FARMINGTON – With three weeks into the prep football season and perhaps even less than that amount of time into prep volleyball and soccer campaigns, one can easily argue the merits of in-season rankings.
That said, the folks at MaxPreps and NMOT Sports released rankings this week for several sports in the state of New Mexico with a number of local and area teams high in the polls.
Here’s a glimpse at where San Juan County prep sports teams rank among their competition in their respective classifications.
While still very early into the prep volleyball season, Kirtland Central ranks second in the Class 4A polls with a record of 2-1.
The Broncos trail only 4-2 Santa Teresa in the polls to start the season, with Espanola Valley, Taos and Chaparral rounding out the top five teams.
Local and area teams like Bloomfield (1-1), Aztec (2-0) and Shiprock have yet to play enough matches to qualify for the early season rankings, which means that those teams will likely find themselves in the next release date of the polls, which will come at the end of this week’s action.
In Class 5A, neither Farmington nor Piedra Vista have played enough matches to be ranked on MaxPreps. Las Cruces, with a record of 2-1 on the current season, sits atop the Class 5A rankings ahead of Gadsden, Organ Mountain, Centennial and Mayfield rounding out the top five.
The Piedra Vista Panthers enter the third week of the season with a record of 3-1 and are ranked ninth in the latest Class 5A poll by MaxPreps. The Panthers picked up their first loss of the season last Saturday at home against Hope Christian.
Farmington, with a record of 2-2 on the season, comes in ranked 15th in Class 5A. Hobbs is ranked atop the classification with a record of 3-0 with La Cueva ranked second. La Cueva, which happens to be in the same district as Farmington and Piedra Vista and has a record of 4-0 to start the season.
Hope Christian, with a record of 4-0 to start the season are ranked second by MaxPreps in Class 4A, just behind Los Alamos. Deming, Pojoaque Valley and Lovington finish out the top five in the 4A polls.
Bloomfield (2-4), Kirtland Central (1-4) and Aztec (1-6) are in the bottom half of the rankings to start the season.
In Class 5A, the top of the polls find Santa Fe ahead of Las Cruces, with Cleveland, Los Lunas and Mayfield rounding out the top five spots.
Farmington, with a record of 2-2-1 to start the season, are ranked 11th in the most recent poll with district rivals La Cueva ranked sixth and Sandia and Eldorado ranked 12th and 13th respectively.
San Juan County boasts two top teams in the early Class 4A ranking, with Aztec coming in fifth in the polls (2-0-2) and Kirtland Central ranked 10th after a 3-1 start to the season.
Hope Christian has the top spot in the early polling, ahead of St. Pius, Taos and Moriarty.
After losing at home 40-22 last weekend to Los Lunas, the Farmington High School football team fell from fourth to sixth in the most recent MaxPreps polling among 6A football schools.
Los Lunas (3-0), who came into the game against Farmington ranked sixth in Class 6A, saw its ranking moved up three spots to third behind only top-ranked Cleveland (2-1) and second ranked Centennial (1-2).
The idea that two teams with losses on the books are ranked ahead of a team with an unblemished record is one of the main reasons why early season rankings do not have as much an impact as polls released later in the season. Still, it gives fans and coaches a chance to evaluate where respective teams are in the polls and how their competition fares against other schools.
In Class 4A, the defending champion Bloomfield Bobcats are ranked second in the state despite a 3-0 mark and possessing a nine-game win streak that dates back to last season.
Portales, also with a record of 3-0 currently has the top spot in the most recent rankings, with Aztec (3-0) sitting at third. Lovington and Silver round out the top five spots.
