Chicago-area Super 25 high school football rankings for Week 3

Loyola’s Marco Maldonado (18) runs through an opening created by the Ramblers’ offensive line.

Week 2’s results kept things pretty stable at the top of the Super 25. The entire top ten won, so no changes were necessary. St. Charles North tumbles but remains in the rankings after losing to Bolingbrook and Crete-Monee drops a bit after a very close win against Kankakee.

Dropping out

Fremd (1-1): Only a one-week stay in the Super 25 for the Vikings, who lost to Hersey 35-14. I might have been tempted to keep Fremd around if the score had been closer.

Maine South (0-2): Starting quarterback Luke Leongas missed half of the loss at Glenbard West last week and all of the loss to Mount Carmel in Week 2. Dan Lazic stepped in and played pretty well against the Caravan, but it wasn’t quite enough. Things don’t get any easier for the Hawks. Fremd is up next.

Naperville Central (0-2): Another team with lofty preseason expectations that isn’t getting it done. The Redhawks don’t have any injury excuses either. There isn’t any shame in losing to top-ranked Lincoln-Way East, but it is early in the season to keep the 0-2 teams in the rankings. Next up is Pickerington Central in Ohio. That means 0-3 could loom unless things turn around drastically.

St. Rita (1-1): The Mustangs also drop out after a short one-week stay in the Super 25. Sophomore Kaleb Brown lived up to his billing on Friday at Richards. He has something special. I’ll be interested to see how much St. Rita has improved by the end of the regular season when junior quarterback Brian Johnson is a little more seasoned.

New additions

Bolingbrook (2-0): I spend Sunday morning reading all the coverage of the weekend’s football games. I’m sure a lot of you do, but I get to count it as actual work! The most interesting story from the weekend was Jake Bartelson’s Bolingbrook-St. Charles North gamer. Check it out here. Friday Night Drive, Shaw’s new high school football website, is very cool and definitely worth a subscription (that’s an unpaid plug of a sort of competitor. I’m a Joliet Herald-News subscriber so I’ve been able to enjoy the coverage for a couple months now). Jake writes that the Raiders surprised St. Charles North with a triple-option offense.

Hersey (2-0): Quite a first two games for the Huskies. They knocked off Lincoln-Way West in Week 1 and Mid-Suburban League rival Fremd in Week 2. Hersey was 9-2 last season and probably deserved more attention in the preseason.

IC Catholic (2-0): Now that I’m doing the Super 25 football rankings you will see that I’m not big on the class thing. I think it is generally pretty overrated, especially when it comes to private schools. We’ve all season what Nazareth has done the past few years. I thought Prairie Ridge was the best football team in the state, regardless of class, two seasons ago. I wanted to have the Knights in the preseason Super 25 but after this week’s win against Joliet Catholic they are a safe bet.

Waubonsie Valley (2-0): The Warriors knocked off preseason-ranked Oak Park in Week 1 and immediately got on my radar. They beat Libertyville on Friday and it is easy to trust a team with a solid quarterback.

Week 3’s Super 25
With record and last week’s ranking

1. Lincoln-Way East (2-0) 1
Friday vs. Bradley-Bourbonnais

2. Loyola (1-0) 2
Saturday vs. St. Rita

3. Nazareth (1-1) 3
Friday vs. Fenwick

4. Glenbard West (2-0) 4
Saturday vs. Proviso West

5. Batavia (1-1) 5
Friday at Lake Park

6. Richards (2-0) 6
Friday at Hillcrest

7. Montini (2-0) 7
Friday at No. 11 Mount Carmel

8. Brother Rice (2-0) 8
Friday vs. No. 16 Providence

9. Phillips (2-0) 9
Friday vs. Taft

10. Homewood-Flossmoor (2-0) 10
Friday vs. Andrew

11. Mount Carmel (2-0) 12
Friday vs. No. 7 Montini