Sports

 

 

Tuesday, October 22, 2002

BHS stays at No. 3

Nobody new moved into the Associated Press Illinois high school football rankings released Monday, but there were several shifts in position and one curious omission heading into the final week of the season.

Bloomington High School (8-0) remained No. 3 in Class 6A, just behind fellow unbeatens Mundelein Carmel and Oak Lawn Richards. Normal Community moved up one spot to No. 5.

Metamora held its No. 4 ranking in Class 5A, knocking Morton out of the top 10 with a 28-14 win. Pontiac remained at No. 7. Despite a 9-6 loss to Central Catholic, Prairie Central remained in the rankings, dropping from No. 7 to No. 10.

Tremont stayed at No. 2 in Class 2A and El Paso held its spot at No. 7 in 1A.

LeRoy slipped out of the Class 1A rankings despite crushing Blue Ridge 50-6. The Panthers improved to 8-0 overall and won the conference title, but in the funny quirks of rankings, were replaced by 7-1 Annawan. PBL fell out of the Class 3A rankings, suffering its second loss of the year Friday, 45-0, to Clifton Central.

Across the rest of the state, little has changed among the top-ranked teams in Illinois. All eight No. 1 teams remain the same from last week heading into the final weekend before the start of playoffs. The No. 1 teams include Downers Grove South in 8A, Buffalo Grove in 7A, Mundelein Carmel in 6A, New Lenox Providence in 5A, Mount Carmel in 4A, Alton Marquette in 3A, Aledo in 2A and Carthage in 1A.

In Class 6A, a last-minute field goal helped Freeport upset Rockford Boylan a week after the Pretzels lost by a field goal.

With the score tied, Adam Schlamp made a 34-yard field goal with 59 seconds left to give the Pretzels a 24-21 win over then- No. 5 Rockford Boylan. The loss dropped Rockford Boylan to No. 9.

Maurice Mazique intercepted a pass for Freeport moments after Schlamp's field goal after being beaten on two long TD passes earlier in the game. Freeport moved up two spots to No. 8.

"I thought they were picking on me a little bit, and I was feeling low," Mazique said. "I had to do something to get those back."

In a matchup of undefeated teams in Class 5A, Metamora beat then-No. 9 Morton 28-14 to win its eighth straight league title.

"We played pretty poorly in the first half," said Redbirds lineman Rich Rylee. "But we came out in the second half and dominated like we should."

Thornton Fractional North had two touchdowns called back on penalties in a 25-22 loss to Rich East. The Meteors appeared to score the go-ahead touchdown with less than 20 seconds to go when an illegal motion penalty was called. Bobby Neal caught a pass in the end zone two plays later, but the score didn't stand because of a holding penalty.

Thornton Fractional North, ranked No. 9 in last week's poll, fell out of the rankings with the loss.