After two weeks of football, some mistakes in the preseason rankings become obvious.
Marist wasn’t able to reload as quickly as expected. Crete-Monee’s high-powered offense can’t carry a ranked team all by itself. Cary-Grove certainly isn’t the best team in the Fox Valley.
One team that is now 0-2 that I don’t have reservations about just yet is Hersey. Quarterback Jack Nawrot is living up to his breakout summer. He threw for 265 yards and three touchdowns in the loss to Barrington on Friday.
The Huskies lost to Warren in Week 1. Those are two tough games, and I like what Hersey coach Tom Nelson told Dick Quagliano of the Daily Herald on Friday night.
“We signed up for that,” Nelson said. “We want the challenges. We want to get better. We have been 9-0 in a regular season and that didn’t work out well for us. The plan is to better and playing late into the year.”
Hersey falls out of the Super 25 for now, along with Marist and Richards.
Barrington, Oswego and Lincoln-Way Central join the rankings for the first time this season. I will have more on the Broncos later today in Four Downs.
Oswego started the season off with wins against Naperville Central and Geneva. Lincoln-Way Central has flown under the radar for far too long. The Knights reached the Class 7A semifinals last season and just racked up 511 yards of offense in a win against Providence.
There was one other major change this week. Lincoln-Way East and Loyola have switched spots and the Griffins are up to No. 2. It’s just too hard to ignore what Jonas Williams and Lincoln-Way East have done this season. I’ve now seen Mount Carmel and Lincoln-Way East play and I’m not sure which team is better…but it is likely that the Ramblers are currently a notch or two behind.
Super 25 high school football rankings for Week 3
With record and last week’s ranking
1. Mount Carmel (2-0) 1
Friday at No. 4 Nazareth
2. Lincoln-Way East (2-0) 3
Friday vs. Neuqua Valley
3. Loyola (1-0) 2
Friday at No. 17 St. Francis
4. Nazareth (2-0) 4
Friday vs. No. 1 Mount Carmel
5. Downers Grove North (2-0) 5
Friday vs. No. 18 Hinsdale Central
6. Brother Rice (2-0) 6
Friday at No. 12 St. Rita
7. Fremd (2-0) 7
Friday vs. Evanston
8. Glenbard West (2-0) 8
Friday at Oak Park
9. Batavia (1-1) 9
Friday vs. Glenbard North
10. St. Charles North (2-0) 13
Friday vs. Geneva
11. Maine South (1-1) 22
Friday vs. No. 13 Palatine
12. St. Rita (1-1) 11
Friday vs. No. 6 Brother Rice
13. Palatine (2-0) 14
Friday at No. 11 Maine South
14. Barrington (2-0) NR
Friday at No. 22 Glenbrook South
15. Warren (1-1) 10
Friday vs. Lake Forest
16. Lyons (2-0) 17
Friday at Morton
17. St. Francis (2-0) 18
Friday vs. No. 3 Loyola
18. Hinsdale Central (2-0) 25
Friday at No. 5 Downers Grove North
19. Prairie Ridge (2-0) 19
Friday at Hampshire
20. Montini (2-0) 20
Friday vs. Marist
21. Fenwick (2-0) 21
Friday vs. Joliet Catholic
22. Glenbrook South (2-0) 23
Friday vs. No. 14 Barrington
23. York (1-1) 24
Friday vs. Proviso West
24. Lincoln-Way Central (2-0) NR
Friday vs. Stagg
25. Oswego (2-0) NR
Friday vs. Bolingbrook