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    Which sport are you most excited for?

    Which high school sport do you look most forward to following in the 2011-12 school year?


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    JEFF BEIERMANN/THE WORLD-HERALD


    Crete quarterback Derek McGinnis looks for an open receiver. Crete is ranked 8th in the latest Nebraska Top 10 prep football ratings.




    FOOTBALL

    Pair of Class B powers earn Top 10 ranking

    Two games into the season, there are only eight undefeated teams left in Class A and only five of them included in this week's ratings.

    We can separate the eight undefeateds into three categories.

    Nebraska Prep Rankings
    Top 10 W-L PF-PA
     1. Millard South 2-0 73-17
     2. Creighton Prep 2-0 42-20
     3. Millard North 1-1 27-17
     4. Lincoln Southeast 2-0 27-14
     5. Millard West 1-1 52-55
     6. Omaha Burke 1-1 31-37
     7. Omaha North 1-1 34-43
     8. Crete 2-0 92-3
     9. Aurora 2-0 90-38
    10. Lincoln Northeast 2-0 66-12

    CLASS A
     1. Millard South 2-0 73-17
     2. Creighton Prep 2-0 42-20
     3. Millard North 1-1 27-17
     4. Lincoln Southeast 2-0 27-14
     5. Millard West 1-1 52-55
     6. Omaha Burke 1-1 31-37
     7. Omaha North 1-1 34-43
     8. Lincoln Northeast 2-0 66-12
     9. Omaha Central 0-2 24-36
    10. Kearney 2-0 36-14

    CLASS B
     1. Crete 2-0 92-3
     2. Aurora 2-0 90-38
     3. Elkhorn 2-0 55-26
     4. Blair 1-1 34-28
     5. Lincoln Pius X 2-0 45-7
     6. Omaha Gross 1-1 49-14
     7. Adams Central 2-0 72-16
     8. McCook 1-1 39-49
     9. Ralston 2-0 59-28
    10. Boys Town 2-0 60-13

    CLASS C-1
     1. Norfolk Catholic 1-0 38-3
     2. Pierce 1-0 41-0
     3. Wahoo Neumann 2-0 81-35
     4. Syracuse 1-0 3-0
     5. Wahoo 1-0 45-0
     6. Ogallala 1-0 33-0
     7. Grand Island CC 1-0 14-10
     8. Ashland-GW 2-0 68-18
     9. Gordon-Rushville 2-0 69-0
    10. Gothenburg 2-0 38-27

    CLASS C-2
     1. Hastings SC 1-0 42-0
     2. Crofton 1-0 28-13
     3. David City Aq. 1-0 37-6
     4. Fremont Bergan 2-0 62-6
     5. Elmwood-Murdock 1-0 34-13
     6. Cambridge 1-0 34-6
     7. Ponca 2-0 68-30
     8. Blue Hill 1-0 15-14
     9. Wilber-Clatonia 1-0 20-14
    10. Ravenna 1-0 28-0

    EIGHT MAN-1
     1. Bancroft-Rosalie 1-0 58-7
     2. Creighton 2-0 72-22
     3. Overton 1-0 65-20
     4. Arapahoe 1-0 32-7
     5. Johnson-Brock 1-0 40-26
     6. BD/Shickley 1-0 32-18
     7. Fullerton 2-0 76-26
     8. Osmond 1-0 57-12
     9. Deshler 1-0 50-14
    10. Alma 1-0 55-19

    EIGHT MAN-2
     1. Howells 1-0 40-6
     2. Sargent 1-0 85-12
     3. Humphrey SF 2-0 116-6
     4. Bloomfield 1-0 60-0
     5. Hayes Center 1-0 30-16
     6. Pleasanton 1-0 35-14
     7. Giltner 2-0 124-20
     8. Sterling 1-0 50-12
     9. Humphrey 1-0 36-14
    10. Mullen 1-0 55-16

    SIX MAN
     1. Arthur County 1-0 87-19
     2. Greeley-Wolbach 1-0 62-0
     3. Cedar Rapids 1-0 81-6
     4. Wheeler Central 1-0 36-10
     5. Elkhorn Valley 1-0 69-13

    Standing alone are No. 1 Millard South and No. 2 Omaha Creighton Prep, each a perennial state contender with a win over a top-five team. The next group has the other three ranked teams, No. 4 Lincoln Southeast, No. 8 Lincoln Northeast and No. 10 Kearney, each lacking a quality win. And then there are the three unranked teams that have beaten only winless teams — Papillion-La Vista, Lincoln North Star and Omaha South.

