HS: Winter state, region rankings, Jan. 25

by Sheldon Shealer

January 25, 2016

Another week, another No. 1 girls team in Texas.

For third third straight week, the Lone Star state's top spot has changed hands, this time ending with Byron Nelson (Trophy Club, Texas) in the No. 1 position. In order, Southlake Carroll (Southlake, Texas) and Marcus (Flower Moound, Texas) held the state's top spot until losing matches.

In was realtively calm this week as the state and region No. 1s all held their own except in Arizona and the West, where [Tucson az-m] (Tucson, Ariz.) boys and Desert Vista (Phoenix, Ariz.) girls take over No. 1 rankings.

Here are a few big movers this week:

BOYS

Santa Rosa (Santa Rosa, Calif.) handled San Ramon Valley (Danville, Calif.) 3-0 in a battle of California-North Top 10 teams. The result was significant given this is Santa Rosa's winter season debut. The section previously played fall high school soccer until this year. This crossover match between newcomer Santa Rosa and lnogtime winter section title challenger San Ramon Valley helps size up the competition level of the newcomers.

Ransom Everglades (Miami, Fla.) earned its way into the Florida-South Top 10 win a district title last week, shutting out Miami Edison (Miami, Fla.) and MAST Academy (Key Biscayne, Fla.) by a combined 9-0 margin.

Duncanville (Duncanville, Texas) moves up to No. 4 in the Texas-North rankings, powered by a 3-1 win over Keller Central (Keller, Texas). Duncanville led 3-0 in the match.

Byron Nelson (Trophy Club, Texas) settles in at No. 5 in the Texas-North region as several of the mid-range ranked teams sustained losses last week.

GIRLS

Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) entered the season with lofty expectations, but two losses in December tempered any run at the SIMA FAB 50 No. 1 ranking. The Monarchs have bounbced back with a seven-match undefeated run, which included a 3-0 win over SIMA FAB 50-ranked Santa Margarita (Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.) last week.

Hendrickson (Pflugerville, Texas). Perhaps it comes as no surprise that Hendrickson, which has been successful in recent years, has emergred as a real contender in 2016 with new coach Rennie Rebe at the helm. A former collegiate All-America candidate as a player who is one of the state's all-time winningest girls soccer coaches, Rebe has turned each of her four previous high school programs into perennial district champions. Hendrickson's weekend included wins over previously undefeated San Angelo Central (San Angelo, Texas) and Vandegrift (Austin, Texas), results that compare favorably with some of the Dallas-area powers.

See the entire WINTER high school region and state rankings:

WINTER REGION RANKINGS: BOYS (Jan. 25) | GIRLS (Jan. 25)

WINTER STATE RANKINGS: BOYS (Jan. 25) | GIRLS (Jan. 25)

Related Topics: SIMA FAB 50 / Event