Kudos to CalHiSports and editor Mark Tennis for putting together state rankings. It's quite a chore considering this just happens to be the most populated prep state in the country.
And keep in mind that rankings play a role in state bowl bid decision making. Still, it's the same theme to me: Too much emphasis on Bay Area teams.
Division I North
Granite Bay (5-0) and Grant (6-0) are ranked No. 4 and 5, respectively, with Merced (4-1) at No. 9.
Bellarmine (5-0), De La Salle-Concord (4-1) and Oak Grove-San Jose (5-0) occupy the top three spots. Others getting consideration are Elk Grove (4-1) and Nevada Union (5-0).
Division II North
Valley Christian of San Jose is ranked No. 1 in Division II, and bravo to you guys.
Keep in mind that this is the same Valley Christian program that refuses to play Grant any more after getting their helmets handed them to them by the Pacers in previous seasons. Same thing would likely happen again, which is why Valley Christian suddenly hits "ignore" on the cell when Grant coach Mike Alberghini calls.
A key game this week is D-I North No. 1 Bellarmine playing Valley Christian. Bellarmine of San Jose belted St. Mary's of Stockton and St. Mary's humiliated Jesuit 52-0 this season in a game so bad there was a running clock in the second half, if this is any sort of gauge.
D-II North
Casa Roble (5-0) is behind Valley Christian at No. 2, but should Valley Christian lose a close game to Bellarmine on Friday, would it remain No. 1 based on reputation and given the strength of Bellarmine?
Hard to argue the point, especially considering Casa Roble has not played nearly as tough a schedule.
Also in D-II, St. Mary's (3-2) is No. 3, Whitney (5-0) is No. 4, Del Oro (2-3 with close loss to Merced) is No. 6, Sonora (5-0) is No. 8 and Rocklin (2-3) is No. 10.
And plenty of motivation for Casa Roble was the CalHiSports crew explaining that should St. Mary's go on to win the D-I section title and should Casa go 13-0 and win the section D-III title, St. Mary's would warrant stronger consideration for the state bowl D-II nod due to schedule. Let the fussing and fuming begin.
There's still Del Oro, of course. There was the one-point loss to Idaho power Lake City when key Golden Eagles receiver Spencer Butterfield went down after dominating; and there was the 21-14 loss to Merced in Week 4 and the 27-22 win over 4-0 Elk Grove in Week 5.
Of course, beating Granite Bay on Friday would be an, um, slight boost.
Division III North
Cardinal Newman is No. 1. That team downed Central Catholic, which just beat St. Mary's, and Cardinal Newman has a victory over Del Oro, too.
Central Catholic is (4-1) is No. 3, Sutter (5-1) is No. 4 and St. Patrick's-St Vincent of Vallejo(4-1) is No. 10.
Small Schools North
Modesto Christian (4-1) is top ranked (it downed Capital Christian this season) and Quincy (6-0) is No. 4. Capital (3-2) got a mention as an "Others" team to watch, as did Rio Vista (6-0) and Vacaville Christian (3-1).
