SIMA FAB 50: Bishop Amat leaps into Top 25

by Sheldon Shealer

January 28, 2020

It was business as usual in Southern California, then along came Bishop Amat (La Puente, Calif.).

With one flick of the head from Adrian Ochoa, Bishop Amat became a nationally ranked program.

Sure the team from La Puente, Calif., entered last week's clash with national power Cathedral (Los Angeles, Calif.) undefeated, but actually winning seemed a stretch. Cathedral was riding a 57-match league undefeated streak. Bishop Amat hadn't defeated Cathedral in more than a decade (0-19-1 since 2009), and Amat -- coming off a seven-win 2018-19 season, hasn't had a winning season since 2015. Amat wasn't even ranked among the CIF Division 5 top 10 teams by the coaches association. And it looked like business as usual, especially when Amat fell behind 2-0. Then Bishop Amat started to chip away, 2-1, then 2-2, then finally Ochoa's winning header in OT.

Given Bishop Amat's undefeated record and now a major win over Cathedral, it vaults to No. 15 in this week's SIMA FAB 50. A herculean leap at this juncture of the season.

Bishop Amat won't have long to enjoy the lofty ranking. It has a rematch upcoming with Cathedral early in February, a contest that now might have the league title on the line.

Now, on with the rankings ...

BIG MOVERS: BOYS: Boca Raton (Fla). This one-time national power jumped from No. 21 to No. 14 this week following a four-win week that put the Bobcats on the brnk of a perfect regular season. ... GIRLS: Davis (Calif.). Despite the graduation of a pair of Stanford signees from last year's squad, Davis remains undefeated and moves from No. 36 to No. 22.

NEWCOMERS: BOYS: No. 15 Bishop Amat (La Puente, Calif.), No. 47 [Porter tx-m] (Brownsville, Texas), No. 49 Byron Nelson (Trophy Club, Texas) and No. 50 Northwest Rankin (Flowood, Miss.). ... GIRLS: No. 42 St. Johns Country Day (Orange Park, Fla.), No. 43 McKinney Boyd (McKinney, Texas), No. 44 Hebron (Carrollton, Texas), No. 45 Northshore (Slidell, La.), No. 46 Vero Beach (Vero Beach, Fla.), No. 49 Gulfport (Gulfport, Miss.) and No. 50 Vandegrift (Austin, Texas).