By Mark Tennis, Ronnie Flores & Steve Brand 

This is the 30th year in which CalHiSports.com has been providing weekly state rankings. At the end of the season, we will be releasing final rankings according to our traditional five divisions based on league and playoff strength. Check this site on Wednesdays during the current season for updates.

Division I North

1.   (2)  De La Salle (Concord) 6-1
2.   (3)  Oak Grove (San Jose) 7-0
3.   (4)  Granite Bay 7-0
4.   (5)  Grant (Sacramento) 8-0
5.   (7)  Monte Vista (Danville) 7-0
6.   (8)  Gilroy 7-0
7.   (1)  Bellarmine (San Jose) 6-1
8.  (nr) Junipero Serra (San Mateo) 4-3
9.  (9)  Merced 6-1
10. (10) Nevada Union (Grass Valley) 7-0
Others: California (San Ramon) 4-3, Del Campo (Fair Oaks) 7-0, Foothill (Pleasanton) 5-2, Freedom (Oakley) 7-0, Lincoln (Stockton) 6-1, Napa 6-1, Pittsburg 6-1, San Ramon Valley (Danville) 6-1.
Rundown: There is a reason teams with 3-3 records like Junipero Serra (San Mateo) and California (San Ramon) hang around on the cusp of the top 10. Every loss is to a good team. And now so are some wins. Serra, which had lost to De La Salle, McQueen of Reno and Valley Christian, handed Bellarmine its first loss, 31-23. And California stunned San Ramona Valley (Danville), 24-21. De La Salle is No. 1 -- which means business as usual. So now the Spartans, which are still unbeaten against state opponents but ranked behind SoCal's Poly (Long Beach) and Centennial (Corona), will become the main target starting at home with No. 5 and 7-0 Monte Vista (Danville) Friday night.

Division I South
1.   (1) Poly (Long Beach) 7-0
2.   (2) Centennial (Corona) 7-0
3.   (3) Los Alamitos 7-0
4.   (4) Redlands East Valley (Redlands) 7-0
5.   (5) Tesoro (Las Flores) 7-0
6.   (15) Chaparral (Temecula) 6-1
7.   (6) Edison (Huntington Beach) 5-2
8.   (7) Vista Murrieta (Murrieta) 6-1
9.   (9) Los Osos (Rancho Cucamonga) 6-1
10. (11) Mission Viejo 6-1
11.   (8)  Upland 6-1
12.  (nr)  A.B. Miller (Fontana) 7-0
13. (15) Rancho Verde (Moreno Valley) 7-0
14.  (nr) Buchanan (Clovis) 6-1
15.  (nr) Narbonne (Harbor City) 6-1
Others: Clovis West (Fresno) 5-3, Compton 6-0, Loyola (Los Angeles) 4-3, Oxnard 7-0, San Clemente 6-1, San Pedro 6-1, Santiago (Corona) 5-2, Thousand Oaks 6-1, Valencia 6-1, West Valley (Hemet) 7-0.
Rundown: The top two ranked clubs definitely have aspirations to play in the open division bowl game, especially after No. 2 Centennial's 47-35 victory over Div. II South contender Mater Dei in week two, but some of the other top teams would be perfect candidates in this division since it might be a NorCal-SoCal match up of clubs with only a regional following. No. 4 Redlands East Valley would love to showcase its program on a statewide level should it prevail in the same CIFSS Inland playoff division that Centennial will compete in. The same holds true for new No. 6 Chaparral of Temecula. The Southwestern League in Riverside County is primed to make some noise on the statewide level and has been clamoring for a shot at a high-level team from another part of the state for the past few seasons. Don't forget about No. 8 Los Osos, either, as the Grizzlies could be a viable candidate should they defeat 6-0-1 Rancho Cucamonga on Halloween and go on to win the CIFSS Central Division title. Chaparral makes the big move this week after its 28-27 win over previous No. 7 Vista Murrieta. Although Vista Murrieta had won 26 straight regular-season games, 16 straight home games and 11 consecutive Southwestern League matches, it was Chaparral that prevailed in overtime on Nick Fernandez' extra point kick. Coach Coley Candaele's team couldn't drop too far, either, since it has a head-to-head win over No. 9 Los Osos.

