With the AA hoops season over, it's time to shift the focus of this blog space to lacrosse. The season in now in Week 4, and the current rankings can be found here. As a reader correctly pointed out in that article's comments section, Cambridge -- whose Bears and Lady Bears compete in 7A-6A -- is currently ranked in the A-5A boys and girls polls, with the boys ranked No. 4 and the girls ranked No. 2.
However, Cambridge's programs aren't the only ones ranked in the wrong classification. Allatoona's boys are ranked No. 10 in A-5A, but compete in 7A-6A, and Creekview's girls compete in 7A-6A, but are ranked No. 6 in A-5A.
It's yet to be determined what the revised rankings will look like. It's possible Allatoona loses it's ranked status, while the Cambridge programs bounce currently ranked 7A-6A teams from the boys and girls rankings. Creekview's girls are also in a peculiar position. We'll know later this week, as the rankings usually come out on Thursday.
It's an understandable blunder on the part of the pollsters, as this year is the first that lacrosse programs have competed under the latest GHSA reclassification. For the new alignments, go here:
Over at LaxPower.com, RPI rankings tab Pope as the No. 1 overall boys team and North Gwinnett as the No. 1 overall girls team as of this publishing, though the rankings are updated each time a program updates its record.
The Pope Greyhounds are 8-2 and ranked No. 3 in 6A-7A. They're on a two-game skid after an 11-10 overtime loss to Centennial and an 11-9 loss to Johns Creek, ranked No. 6 and No. 10, respectively. The Centennial loss dropped the Greyhounds from the top spot of the AJC polls, and the Johns Creek loss, which came after the rankings release, could slide them further. They'll look to get back on track against Roswell (6-3) on Tuesday, a team that's unranked but has a No. 16 RPI ranking.
The North Gwinnett Lady Bulldogs are a perfect 11-0, which includes surviving a competitive two-game stretch last week against No. 4 Mill Creek (a 14-12 win) and Ensworth-Tennessee (9-8). They're still ranked behind the Milton dynasty in the AJC polls -- Milton has won 10 of 12 state titles since the GHSA began officially recognizing lacrosse champions in 2005. Milton lost in the 6-A title game to Walton last season, and Walton is currently No. 3.
In addition to North Gwinnett's girls, there are six other undefeated teams. They are:
- Mill Creek's boys (10-0)
- Lassiter's girls (7-0)
- Centennial's girls (7-0)
- Starr's Mills girls (5-0)
- Allatoona's girls (3-0)
- McIntosh's girls (7-0)
Credit: Craig Sager
Credit: Craig Sager
