The fifth state rankings for the 2020 the season have been released by the NYSSWA.  Below are the WNY teams that made the cut:

 

Class AA

Niagara Falls #30

 

Class A

Canisius #2

Park #3

Health Sciences #4

St. Joe's #9

Lew-Port #30

 

Class B

Allegany-Limestone #20

Timon #29

Fredonia #30

 

Class C

Tapestry #2

Middle College #4

Randolph #6

Westfield #14

 

Class D

Panama #1

 

According to the rankings…

 

– Section VI owns the coveted #30 ranking.  Niagara Falls (Class AA), Lew-Port (Class A), and Fredonia (Class B) all have #30 on lock down.  This would not be possible if we were still living in the stone ages of December 17, 2019 – back when the state rankings began this year and only 25 teams were ranked.  I forgot to check which college football & basketball teams were ranked #30 in the AP & Coaches Polls, but I'll get on that.

 

– We finally have a Class AA winner from Section VI.  It was getting a little touch-and-go there for a while not knowing whether we'd even be allowed to send a team to the Far West Regional in Class AA.  But thanks to Falls' recent play, along with a Top 30 that's five teams more inclusive than a Top 25, We get a Falls vs UPrep rematch in March (One of Falls' two losses on the season was to UPrep at the Bishop Kearney Showcase in December).

 

– WNY now has four teams in the Top 10 of NYS Class A, including 2, 3, & 4.  

 

– Canisius is now better than Park.  I'm not sure if they think Cansius would have defeated Canadian power Crestwood or Brooklyn Collegiate (NYS Class AA #4), who Park lost to over the weekend, but those were the results that tipped the scales in favor of the Crusaders.

 

– Park sits at #3 in NYS Class A with four losses, so clearly the state rankings have put those losses into some sort of context, which I can appreciate.  But Albany Academy is ranked #6 with three losses, which all came in Florida.  They've climbed back up to #6 after dropping from #1 to #10.  It's one of those discrepancies that stands out to me a little.  Maybe those Florida teams weren't all that and the state rankings crew knew that…although I'm listing that possibility as doubtful.

 

– Allegany-Limestone moves up three spots in NYS Class B to #20, one spot ahead of where Olean was ranked last week, after defeating the Huskies head-to-head on Friday.  The Gators are the current kings of Cattaraugus County. 

 

– Randolph moved up one spot in NYS Class C to #6 after knocking off Cardinal O'Hara.  That gives Section VI three of the top six teams in NYS Class C.

 

– Westfield makes it four Section VI teams in the top 14 of NYS Class C, moving up three spots after defeating NYS Class D #1 Panama on Friday.

 

– Park losing to Brooklyn Collegiate (#4 in NYS Class AA) was a bigger deal than Panama losing to Westfield.  Despite the first loss of the 2020 season, Panama remains ranked #1 in NYS, ahead of four undefeated teams in the same classification and ahead of Section V's highest ranked squad from Prattsburgh.  Most likely, the conversation went like this:

Committee:  "What should we do with Panama after losing at home to Westfield?"     

Tracy Presler from Prattsburgh storms into the room:  "Stop the crazy talk!!  Section VI has the D's!!"

Committee:  "Nuf said"

 

Click HERE for complete NYSSWA State Rankings

 

-centercourt