addition of Bear Lake to their league after the Bears dropped down from 3A.
The biggest concern I have about these rankings comes from the Highland Rams. Gino Mariani’s club can line up and beat anyone in the state, but the schedule has been too soft for Highland early on. The math doesn’t like the fact the Rams haven’t played a true road game since all three of Highland’s contests have been played inside Holt Arena. Following the conference opener against Madison Friday night in Pocatello, the Rams will travel to Coeur d’Alene for a rematch with the Vikings. CDA beat Highland in the 5A state title game a year ago. A couple of wins in the next few weeks will have Highland right back inside the top five. It could also propel them to a run at the state title game.
I also must apologize to the Salmon Savages. I left them out of the first two power rankings by pure mistake. I counted 27 teams in districts five and six. In fact, there are 28 that play 11-man football. This week, I added the Savages to the rankings as if Salmon had been there all along. The squad debuts at No. 15. It’s a four-spot jump from where Salmon would have been ranked last week.
Remember, these rankings are based solely on math. As the season rolls along, the math will average out, and teams will improve or fall back to Earth. But until we have state champions decided for each classification, it’s always fun to debate.
