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Contenders for the top of the Upper Peninsula: U.P.-ranked Marquette Redmen, Westwood Patriots both 2-1; while Newberry Indians 3-0

Marquette's Desmond Mullen, front left, carries the ball during a game against Traverse City Central in Traverse City on Sept. 2. (Traverse City Record-Eagle photo by Andrew Rosenthal)

UPSSA High School Football Polls

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This week’s U.P. Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association poll (with first-place votes, if any, record and total votes):

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11 player

Westwood's Zach Carlson, center, scores a touchdown against Houghton at the Patriots' field on Aug. 27. (Mining Journal photo by Travis Nelson)

1. Kingsford (5) 3-0 25

2. Menominee 3-0 19

3. Marquette 2-1 16

4. Sault Ste. Marie 2-1 8

5. Westwood 2-1 4

Marquette's Austin Ridl carries the ball during a game against Traverse City Central in Traverse City on Sept. 2. (Traverse City Record-Eagle photo by Andrew Rosenthal)

Others receiving votes: Gladstone (1-2) 2, Bark River-Harris (3-0) 1

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Eight Player

1. North Central (5) 3-0 25

2. Pickford 3-0 14

3. Rudyard 3-0 13

4. Forest Park 3-0 12

5. Newberry 3-0 9

Others receiving votes: Ontonagon (2-1) 2

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MARQUETTE — Three area teams are among the top five in the first weekly high school football polls released by the Upper Peninsula Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association on Tuesday.

Now with an almost equal number of U.P. teams playing the 11-player and 8-player games, there is one poll for each type of the sport.

Marquette is the highest-rated area team in either poll as the 2-1 Redmen are No. 3 in the 11-player rankings.

MSHS opened with a 49-14 victory over Alpena before falling to Traverse City Central 60-28 and adding a 50-21 triumph at Escanaba last weekend.

TC Central (2-1) is ranked No. 10 in the inaugural state Associated Press voting that also came out Tuesday.

Westwood (2-1) is fifth in the U.P. 11-player rankings after opening with a 52-8 win over Houghton and 28-0 victory over Iron Mountain before falling 28-14 at home to Calumet on Friday.

In the competitive 8-player poll, despite a perfect 3-0 record, Newberry just snuck into the top five in fifth place.

And the Indians have three dominating performances, beating Brimley 36-0, Gogebic 49-14 and Cedarville 49-22.

Kingsford in 11-player and North Central in 8-player are both 3-0 and were unanimous choices for the top spot in their ratings.

Menominee is also 3-0 and No. 2 in 11-player, with the only other 3-0 team receiving votes being Bark River-Harris, though it got just one vote in the “others receiving votes” category.

In 8-player, the first five schools are all 3-0 as Pickford, Rudyard and Forest Park are all separated by one vote for the Nos. 2, 3 and 4 spots, respectively.

In 11-player games this week involving area teams and those in the rankings, both on Friday night, Marquette hosts No. 1 Kingsford and Westwood is at Ishpeming.

In similar games for 8-player teams, Munising is at Newberry on Thursday night.

In the state AP rankings, no area teams broke into the top 10, though from around the U.P. in 11-player, Kingsford is No. 6 in Division 5 and Menominee is tied for seventh in Division 6.

In 8-player AP voting, North Central is No. 1, Pickford is tied for eighth and Forest Park is 10th.

Steve Brownlee can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 252. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.

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