Michael O’Brien’s Chicago-area Super 25 football rankings for Week 10

Plenty of additions as four new teams join, including one for the first time this season.

By Michael O’Brien

Mount Carmel wide receiver Jaali Parker (19) celebrates after scoring a touchdown against the Brother Rice.

It’s playoff time, the road to a state title was revealed last night in the state playoff pairings. That makes these rankings officially even more irrelevant than ever! But it is still fun to judge schedules and make the best possible guess about where everyone stacks up regardless of class.

Week 9 always seems to provide some weird results and this weekend was no different. It was very hard to ignore Marist’s televised win against Loyola on Saturday. The Ramblers didn’t drop very far, that’s due to their playoff performance the last several years. But the win gets the Redhawks in. Here’s a look at the other teams that joined and the ones that dropped out...

Dropping out

Bolingbrook (6-3): Andrew knocked off the Raiders on Friday. The Thunderbolts have had a good season, but they lost to Lockport in Week 8. Picking up the third loss was possibly devastating to Bolingbrook’s playoff hopes. The Raiders are just the No. 21 seed and will have to play at Hinsdale Central in the first round.

Hersey (8-1): One loss and you drop out of the rankings? It’s a rough world. Hersey lost the MSL showdown to Rolling Meadows, which now joins the Super 25.

Oswego (8-1): It was a short one-week stay for the Panthers, who lost to Minooka.

Providence (6-3): I’ve shown a lot of faith in the Celtics this season, but losing 41-21 to Montini and picking up a third loss has knocked them out.

New additions

Marist (5-4): The record is not pretty, but the losses are to Notre Dame, Brother Rice, Mount Carmel and Nazareth. Nothing to be ashamed of there. And yes, the Saturday afternoon Week 9 games have a weird feel to them, coming just hours before the playoff pairings are announced. But a win against Loyola in Wilmette is always impressive.

Montini (7-2): The Broncos are back after knocking off Providence. They were ranked highly in the preseason and have a great shot at the Class 5A state title.

Rolling Meadows (9-0): Undefeated. It is going to be quite a year for Rolling Meadows’ sports apparently. The Mustangs beat Hersey and are in the Super 25 for the first time this season. They’ve only beaten three teams with winning records though, so there is still a lot to prove.

St. Rita (6-3): So the CCL/ESCC teams are pretty, pretty good. It’s doubtful that surprises anyone. The Mustangs took down Notre Dame on Friday (The Dons better get healthy quickly.)