HS: State, region rankings, Dec. 26

by Sheldon Shealer

December 26, 2016

Score one for NorCal. And one for Mississippi.

The boys soccer team from Alisal (Salinas, Calif.), in Northern California, traveled to the Los Angeles area to take on three perennial SoCal powers and came away with a 2-0-1 record. That showing helped the state, regional and national standing for fellow NorCal undefeated teams Archbishop Mitty (San Jose, Calif.), which defeated Alisal, and Alvarez (Salinas, Calif.), which tied Mitty last week.

NorCal teams now occupy nine of the Top 20 spots in the California state rankings.

In a clash between the Mississippi and Louisiana top-ranked teams, Northwest Rankin (Flowood, Miss.) topped St. Paul's (Covington, La.) 2-0 on goals by Chandler Shirley and Peyton Ratcliff. The teams swap spots in the region rankings, but more importrantly for Northwest Rankin it will result in a major jump in the SIMA FAB 50 rankings on Tuesday.

On the girls side, Bishop Amat (La Puente, Calif.) vaulted to No. 6 in the California-South rankings and No. 8 in the state rankings following a big win over Los Alamitos (Calif.).

The current state No. 1s for boys are Corona del Sol (Tempe, Ariz.), Godinez (Anaheim, Calif.), Montverde Academy (Montverde, Fla.), Mililani (Hawaii), St. Paul's (Covington, La.), Northwest Rankin (Flowood, Miss.) and Coppell (Texas). On the girls side, the state No. 1s are Xavier College Prep (Phoenix, Ariz.), Santa Margarita (Rancho SM, Calif.), St. Johns Country Day (Orange Park, Fla.), Mililani (Hawaii), St. Scholastica (Covington, La.), Brandon (Miss.) and Marcus (Flower Mound, Texas).