There's a change at the top

By Sheldon Shealer

The greatest leap to No. 1 occurred in 1993 when an upset-filled playoff saw Seneca Valley, which was No. 12 in the final regular-season poll, vault to No. 1 in the final poll for the year.

While it wasn't quite that staggering, Gilman's move from No. 4 in the preseason to No. 1 in the Week 1 state poll is the greatest one-week leap to the top spot in state poll history. The move was made more noteworthy considering the preseason's No. 2 and 3 teams won. The expected close vote for No. 1 never materialized, though, as Gilman -- after ending 72 games worth of win streaks -- claimed 10 of 12 first-place votes and easily outdistanced No. 2 Georgetown Prep. Seneca Valley remains at No. 3 followed by DeMatha at No. 4.

Every year, the Week 1 poll is usually the most turbulent for two reasons: 1. some programs simply do not live up to the preseason hype; 2. Week 1 is full of intriguing non-conference matchups that sometimes bring about eye-opening results. The Week 1 poll is the first time the voters get to replace speculation with results, and with that comes a lot of re-evaluation of the rankings.

Gilman started the year with a 12-3 victory over preseason No. 1 DeMatha, ending the Stags' 22-game win streak, then put a 41-6 hurting on preseason No. 7 Urbana, stopping the Hawks' win streak at 50. By knocking off the state's two longest win streaks on back-to-back weeks was plenty of fodder for the state poll voters to move Gilman to No. 1. The Greyhounds have plenty of obstacles standing in the way of a final season No. 1 ranking. Gilman will face state-ranked Calvert Hall and preseason Top 25 teams Mount St. Joseph and McDonogh, not to mention a contest against Blair Academy, a prep school in New Jersey.

This week's big winner was Largo, a 39-23 victor over defending 4A state champion Bowie. Largo's win vaulted the team to No. 13. Magruder moved into the Top 25 after stunning Gaithersburg for the second straight year in the opener. Annapolis' lopsided victory over Meade and Good Counsel's win over Mount St. Joseph earned those teams spots in the Top 25. Within the preseason Top 25, Suitland made the greatest strides, moving from 13th to 5th after defeating Eleanor Roosevelt. Roosevelt (No. 8), Gaithersburg (No. 12), Urbana (No. 14), Bowie (No. 21) and Westlake (No. 23) all settled into Top 25 rankings despite losses to other ranked teams.

RECORD SETTERS

Antonio Lewis' five TD passes in Thomas Stone's 38-0 victory over Douglass-PG was one shy of the state record and made him the 14th known player to record five TD passes in a game in Maryland. ... For a little fun, everything Century, St. John's at Prospect Hall and Southside Academy did last week were school records since they each played their first varsity contest. Interestingly, Century's first varsity score was a safety.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK

This category was formerly known as "Top Performances," but since the weekly stat leaders will be posted, I'm changing this to recognize one outstanding effort each week. The inaugural SS3 Player of the Week goes to Hereford's Adam Goloboski. A Small School All-State performer at linebacker last year showed he's a two-way standout for this season. In Hereford's 47-21 victory over C.M. Wright, Goloboski rushed for 287 yards and four touchdowns. On defense, he had a team-high 16 tackles.

IN CASE YOU WHERE WONDERING

Five of the preseason Top 10 suffered losses between the preseason poll and the first poll of the regular season. (Of course, several of those losses were inflicted by other ranked teams.) It marked the most early season losses ever by the preseason Top 10. In each of 1991, 1993, 1996 and 1999, three Top 10 teams took losses between the preseason and the Week 1 rankings.

AROUND THE STATE (Week 1 Notes)

Brandon Monroe scored five first-half touchdown as St. John's at Prospect Hall defeated Bishop Walsh, 39-29, in the program's inaugural game. St. John's led 39-7 at halftime. ... Junior Erin Henderson threw from three touchdowns and rushed for two as Aberdeen handled Hickey, 46-0. Henderson is the younger brother of Terps standout E.J. Henderson. ... Deyon Williams of Suitland verbally committed to Virginia. Williams is one of the receivers of the MD/DC Varsity Football preseason Dream Team. ... Northwest lost at home for the first time in 15 games in a 21-0 defeat to Damascus. ... Talk about competitive leagues, four of the seven games featuring Bayside League members last week were decided by one touchdown and two other games were decided by two touchdowns. ... Wilde Lake was last week's high scorer with 52 points. ... Thirty-seven teams posted shutouts. ... MSD, last year's national deaf school champions with an 8-1 record, has lost its first two games of the 2002 season. ... Head coaches making their varsity debut last week went 11-16 (that does not count coaches who were head coaches at other programs taking over a new team this year).

STREAK BUSTERS

This week the list is lengthy, starting with both the longest winning and losing streaks in the state. Urbana's state-record 50-game win streak was stopped in a 41-6 Gilman victory. Receiving far less attention was the fact Kenwood ended its 22-game losing streak with a 29-0 win over first-year varsity program Southside Academy. Sparrows Point now has the longest active losing streak at 16 games. Given DeMatha's loss to Gilman two weeks ago, the new state-best active win streak belongs to Georgetown Prep with 21 in a row. Hereford has won 14 followed by Easton at 9 and Beall at 6. Eleanor Roosevelt had its 24-game regular-season streak snapped by Suitland, while Wicomico's 11-game regular-season win streak was halted by Sussex Central (Del.).

LOOKING AHEAD

Sherwood at Paint Branch, Friday. So far, so good for Sherwood. A 35-0 victory to open the season shows this team is vastly improved over last year's 5-4 squad. But a victory over Paint Branch is needed if the Warriors plan to return to the status of state title contender.

Suitland at Bowie, Saturday. Every week is a big week in P.G. County, and few games can match the hype surrounding this one. Suitland has checked in at No. 5 in the state rankings with aspirations of a 4A state title, and Bowie, the defending 4A state champion, can ill-afford another early defeat if it hopes of a repeat.

Good Counsel at Georgetown Prep, Saturday. In this Top 25 showdown, Good Counsel's huge linemen will be pitted against Prep's smaller, quicker line. Can Marcus Mason put on a show like last year? Or can the Falcons clip Prep's 21-game win streak?

Other Games of Note: Friday: Urbana at Park View (Va.), Easton at Wicomico, Annapolis at Broadneck, Calvert Hall at Westminster, Damascus vs. Linganore, Middletown at Francis Scott Key. Saturday: Northwestern-PG at Eleanor Roosevelt, Patuxent at Fort Hill.