×

Sun-Gazette power rankings: Week 8

1. Montoursville (7-0): Jersey Shore scored two first-quarter touchdowns against Montoursville five weeks ago. The starting defense has allowed just two touchdowns over 19 quarters since then. That drives home how outstanding this defense has been. Or to put it another way, those starters have nearly produced as many points as they have allowed during that stretch with Dillon Young returning an interception for a touchdown.

2. Jersey Shore (4-3): Three Bulldog losses have come against teams that are a combined 19-2. Encouraging for Jersey Shore in those performances is the way it has moved the ball at times against tremendous defenses. The Bulldogs lost an outstanding group of seniors from last year’s District 4 Class AAAA champion, but the tradition continues. Give coach Tom Gravish and his staff a lot of credit for keeping things going strong.

3. Canton (7-0): Dominant at home in four routs this season. If it takes that act on the road the next two weeks, than Canton will ensure that it can stay home for districts and clinch Class A homefield advantage. In those four home games, Canton has allowed just 28 points. The Warriors are 17-2 over the last two seasons and have a good group of young players coming along as well.

4. Wellsboro (6-1): Quinn Henry established himself as one of the best players in program history from 2014-17. Now it is Logan Henry making a big impact. Henry has five sacks over his last three games, helping fuel a resurgent defense. Henry also caught a touchdown pass last week and has produced a 100-yard rushing game this season.

5. Lewisburg (5-2): That Lewisburg has a shot at capturing a share of the HAC-I championship tonight is mighty impressive considering the team’s youth (five seniors), injuries and a 1-2 start. Coach Marc Persing and his staff have shined and a hard-working group of players have made enormous strides the last four weeks.

6. Loyalsock (4-3): A year ago, the Lancers broke out of a midseason funk and won their last four games while earning a first-round home playoff game. You better believe the Lancers are hoping history repeats itself. If a defense that has been downright nasty the last two weeks continue flourishing, that might just happen.

7. Warrior Run (4-3): Last week, Warrior Run made a nice statement. If the Defenders could upset Central Columbia tonight, they could shout from the mountain tops that they have become district title contenders. Doing so will be difficult, but Warrior Run is buying in, believing and is two victories from achieving its first winning season since 2006.

8. South Williamsport (4-3): The way South competed against Central Columbia a week ago reveals how dangerous this team can be in the Class A playoffs. South has only 25 players on its roster, but those 25 are putting it all out there each week and building on this program’s rich tradition.

9. Muncy (4-3): Speaking of District 4 Class A title contenders, the defending champions have worked their way back into the mix and are looking quite dangerous. The offensive line played one of its best games last week and the team’s first-time starters are proving quick learners. If Muncy can win Saturday at CMVT it will likely set up a winner-take-all showdown with Sayre for the NTL-II title in Week 9. The Indians have won a district or league title in three straight years.

10. North Penn-Mansfield (4-3): Speaking of young teams that have come along quicker than many, this reporter included, would have thought, North Penn-Mansfield is again putting together a quality season. The Panthers might be just getting started, considering they have an underclassmen-laden roster. Junior linebacker Brett Harvey is one of those players and made 11 tackles while adding a sack in last week’s victory.

11. Williamsport (3-4): Everything looked so promising after four weeks, but a combination of injuries and off-the-field distractions have knocked the Millionaires off course. That is not a good recipe with the best regular-season team Williamsport will play this year coming to town. Still, this team is loaded with promising sophomores and the future remains bright.

12. Montgomery (2-5): Yes, Muncy ended up winning last week’s Old Shoe Game, 27-7, but it could have been a lot worse. Montgomery kept hanging in when little went right and pulled within 13-7 late in the third quarter. That says a lot about how this program’s and this particular team’s mindset have changed because Montgomery would have been run off the field in that situation in the past.

13. Cowanesque Valley (2-5): This team has come a long way this season. Featuring only four senior starters and coming off a winless season, CV has shown tremendous improvement. Seth Huyler is one of the more exciting area players many do not know a lot about and there is something promising being built in Westfield.

14. Bucktail (1-5): If Gage Sutliff goes over 1,000 yards tonight he becomes just the second Bucktail running back to do so since 2004. Even more impressive, he is averaging 161 yards rushing per game, second among District 4 running backs.

15. Central Mountain (0-7): Quarterback Zane Probst needs just 12 yards tonight to reach 3,000 career yards. That is quite an achievement considering he did not become the starter until his junior year.

16. Milton (0-7): One searching for positives can look at the way Milton made District 4 leading rusher Aidan Hauser earn all his yards a week ago. Hauser ran for 118 yards but that was his fewest gained this year and he also was held to a season-low 6.2 yards per carry.

17. Hughesville (0-7): It has been a rough year, but the season-ending schedule offers Hughesville a shot at turning things around.

Chris Masse may be reached through email at: cmasse@sungazette.com. Follow him on Twitter at @docmasse

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

Starting at $4.62/week.

Subscribe Today