Well the National Championships is done and we generally have teams performing the way the rankings might have predicted.
The big move is La Salette, and we kind of expected that. La Salette was linked with St. Edward due to an earlier tie, and we were just waiting for something to tell us that that result isn't relevant anymore.
That was the National Championships, in which La Salette secured their second-straight 3rd-place finish. Beating Gonzaga in the 3rd-4th match in convincing fashion helped.
(We can go on for a while about lineups here and, yes, it's relevant. Does a team putting a different lineup in the 3rd-4th game mean you discount the result? Well, you do take it with a grain of salt, although in the last few years we've still hung meaning on the placement games at Nationals. Gonzaga did run out some younger players in that 3rd-4th match, but they also ran out some longtime starters and experienced players. In a close game we might have hesitated to move La Salette past Gonzaga, but not after Saturday's result.)
Greenwich played really well at HS Nationals, and their 40-10 loss to St. Ignatius actually perhaps flattered the winners a bit. Greenwich were right there for about 40 minutes and were unlucky not to have scored another try.
It's difficult to judge the school teams that finish early, but we end up moving Charlotte Catholic up because of the overall performances of North Carolina club teams. That's a bit of a stretch, but we're willing to bank on it. Strake Jesuit moves up a bit after a solid showing in Tier II.
There are some more games going on, but not many. We'll have another ranking but we don't expect much to change. Certainly #1 won't. Herriman, who we had ranked #1 every week save three, is the best school team in the country.
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