The upsets keep on coming in Class AA

<p>As you know, there have been upsets galore this year in Class AA with the result that we’ve had to shake up our rankings just about every week. This week is no exception.</p> <p>• Orono surprised Holy Family, who drops from #5AA to #7</p> <p>• Then #6AA Norwood Young America lost to then #12 Stewartville at St. Kate’s last Monday, and so they cross over in the rankings—Stew up to #10, NYA down to #11</p> <p>• Then #9AA Annandale lost to both Litchfield and Glencoe-Silver Lake, and plummets to #22</p> <p>• St. Cloud Cathedral lost 2 of 3 to Sauk Centre and Albany, and drops from #15AA to #22</p> <p>• Then-#8AA Eden Valley-Watkins also knocked off #10 Watertown-Mayer in what is not strictly speaking an upset but still a key game, so EVW moves up to #6 while the Royals, who also beat Litch and GSL, moves up to #8</p> <p>On the plus side, Barnesville, EVW and Sauk each won 3 times. Sauk remains #1AA, EVW (as we said) moves up to #6, while Barnesville moved up from #19 to #14</p> <p><strong>Meanwhile, in Class A</strong></p> <p>Class A was more stable, as it has been all year, but there were still some surprises. Wabasso defeated Sleepy Eye for the 2nd time this year, and jumps from #19 to #10. Cromwell lost to Barnum and drops from #12A to #19. Parkers Prairie lost to Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa and drops from #18 to #20, while BBE moves up from #21 to #12. And, Red Lake lost to Clearbrook-Gonvick and drops from #20 to #24.</p> <p>On the plus side, BBE, BOLD, Goodhue, Wabasso and Wheaton all won 3 games. BBE, BOLD and Wabasso move up in the rankings while Wheaton moves down and Goodhue remains at #4A.</p> <p>But, perhaps the most impressive team in Class A was Hayfield. The Vikings defeated 2 rated teams in Stewartville and Rochester Lourdes despite having 3 starters and their top 2 players off the bench—in other words, 5 of their top 7 players—out with injuries. That includes the top 2 scorers, seniors Olivia Matti and Maggie Streightiff. Yet they were able to win at Stew 70-68 in OT and at Rochester Lourdes 70-66. Amazing.</p> <p><strong>This Week</strong></p> <p>There are 8 games matching rated Class A and AA teams, with half of them coming Friday night.</p> <p><strong>Monday</strong></p> <p>Wabasso (12-3, #10A) @ Minneota (13-3, #22A), 6 p.m.</p> <p><strong>Tuesday</strong></p> <p>Lac Qui Parle Valley (16-2, #9A) @ Minneota (13-3, #22A), 4:45 p.m. Minneota takes on 2 top 10 teams on back-to-back nights, then Yellow Medicine East on Friday. The good news is all 3 games are at home.</p> <p>Goodhue (14-3, #4A) @ Stewartville (14-3, #10AA)</p> <p><strong>Friday</strong></p> <p>Sauk Centre (15-0, #1AA) @ BOLD (14-3, #15A)</p> <p>Watertown-Mayer (12-5, #8AA) @ New London-Spicer (11-5, #13AA)</p> <p>Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa (12-4, #12A) @ Eden Valley-Watkins (14-2, #6A)</p> <p>Pelican Rapids (7-4, #25A) @ Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton (13-0, #3AA)</p> <p><strong>Saturday</strong></p> <p>Wheaton-Herman-Norcross (11-2, #16A) @ Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton (13-0, #3AA). The Rebels also host a pair of top 25 teams back-to-back after also playing Class AA Perham and Crookston earlier in the week. They then travel to Park Rapids the following Monday for a total of 5 games in 7 days. So, DGF has its hands full trying to stay undefeated through the end of January.</p>