Division II North
1.   (1) Valley Christian (San Jose)  6-1
2.   (2) Casa Roble (Orangevale) 7-0
3.   (3) St. Mary's (Stockton) 5-2
4.   (4) Whitney (Rocklin) 7-0
5.   (5) Las Lomas (Walnut Creek) 6-1
6.   (6) Novato 6-2
7.   (9) Inderkum (Sacramento) 6-1
8. (10) Campolindo (Moraga) 6-1
9.  (nr) Paradise 7-1
10. (nr) Miramonte (Orinda) 5-2
Others: Bear River (Lake of the Pines) 5-2, Bishop O'Dowd (Oakland) 6-1, Del Oro (Loomis) 2-5, Encinal (Alameda) 7-0, Escalon 7-0, Sacred Heart Cathedral (San Francisco) 4-3.
Rundown: Since the top six teams won, there was no movement until Nos. 7 and 8 where Inderkum (Sacramento) and Campolindo (Moraga) moved up a notch. There has been a lot of movement in the lower rungs of this division as no school seems to want to step up against solid competition. No. 5 Las Lomas (Walnut Creek) and Campolindo (Moraga) put their 6-1 overall marks and 2-0 Diablo Foothill League records on the line Friday at Las Lomas. Paradise was picked to go in as one of the newcomers since a team it beat earlier this year, Lassen of Susanville, handed Div. III-ranked West Valley of Cottonwood a loss last week. The Bobcats' only loss is by one point in their first game to Div. I Pitman of Turlock. They won back-to-back Northern Section Division I titles in 2005 and 2006 before Foothill of Palo Cedro took it all last season.

Division II South
1.   (1) Oceanside 7-0
2.   (2) Notre Dame (Sherman Oaks) 7-0
3.   (3) Crespi (Encino) 6-1
4.   (4) Bishop Amat (La Puente) 6-1
5.   (5) Lutheran (Orange) 6-1
6.   (6) St. John Bosco (Bellflower) 6-1
7.   (7) Cathedral Catholic (San Diego) 7-0
8.   (8) Mater Dei (Santa Ana) 5-2
9.   (9) Servite (Anaheim) 4-3
10. (11) Moorpark 6-1
11. (10) Edison (Fresno) 6-1
12, (12) Alemany (Mission Hills) 6-1
13. (13) Tulare 8-0
14. (14) Westlake (Westlake Village) 5-2
15. (15) Paso Robles 6-1
Others: Atascadero 6-2, Cathedral (Los Angeles) 7-0, Citrus Hill (Perris) 7-0, El Diamante (Visalia) 6-1, El Segundo 6-1, Helix (La Mesa) 5-1-1, Laguna Hills 7-0, North (Torrance) 7-0, San Dimas 7-0.
Rundown: There is not much movement in this division as the only loss among the Top 15 was St. John Bosco's 34-21 setback to Orange Lutheran in a Trinity league showdown witnessed by CalHiSports.com. All that did was solidify Lutheran's claim at No. 5 and its standing as a true threat to win the CIFSS Pac-Five Division title. It certainly didn't diminish the ranking of St. John Bosco, only its overall record. The 10-point win by No. 7 Cathedral Catholic over Mira Mesa was impressive because that team handed Helix of la Mesa its only loss so far. The Serra League opens this week and every league game over the final three weeks of the regular season will be a showdown, and will effect these ratings, since the four teams are a combined 23-5 against strong competition. Bishop Amat plays Loyola Saturday at Glendale and No. 2 Notre Dame travels to No. 3 Crespi for a big-time Halloween clash. Top-ranked Oceanside would love to see Crespi win that game since the Golden Knights are undefeated whereas the Celts have dropped a game to Div. III South front-runner St. Bonaventure of Ventura.

Division III North
1.   (1) Cardinal Newman (Santa Rosa) 7-0
2.   (2) Palma (Salinas) 6-1
3.   (3) Central Catholic (Modesto) 6-1
4.   (4) Sutter 7-1
5.   (5) Marin Catholic (Kentfield) 5-2
6.   (8) Carmel 5-1
7.   (9) King's Academy (Sunnyvale) 8-0
8.  (10) St. Patrick-St. Vincent (Vallejo) 7-1
9.   (nr) Colfax 4-3
10. (6) West Valley (Cottonwood) 6-2
Others: Hilmar 6-1, Justin-Siena (Napa) 4-4, Kennedy (Richmond) 4-3, Menlo School (Atherton) 6-1, Wheatland 7-1.
Rundown: This division has the least movement, meaning the top five teams are very solid and none of the others have made a big enough impression to unseat any of the others. But two of the leaders have very tough matchups this week. No. 2 Palma will play unbeaten Division I-ranked Gilroy at the Salinas Sports Conplex Friday and Cardinal Newman could get tested Friday when it plays at 7-0 Division I Rancho Cotate of Rohnert Park. St. Patrick/St. Vincent (Vallejo) also plays unbeaten Encinal of Alameda on Friday night in a Bay Shore showdown. The only dropout from last week was previous No. 7 Menlo School, which lost its first game, 35-2, to Woodside. Colfax just beat El Dorado of Placerville, 42-7, and its last loss was by just 34-27 to D2 Whitney of Rocklin so the Falcons were picked to go in.