    Consequently, the Top 10 this week adds a second Class B power. Two-time defending Class B champion Aurora draws the No. 9 spot, behind Class B leader Crete in eighth, after beating McCook 43-25. The Huskies are riding a 25-game winning streak.

    Millard South's 36-17 win over previous No. 2 Millard West made a strong case that the Patriots (2-0) are the team to beat in Class A. That pronouncement certainly will come if they are 6-0 after a rugged three-week stretch, starting Sept. 17 with No. 3 Millard North, that also has them playing No. 9 Omaha Central on Sept. 24 and Prep on Oct. 1.

    “We executed well at times. I don't know what else to say other than we came out and did what we wanted to do,'' Millard South coach Andy Means said. “We wanted to get ahead to make them have to speed up a little bit. Our defense did a great job, until the end, getting the ball back for us and we made the plays then (on offense).''

    Millard West (1-1) drops only to fifth in the new Top 10. The team is barely behind Southeast, which held on for a 7-0 win over winless Papillion-La Vista South. The Knights' opening overtime win over Lincoln Southwest waned in significance, too, when the Silverhawks fell to 0-2 with a 27-10 loss to an Omaha Westside team that had won just one game since the 2008 season.

    Burke and North, each 1-1 with a narrow win over Central, are sixth and seventh, respectively. The Class A order after that is Northeast, Central and Kearney. Northeast pounded 1-1 Norfolk 34-0 after an opening win over Fremont. My belief is that none of the other four undefeateds, including Kearney, would have done any better than Central in its 21-16 loss to Burke and its 15-8 loss to North.

    Kearney, for instance, has struggled to score in wins over Columbus (1-1) and Lincoln East (0-2). Papillion-La Vista has beaten Papio South and Bellevue East (0-2). North Star's wins are over Lincoln East and Omaha Benson (0-2). Omaha South's are against 0-2s Omaha Northwest and Lincoln High.

    Other classes: Boys Town, making the jump from Class C-1, is 10th in Class B after beating Plattsmouth 27-7. The Cowboys visit ratings contender Bennington, another former C-1 team, on Friday.

    Gordon-Rushville and Gothenburg, each 2-0, enter the C-1 ratings after Broken Bow lost to St. Paul 27-26 and Chadron lost 33-14 to Alliance the opening weekend.

    Other ratings newcomers are Wilber-Clatonia and Ravenna in C-2; Bruning-Davenport/Shickley, Fullerton, Osmond, Deshler and Alma in Eight Man-1; and Elkhorn Valley in Six Man.

    Streaks snapped: Centura ended a 36-game losing streak — the Centurions hadn't won since 2005 — by beating host Cozad 32-14. It was the second game for new coach Greg Hansen, whose teams at Stanton were 58-16 over seven years. Wilcox-Hildreth stopped its 20-game losing streak with a 34-24 win over Red Cloud, which lost its 11th straight.

    Top games this week (kickoff times 7 p.m. unless noted):
    Class A—Thursday: Bellevue West-Lincoln SE at Seacrest. Friday: Om. Central-Millard North at Buell, Lincoln Northeast-Lincoln North Star at Seacrest (4:30), Kearney at Grand Island. Class B—Friday: Aurora at Adams Central, Schuyler at Ralston, Boys Town at Bennington. Class C-1—Friday: Wahoo at Syracuse, Milford at David City. Class C-2—Friday: Hastings SC at Blue Hill. Eight Man-1—Friday: Bancroft-Rosalie at Osmond, Bloomfield at Creighton, Overton at Axtell, Alma at Eustis-Farnam. Eight Man-2—Friday: Loomis at Pleasanton, Lawrence-Nelson at Sterling. Six Man—Friday: Cedar Rapids at Arthur County (2:30 MT), Wheeler Central at Elkhorn Valley.


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