That was one heck of a week. It’s been a long time since the first week of the season packed such a punch. There were two heavyweight battles (Morgan Park vs. Young, Marian Catholic vs. Bloom) and several players jumped out of the gates early to establish themselves as stars (looking at you Brandon Weston and Christian Shumate).
A few under the radar teams also had eye-opening starts. Hinsdale South, Proviso East, Plainfield Central, Wheaton North and Waubonsie Valley are all unbeaten.
Dropping out
Oak Park (2-2): Another rough start to the season for the Huskies. This team is rather young and it appears that showed this week in losses to Morton and Riverside-Brookfield.
Cary-Grove (3-1): Losing to York is far from a disaster for the Trojans. Vince Doran has built a really successful program that is sort of perpetually underestimated. Cary-Grove picked up a nice win against Palatine. This team will likely be back in the Super 25 eventually.
Westinghouse (1-2): There are very few teams that could survive opening the season at Benet and Fenwick. I watched the Warriors lose to the Friars and was actually a bit impressed, they might be a little better than I expected this season. But they are gone for now.
New additions
Benet (3-0): Well that didn’t take long. The Redwings knocked off two preseason ranked teams. Jack Prock can play.
Glenbrook South (4-0): Dom Martinelli is a force. The Titans knocked off Zion-Benton, Buffalo Grove and Uplift.
Joliet West (4-0): This was a tough call. There were quite a few teams that could have grabbed the last spot including Proviso East, Oak Forest and Loyola. But the Tigers absolutely demolished Brother Rice and Lincoln-Way East so they get the nod.
With record and last week’s ranking
1. Bloom (4-0) 1
Christian Shumate dominated
2. Morgan Park (2-0) 2
Handled Young
3. Young (0-1) 3
Grant Newell is a factor
4. Simeon (0-0) 4
Opens Tuesday vs. Lindblom
5. Stevenson (4-0) 5
Beat York, Palatine
6. Marian Catholic (3-1) 6
Lost at home to Bloom
7. Notre Dame (4-0) 7
Took down DePaul Prep
8. Bogan (5-0) 8
Hosts Morgan Park Tuesday
9. Evanston (4-0) 9
Big start for Jaylin Gibson
10. Lincoln Park (3-1) 11
Hosts Westinghouse Friday
11. Curie (1-0) 12
At Lindblom Thursday
12. Orr (0-0) 13
Opens Wednesday vs. Farragut
13. Homewood-Flossmoor (3-1) 14
RJ Ogom is a problem
14. Thornton (3-0) 18
Knocked off Bolingbrook
15. Mundelein (4-0) 25
Beat North Lawndale
16. Hillcrest (2-2) 10
Still getting healthy
17. Bolingbrook (2-1) 15
Lost to Thornton
18. Benet (3-0) NR
What a start
19. Fenwick (2-1) 17
Trey Pettigrew is a factor
20. DePaul Prep (3-1) 21
Ty Johnson can light it up
21. St. Charles North (3-1) 22
Lost to Boylan
22. Oak Lawn (4-0) 23
Sami Osmani filling it up
23. Lake Park (4-0) 24
Lived up to billing so far
24. Glenbrook South (4-0) NR
Dom Martinelli scored 51 vs. Buffalo Grove
25. Joliet West (4-0) NR
Fast and athletic