Division III South
1.   (1) St. Bonaventure (Ventura) 6-1
2.   (2) Oaks Christian (Westlake Village) 7-0
3.   (3) Serra (Gardena) 7-0
4.   (5) Exeter 7-0
5.   (4) St. Paul (Santa Fe Springs) 3-4
6.   (7) Bakersfield Christian 6-1
7.   (6) Harvard-Westlake (N. Hollywood) 4-2-1
8.   (8) Valley Christian (Cerritos) 6-1
9.   (9) Corcoran 7-0
10. (10) St. Joseph (Santa Maria) 6-1

Others: Chowchilla 6-1, Fowler 7-1, Maranatha (Sierra Madre) 7-0, Taft 6-1, Twentynine Palms 6-2.
Rundown: There are very few teams in the state, and only three in this division, that could play teams such as Div II. power Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks on a weekly basis and expect to survive. St. Paul of Santa Fe Springs has faced a brutal schedule and that where the argument starts -- record versus schedule. In this situation, St. Paul doesn't deserve to drop far because its non-league schedule has included Div. II South contenders Servite of Anaheim, St. John Bosco and Notre Dame, not to mention all the other teams in the Mission League are Div. II enrollment schools. No. 3 Serra of Gardena has shown it deserves some consideration for the No. 2 spot with Oaks Christian, but top-ranked St. Bonaventure is clearly the best team in this division even with its loss. Although the Seraphs are prohibitive favorites this week, the scoreboard could get quite a workout when St. Bonaventure faces Santa Barbara and its record-setting QB John Uribe on Thursday.

Small Schools North
1.   (1) Modesto Christian 6-1
2.   (2) Ferndale 7-0
3.   (3) St. Vincent (Petaluma) 7-0
4.   (5) Hamilton (Hamilton City) 6-2
5.  (nr) Rio Vista 8-0
Others: Capital Christian (Sacramento) 4-3, Modoc (Alturas) 8-0, Portola 7-1, Quincy 7-1, Vacaville Christian 5-1.
Rundown: The Mid-Valley League of the Northern Section has a four-way tie for first and three of those teams are being considered in the above rankings. That means eventual showdowns and another one of those comes this week when Quincy plays Portola. Quincy suffered its first loss last week, 33-13, to East Nicolaus, which is now one of the four teams tied atop the league standings.

Small Schools South
1.   (1) Santa Clara (Oxnard) 7-0
2.   (2) St. Margaret's (SJ Capistrano) 7-0
3.   (3) Christian (El Cajon) 8-0
4.   (4) Parker (San Diego) 6-1
5.   (5) Aquinas (San Bernardino) 6-1
Others: Boron 7-1, Brentwood (Los Angeles) 6-1, Central Valley Christian (Visalia) 5-2, Saddleback Valley Christian (SJ Capistrano) 7-0, Riverside Christian 7-0, Santa Fe Christian (Solana Beach) 4-3.
Rundown: It was supposed to be the first real test for Christian (El Cajon) when the Patriots battled always tough Santa Fe Christian, which schedules up and often sees the benefits late in the year. This time, though, Christian had way too much firepower in rolling to the 45-21 Coastal League win. Christian and No. 4 Francis Parker (San Diego) play in the season finale. Top-ranked Santa Clara (Oxnard) continues to play close  and win against league opponents from higher enrollment divisions and won last week, 21-7, over Oak Park of Agoura Hills. Most assume the Saints will lose when they play Oaks Christian and if that indeed does happen then it will be a tough call at the top between Christian and St. Margaret's. If you look at strength of schedule, especially considering some of the big schools that the Patriots have played so far, then Christian may have the edge. St. Margaret's, though, is in a much stronger playoff division in the Southern Section this year than in the past so once all games are played, including the playoffs, the strength of schedule argument between the two gets much closer. Even if St. Margaret's is on the board with a 42-game win streak, we still see the potential decision in this division to be perhaps the toughest one for the section commissioners on selection day.

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