Wrapping up 2002
By Sheldon Shealer
Debate will rage on for years to come --Who should have been No. 1 in 2002, Gilman or Georgetown Prep?
Gilman went coast-to-coast at No. 1 in Baltimore. Prep is the new No. 1 in the D.C. Metro area.
The AP voters went with Gilman in a close vote.
Here's an unscientific understanding behind some of the voting. As a rule, we do not release an individual's votes, unless an AP voting member chooses otherwise. The reason is simple -- no one person's votes are more important than another, and the objective in the AP poll is the sum of the members votes -- not just one of the voter's opinion.
That said, each week, Mark Thomas makes public his weekly votes. Mark has been sold on Georgetown Prep since the preseason. I, on the other hand, have teetered between Gilman and Prep. Anyone who knows me, if nothing else, knows I'm fair to the results. Two things I look for is quality results against a quality schedule AND comparison results that shed light on a fair ranking. Gilman put together a schedule that included DeMatha, Urbana and league rival Calvert Hall -- all ranked in the Top 10 when the teams went head-to-head. On the other hand, Prep's victory over Loyola -- the lone common opponent between Prep and Gilman -- was so compelling that Prep warranted serious No. 1 consideration. And therein lies the reason for my wavering. Both have a legitimate claim for No. 1. When it came down to it, though, I went with Gilman. I felt the Greyhounds intentionally assembled a schedule that merited a state No. 1 ranking with an undefeated record, and the Greyhounds delivered. However, by casting my lot for the Greyhounds, it is not an indictment against Prep nor its schedule. And it's not meant to mean that I'm 100 percent sold that Gilman would beat Prep if they played. I'm basically saying, Gilman made a more compelling argument for No. 1 by taking out more high quality Maryland teams. Prep is very worthy of a No. 1 ranking, unfortunately, I can only vote for one team at the top.
Apparently, seven other AP voters felt the same as I did, that's why the Greyhounds eked out the final No. 1 ranking in this year's poll. In doing so, Gilman becomes the first Baltimore area team to finish No. 1 since City College in 1992.
In fact, despite a generally poor public school playoff showing, it was a stellar season for the top Baltimore teams. State No. 1 Gilman and state No. 4 Hereford, which started 1-2 in the Baltimore area, led the way, with Calvert Hall finishing as state No. 5. The Cardinals were No. 5 in the Baltimore preseason poll. The D.C. area underwent quite a changing of the guard. The Metro area's preseason No. 1 and 2 teams -- DeMatha and Urbana -- failed to finish among the Post Top 10.
Breaking down the AP poll, 13 of the preseason Top 17 teams (76 percent) finished among the Top 25. In total, from the preseason AP Top 25, 16 finished in the Top 25 (64 percent) -- an amazing feat considering the natural turnover that often takes place during the course of the season. After all, the preseason Top 25 is taken from a pool of 200 teams. As a point of comparison, using the two major metro rankings, only eight of the Baltimore preseason Top 15 (53 percent) finished in The Sun Top 15, and only six of the 12 Maryland teams in the preseason Post Top 20 (50 percent) finished in the Top 20.
In my 13 years running the state poll, it's generally easy to project the Top 5 or 10 teams and know they should finish somewhere in the rankings. Usually, the deeper you go in the rankings, the more likely those teams will not finish in the final Top 25. While we proved pretty accurate on the Top 17 teams, only three teams ranked 18-25 actually finished in the poll.
The following 13 teams spent all 12 weeks in the Top 25 -- Gilman, Prep, Hereford, Calvert Hall, DeMatha, Sherwood, Gaithersburg, Suitland, Seneca Valley, Damascus, Bullis, Northwestern-PG and Gwynn Park.
Pleasant Surprises -- Parkdale, which debuted in the Top 25 following Week 2, finished at No. 3 and Calvert Hall, the preseason No. 25, finished at No. 5.
Sudden Downturns -- Bowie, the preseason No. 8, pretty much fell apart this year following last year's title run and was gone from the rankings after Week No. 1. McDonogh, old reliable, went 3-6 after a 35-1 run through conference play over the past six years. McDonogh started at No. 18 but was gone before Week 1 votes were tallied.
Casualties of the Season -- Roosevelt went 5-3 following a preseason No. 5 billing. The record wasn't as bad as it seems. The Raiders beat one state Top 25 team and all three losses were to teams that finished in the Top 20. It was the five wins (two games lost due to sniper attacks) that kept the Raiders from strong Top 25 consideration. Urbana, the preseason No. 7, received a lot of preseason votes thanks to its 50-game win streak. We knew this didn't figure to be another banner year for the Hawks, but the win streak deserved preseason respect. Three weeks later, the Hawks were 0-3 and finished, as far as the Top 25 was concerned. Westlake started the year at No. 12 were gone after two weeks. However, the Wolverines were sitting at 6-2 going into the home stretch and had a chance to regain a state ranking before ending the year with back-to-back losses.
In and Out -- Calvert, Old Mill and Northwest all started and finished in the Top 25, but had this in common -- they all fell out of the Top 25 at some point during the season.
Here are a few Final AP Poll facts -- all voters had Gilman and Prep either 1 or 2. Here are the other highs and lows by team:
No. 3 Parkdale was voted as high as 3, as low as 9.
No. 4 Hereford was as high as 3, as low as 11.
No. 5 Calvert Hall was as high as 3, as low as 8.
No. 6 DeMatha was as high as 4, as low as 9.
No. 7 Sherwood was as high as 4, as low as 8.
No. 8 Gaithersburg was as high as 4, as low as 9.
No. 9 Suitland was as high as 4, as low as 13.
No. 10 Seneca Valley was as high as 6, as low as 12.
POWER RATINGS
Here are the Massey rankings for the Week:
MASSEY HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL RATINGS
IN CASE YOU WHERE WONDERING
Heading into 2003, Georgetown Prep will have the state's longest active win streak at 29 games followed by Hereford at 26 games. The longest national active streak is Concord (Calif.) De La Salle at 137 games heading into this week's section title game (De La Salle's final game of the year). As far as the East is concerned, La Salle Academy in Rhode Island enters this week's state semifinals with a 34-game win streak and Delmar in Delaware has won 34 in a row entering this week's state finals. Plymouth Regional of New Hampshire is finished the season with a 33-game win streak in tact (Plymouth Regional has won 61 of its last 62!). Prep ranks third in the East and Hereford is tied for fourth with Onondaga (N.Y.), which is also finished. U-32 of Vermont has a 28-game win streak, but plays eight-man football, so it is not considered for the win streak list with 11-man teams.
LOOKING AHEAD
MPSSAA BOARD OF CONTROL MEETING
The MPSSAA Board of Control will meet Saturday in Laurel and a couple of hot football issues will be on the agenda. First, the new classifications for the next two years will be confirmed at this time. In addition, the Board of Control will discuss possible playoff expansion. Stay tuned!