You'll be wondering where Week 18 is ... well we didn't do a Week 18.

Instead, with HS Nationals coming up and us being so busy, we waited a week.

Anyway, this is not the final rankings of the year. It's close, but it's not the final one as there are some playoffs still to finish off. However, we can confidently tell you that Gonzaga, which has been ranked #1 every week save for two this season, will end the season #1.

This is probably the easiest #1 ranking we've even finished a season on. There is a debate after that. Jesuit is #2 and this is despite Jesuit losing to De La Salle way back on March 11. OK, but that result was 20-12, De La Salle hast to St. Francis a week or so before ... a team Jesuit had beaten. Jesuit also lost to Belmont Shore in March but I think we can acknowledge that's not such a big worry. They also lost to Granite Bay ... OK. Here's the thing. All of Jesuit's losses were against really good teams, and with comebacks from injury, etc., we can confidently say this May Jesuit Sacramento side is way, way better than the March or April version.

DLS does come in at #3 and we're comfortable with that partly because of the debate for 4-5-6. Overall we'd likely pick St. Ignatius to beat Xavier on any random Saturday. And it can be argued that Ignatius selected a younger lineup to face Xavier in the HS Nationals 3rd-4th game because they had a Rugby Ohio playoff game (!) to play the very next day. And we'd be inclined to throw out that loss to Xavier if the loss was by two or three points. It wasn't; it was 13. So we put Xavier at #4.

Now, Xavier beat Greenwich by only a point  couple of weeks ago so you could argue that Greenwich is close to Xavier than is St. Ignatius. But here the "they rested some starters" argument carries a bit more weight because there are two other common opponent comparisons. Against Rye and Jesuit Ignatius went 1-1 with a two-point loss and a 34-point win. Greenwich also went 1-1, but with a 41-point loss and a nine-point win. So those comparisons keep at #5 not #6.

Major Movers

Moeller moves up after beating St. Edward. Belmont HS moves up after a solid week beating BC High and St. John's. St. Augustine wins New Jersey and comes in at #40.

We don't expect much movement in the Top 10. So congratulations to Gonzaga for an excellent season.

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