By Austin Bishop and Bobby Gray / Special to The Star
November 12, 2008 12:09 am
Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.
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While all five of the public school divisions are competitive at the top, none is more volatile than Class 1A of the Mississippi High School Activities Association.
Any of the top four teams could lay claim to the top spot in the rankings, and with justifiable reasons. But, after long and hard consideration, East Webster (9-0) remains on top of the Mississippi Prep Sports Source Rankings for the 11th straight week. Durant (10-0) stays firm at No.2, while Ray Brooks, the preseason No. 1, is at No. 3 with a 9-0 mark. Also 9-0, Puckett is No. 4.
In Class 3A Tylertown holds the top spot by a slim margin over 10-1 Franklin County, a team it beat in the regular season. Hazlehurst (8-2), jumped over undefeated Corinth (11-0) to take the No. 3 spot, while Newton County moved up to No. 5 and Winona shot from No. 9 to No. 6.
Five-time defending Class 5A champion South Panola is still the top team in its classification with Oak Grove moving up to No. 4 and Petal to No. 5, following Tupelo's 45-34 loss to Olive Branch.
The Top 10 in Class 4A is unchanged as all of the higher ranked teams had relatively easy first round playoff wins. Wayne County (11--0) is No. 1, followed by Noxubee County and D'Iberville.
In Class 2A Forest remains No. 1 after holding off an upset bid with a 46-45 win over Bay Springs. Taylorsville (11-0) is No. 2, followed by Baldwyn, Eupora and Ackerman.
Jackson Prep and Magnolia Heights remain No. 1 and 2 in the MPSAA Overall rankings and can solidify those spots with championship game wins on Friday at Mississippi College.
The top-ranked Patriots of Prep play Madison-Ridgeland Academy at 7 p.m. for the MPSA AAA Division-I championship, while Magnolia Heights.1 South Panola 11-0 2 Meridian 10-1 3 Madison Central 10-1 4 Oak Grove 10-1 5 Petal 10-1 6 Olive Branch 9-1 7 Tupelo 8-3 8 Ocean Springs 9-1 9 Hattiesburg 8-3 10 Southaven 8-3 11 Northwest Rankin 9-2 12 Clinton 8-3 13 George County 6-5 14 Natchez 6-4 15 Murrah 6-5 Oak Grove, Petal and Olive Branch each moved up one spot to No. 4, 5 and 6 respectively. The only drop in the rankings came when Tupelo lost to Olive Branch 45-34 and fell from No. 4 to No. 7 The only other team that can remotely be considered for the Top 15 is 6-5 Provine and the Rams pay a visit to No. 1 South Panola on Friday night. 1 Wayne County 11-0 2 Noxubee County 10-0 3 D'Iberville 11-0 4 Lawrence County 10-1 5 Shannon 10-1 6 Picayune 9-2 7 West Lauderdale 8-3 8 Quitman 10-1 9 Itawamba AHS 10-1 10 Brookhaven 7-2 11 Pearl 9-2 12 Vicksburg 9-2 13 Northeast Jones 8-3 14 West Jones 10-3 15 Lafayette County 7-4 Vicksburg moved up one spot to No. 12, with NOrtheast Jones and West Jones also claiming one spot each. Lafayette County re-entered the rankings at No. 15 with a 13-0 win over West Point. West Point fell out of the rankings with the shutout loss in the first round of the playoffs. The Green Wave was ranked No. 12 last week and finished the year at 8-3. New Hope, at 7-4, is certainly a team to watch. The Trojans host No. 12 Vicksburg in a very winnable second round game on Friday night. 1 Tylertown 9-0 2 Franklin County 10-1 3 Hazlehurst 8-2 4 Corinth 11-0 5 Newton County 10-1 6 Winona 8-3 7 Louisville 8-3 8 South Pike 6-2 9 Magee 8-3 10 Ripley 8-2 11 Amory 6-5 12 Aberdeen 9-2 13 Columbia 9-2 14 Charleston 8-3 15 Collins 6-5 Magee jumped to No. 9 on the heels of it's 38-26 win over Greene County, while Ripley climbed two spots to No 10 and Amory moved up four spots to No. 11 after beating Velma Jackson 37-20. Collins entered the rankings at No. 15 with a 45-18 win over Perry Central. Velma Jackson, formerly No. 10, and No. 13-ranked Perry Central fell out of the rankings with their first-round losses in the playoffs. Charleston also took a hard tumble, dropping from No. 8 to No. 14. Just on the outside looking in are Senatobia (7-4), North Panola (7-4), Velma Jackson (8-2) and Perry Central (7-4). 1 Forest 11-0 2 Taylorsville 11-0 3 Baldwyn 10-1 4 Eupora 9-2 5 Ackerman 9-2 6 Bassfield 9-2 7 West Bolivar 9-2 8 Philadelphia 9-2 9 Scott Central 7-3 10 Leland 9-2 11 Hollandale Simmons 8-2 12 St. Patrick 7-3 13 Walnut 9-2 14 Enterprise 8-3 15 Bruce 7-4 Ackerman climbed two spots to No. 5 and Bassfield moved up four notches to No. 6. Scott Central, unranked last week, is now No. 9. Enterprise fell all the way from No. 5 to No. 14, while Bruce slid from No. 6 to No. 15 and St. Andrew's fell out of the rankings after being No. 9 last week. East Marion (6-4), North Forrest (7-4), Hinds AHS (8-3), Leflore County (7-4), and South Delta (7-4). 1 East Webster 10-0 2 Durant 11-0 3 Ray Broks 10-0 4 Puckett 10-0 5 Mt. Olive 10-1 6 Greenville St. Joseph 9-1 7 Weir 9-2 8 Sebastopol 8-2 9 Calhoun City 8-2 10 West Lowndes 7-4 11 Vardaman 8-3 12 Stringer 7-3 13 Bogue Chitto 8-3 14 Smithville 8-3 15 Nanih Waiya 7-4 There was absolutely no movement in Class 1A this week. There was absolutely no movement in Class 1A this week. Shaw, 6-4, is hoping to pull the upset at East Webster on Friday night. Drew, at 8-2, is also on the verge of breaking in to the rankings. 1 Jackson Prep 10-1 2 Magnolia Heights 9-1 3 Jackson Academy 7-4 4 Washington 8-3 5 MRA 6-5 6 Pillow 9-3 7 Lamar 9-3 8 Winston 12-0 9 Kirk 10-2 10 Clarksdale Lee 8-3 11 Parklane 7-3 12 Centreville 10-2 13 Trinity Episcopal 12-1 14 Porters Chapel 13-0 15 Canton 9-3 Washington School moved up three spots to No. 4 with its convincing 42-7 playoff win over Lamar School, ,while Jackson Academy edged up spot to No. 3 despite losing 21-7 to top-ranked Jackson Prep. Canton, 9-3, entered the rankings at No. 15. Pillow fell three spots to No. 6 and Lamar tumbled two rungs to No. 7 after their playoff losses. A playoff win could move Bowling Green (8-3) or Oak Forest (6-5) into the Top 15.