AA rankings continue to confound

Our Class AA rankings continue to be a problem as 9 of last week’s Top 25 went down to defeat along with 9 of the next 16 teams on our Class AA watch list. As a result, 5 teams drop out of the Top 25—Pine City, Albany, Annandale, Caledonia and Royalton—and 5 new sacrificial lambs climb into the Top 25—Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop, Martin County West, Jordan, Glencoe-Silver Lake and Proctor. If the past is any guide, these 5 are totally ripe for an upset now that they’re wearing the golden slipper.

Meanwhile, in Class A, just 4 of our Top 25 tasted defeat, and none of them suffered an upset. 3 of the 4 were to Class AA teams—and ranked Class AA teams, at that—and the 4th was Red Lake’s not unexpected loss to #2A Mountain Iron-Buhl. And, so, there are no teams that dropped out or dropped in on our Class A Top 25 this week.

The biggest surprises in AA were Glencoe-Silver Lake’s win over New London-Spicer. No sooner had NLS coach Mike Dreier posted his 900th career win 65-41 over Montevideo on Tuesday, than they fell at home on Thursday 47-45. This was doubly a surprise because Glencoe-Silver Lake themselves had been surprised 62-44 by Jordan on Tuesday.

Glencoe and Jordan have distinguished themselves as the most unpredictable teams in Class AA—capable of beating anybody one night, and losing to anybody the next. Glencoe has now defeated Hutch and NLS, and lost to Mayer Lutheran, Maple Lake and BOLD, in addition to Jordan. NLS has beaten Eden Valley-Watkins and Albany, and lost to Watertown-Mayer, Sauk Centre, Minnehaha and Glencoe.

This Week

So coming up this week are a few games matching ranked Class A and AA teams, in which it may be assumed that the Class A powers will continue to win and the AA ranked teams will continue to suffer more upset losses. We’ll see.

Monday

Duluth Marshall (8-1, #17AA) @ Bigfork (10-1, #6A), 7: 15 p.m.

Cromwell (7-4, #23A) @ Floodwood (9-2, #11A), 7:15 p.m. Cromwell tries to bounce back from the injury bug.

Eden Valley-Watkins (9-1, #7AA) @ Norwood Young America (10-2, #9AA), 7:30 p.m.

Wheaton-Herman-Norcross (7-0, #8A) @ Lac Qui Parle Valley (12-1, #9A), 7:30 p.m.

Badger-Greenbush-Middle River (7-1, #21A) @ Stephen-Argyle (11-1, #14A), 7:30 p.m.

Tuesday

Pelican Rapids (6-2, #18A) @ Barnesville (8-2, #21A), 6:30 p.m.

Goodhue (11-1, #1A) @ Hayfield (10-2, #7A), 7:15 p.m.

Grand Meadow (10-2, #16A)  @ Lyle-Pacelli (11-1, #3A), 7:15 p.m.

Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s (11-1, #12A) @ Sleepy Eye (9-3, #13A), 7:30 p.m. Crosstown rivalry, should be a doozy, then Sleepy Eye public has another rated opponent the very next night.

Thursday

Sleepy Eye (9-3, #13A) @ Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop (9-2, #19AA), 7:30 p.m.

Friday

Heritage Christian (6-4, #15A) @ Maranatha (6-3, #6AA), 6:30 p.m.

Zumbrota-Mazeppa  (8-4, #22AA) @ Rochester Lourdes (9-5, #15AA), 7:15 p.m.

Lac Qui Parle Valley (12-1, #9A) @ Tracy-Milroy-Balaton (10-1, #18AA), 7:30 p.m.

Saturday

Goodhue (11-1, #1A) vs. Tracy-Milroy-Balaton (10-1, #18AA) @ Hayfield, 4 p.m. Each getting their 2nd rated opponent of the week.

Bigfork (10-1, #6A) @ Roseau (7-4, #12AA), 5:30 p.m. Bigfork's 2nd big game of the week.

Mountain Iron-Buhl (12-1, #2A) @ Hayfield (10-2, #7A), 6 p.m. Hayfield draws #1, then #2.