High school football: Michael O’Brien’s Super 25 rankings for Week 5

Neuqua Valley returns and Homewood-Flossmoor makes its season debut.

By Michael O’Brien

Mount Carmel’s Denny Furlong (11) cuts back a run as Marist’s Eric Lewis (9) steps into the gap.

Nearly a third of the Super 25 lost in Week 4, so I was expecting this week’s ranking task to be complicated. Turns out it wasn’t at all.

There’s always a fair amount of guesswork with the football rankings, but a four-game resume is a solid amount of data and that made things easier than expected.

Lockport (lost to Homewood-Flossmoor) and Palatine (lost to Glenbrook South) both drop out. Neuqua Valley returns to the rankings after beating Naperville North and H-F makes its season debut.

Week 5 should be very helpful for sorting things out. There are a few ranked teams that haven’t quite proved it yet and they have good tests this weekend.

Joliet Catholic is a team that keeps rising that I’m not quite sure about. The Hilltoppers barely survived against Providence on Friday and it’s always a danger to give a team too much credit based on what it did last year. Up next for Joliet Catholic is a trip to take on Crete-Monee and Josh Franklin.

If things had worked out differently Glenbrook South and Geneva would have cracked the Super 25 this week. Both teams are 4-0 and have nice wins. They are waiting in the wings.

Week 5’s Super 25
With record and last week’s ranking

1. Mount Carmel (4-0) 1
Friday vs. St. Ignatius

2. Loyola (4-0) 2
Saturday vs. Fenwick

3. Lincoln-Way East (4-0) 3
Friday vs. No. 11 Bolingbrook

4. Warren (4-0) 4
Friday vs. Lake Zurich

5. Glenbard West (4-0) 5
Saturday vs. Addison Trail

6. Prospect (4-0) 12
Friday vs. No. 23 Hersey

7. Simeon (4-0) 7
Friday vs. Hubbard at Gately

8. Jacobs (4-0) 17
Friday at Huntley

9. Joliet Catholic (4-0) 15
Friday at Crete-Monee

10. Maine South (2-2) 8
Friday vs. Glenbrook North

11. Bolingbrook (3-1) 16
Friday at No. 1 Lincoln-Way East