Week 5 high school football rankings

By foxsports
Published


Varsity Xtra football rankings as of Sept. 22:

DIVISION I


1. Mountain Pointe 5-0

2. Red Mountain 5-0

3. Desert Vista 4-1

4. Brophy 4-2

5. Hamilton 3-2

6. Chandler 4-1

7. Desert Ridge 4-1

8. Basha 4-1

9. Desert Mountain 5-0

10. Pinnacle 5-0

Mountain Pointe affirms itself atop the rankings by knocking off Chandler, while Red Mountain, Desert Vista and Brophy stay put at Nos. 2, 3 and 4. Hamilton breaks back into the top 5 with an easy win over Mesquite, while Chandler drops one spot after losing a thriller to the Pride. Desert Ridge jumps Basha because the Bears struggled to put away Highland. Desert Mountain sticks at No. 9 with a last-second win against Notre Dame, while Pinnacle leapfrogs Westview with a win over previously undefeated Horizon.

DIVISION II

1. Centennial 5-0

2. Ironwood Ridge 5-0

3. Salpointe 5-1

4. Marcos de Niza 4-1

5. Cesar Chavez 5-0

6. Chaparral 2-3

7. Horizon 4-1

8. Notre Dame 2-3

9. Apollo 4-1

10. Perry 3-2

Centennial is clearly the Division II favorite at this point as it stays comfortably atop the rankings. Ironwood Ridge moves up to No. 2 behind a strong showing at Marcos de Niza this week and gets its shot at Centennial on Friday. Salpointe stays at No. 3, while the Padres drop to No. 4 with the loss. Cesar Chavez sticks at No. 5, while Chaparral moves up a spot with an easy win over McClintock. Horizon drops a spot after losing to undefeated Pinnacle, while Notre Dame stays at No. 8 because it hung tough before dropping a last-second contest to undefeated Desert Mountain. Apollo rejoins the rankings at No. 9 while Perry stays at No. 10. Cienega drops out after a loss to Marana Mountain View.

DIVISION III

1. Saguaro 4-1

2. Sabino 5-0

3. Queen Creek 5-0

4. Liberty 5-0

5. Desert Edge 5-0

6. Cactus 3-2

7. Thunderbird 3-2

8. Williams Field 5-0

9. Paradise Valley 3-2

10. Sunrise Mountain 4-1

Saguaro’s dominant win over Cactus vaults it back to the familiar position of No. 1. Sabino slides down to No. 2 through no fault of its own but has not played near the competition Saguaro has thus far. Queen Creek continues to impress and moves up to No. 3, followed by another pair of undefeateds in Liberty and Desert Edge. Cactus drops four spots to No. 6, while Thunderbird and Williams Field stand pat. Paradise Valley moves up one spot with an easy win over Moon Valley, while Sunrise Mountain drops a spot but stays in after a loss to Liberty. Tempe is knocking on the door after improving to 4-1 with an easy win over Washington.

Division IV

1. Blue Ridge 6-0

2. Show Low 5-0

3. Coolidge 5-0

4. Seton Catholic 4-1

5. Mingus 4-1

No changes here as everyone won out. Coolidge hammered Florence but an interesting matchup comes next week when the Bears face San Tan Foothills. The other big game pits St. Johns at Blue Ridge next Friday, although the Yellow Jackets have appeared as dominant as ever (and that’s saying something at Blue Ridge).

Division V


1. NW Christian 5-0

2. Yuma Catholic 4-1

3. Scottsdale Christian 3-1

4. Tempe Prep 3-1

5. Phoenix Christian 5-0

St. Johns falls out of the rankings, though they lost to a good Snowflake team on Friday night, and the task gets twice as tough with No. 1 Blue Ridge (Div. IV) next Friday night. This schedule only helps the Johnnies later. That loss, however, opens the door for Phoenix Christian to move into the rankings at No. 5 ahead of fellow undefeateds Morenci and Williams. Scottsdale Christian and Tempe Prep — which moved up one spot to No. 4 for now after the St. Johns loss — will shake things up a bit next week after their Saturday night game. Yuma Catholic pulled off an impressive 37-24 win at Div. IV Buckeye on Friday night.

Division VI

1. Pima 5-0

2. Mogollon 5-0

3. Scottsdale Prep 5-0

4. Joseph City 5-0

5. Joy Christian 5-0

No changes here as everyone won out.

The week ahead

This is a week to be a fan of high school football. Six of the best teams in Division I face off, as do the top two teams in Division II and a pair of defending state champions when Desert Vista (Div. I) hosts Saguaro (Div. III).

Even though Chandler and Hamilton are only in the middle tier of the top-10 right now, it’s still the biggest draw of the week. The Huskies have never lost to the Wolves, but this matchup gets the entire city of Chandler giddy, and once again it features a pair of teams with the talent to win a state title.

Over in Mesa, Red Mountain turned heads with an upset of Brophy a couple weeks back, and now it gets a tough test against Desert Ridge. The teams split a pair of games last season, as the Jaguars avenged a regular season loss by beating Red Mountain in the playoffs. While Desert Ridge was favored last year, Red Mountain will be this year.

Mountain Pointe is 3-0 against Hamilton, Desert Vista and Chandler this season and now faces preseason No. 1 Brophy. The Pride have won those first three games by an average of two points, and this could be another hotly contested matchup.

Desert Vista trailed Saguaro 28-6 at halftime of last year’s game but rallied for a 31-28 victory. The Sabercats found their groove on Friday with a 67-14 rout of Cactus.

In Divison II, Ironwood Ridge hosts top-ranked Centennial in what could be a state championship preview.

Elsewhere, Notre Dame at Chaparral is pivotal because both teams are off to uncharacteristically slow starts, Pinnacle at Mesa Mountain View is a matchup of two teams playing well, and Cactus hosts Thunderbird in a key Division III game.

Among the top small school matchups: Blue Ridge hosts St. Johns and Mogollon meets Scottsdale Prep.