Finally paying off: Negaunee Miners rise to No. 2 in Upper Peninsula high school football poll after big 47-20 win over Menominee
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UPSSA Football Polls
(first-place votes in parentheses)
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11-player W-L Pts Pvs
1. Iron Mountain (4) 7-0 28 1
2. Negaunee (2) 6-1 26 4
3. Kingsford 6-1 17 3
4. Menominee 6-1 13 2
5. Gladstone 5-2 6 5
Others receiving votes: None
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8-player W-L Pts Pvs
1. Pickford (6) 7-0 30 1
2. North Central 6-1 17 T3
3. Forest Park 6-1 16 T3
4. St. Ignace 6-1 9 T5
5. Norway
Negaunee's Ian Engstrom, left, tries to catch a pass as it is thrown just a bit out of his reach with Westwood's Karter Scherer defending during their game played at Miner Stadium in Negaunee on Sept. 29. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)
Others receiving votes: Newberry (6-1) 6, Lake Linden-Hubbell (4-3) 2, Cedarville-DeTour (6-1) 2
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MARQUETTE -- Big wins are finally starting to pay off for the Negaunee High School football team.
A win on Friday over Menominee propelled the Miners up two places in the Upper Peninsula 11-player high school football poll conducted weekly by the U.P. Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association.
Negaunee (6-1) downed the Maroons 47-20 to take over the No. 2 position that was previously occupied by Menominee (6-1). And the Maroons took the No. 4 spot that the Miners had for the past several weeks.
Negaunee had been stuck at No. 4 for several weeks despite a win over No. 3 Kingsford, 13-12, on Sept. 15, along with wins over Ishpeming, Calumet, Hancock and Westwood.
The Miners lost to No. 5 Gladstone 42-14 in the season's second week, Sept. 1.
Negaunee not only jumped to No. 2, but garnered two of the six first-place votes and is within two votes of No. 1 Iron Mountain.
And the Miners will likely get their shot at the top spot in their final regular-season game when they host the Mountaineers on Thursday, Oct. 19.
The Negaunee-Menominee switch was the only change in the 11-player poll this week, while a drop by Norway is the biggest change in the eight-player rankings.
A 40-18 loss to No. 1 Pickford on Friday dropped the Knights from second to fifth in that poll.
The Panthers helped themselves, too, shoring up their No. 1 ranking as it is unanimous now. Two weeks ago when Pickford took over the No. 1 spot, there were four schools getting first-place votes, and last week, Norway was still getting one first-place vote.
The Norway drop also allowed North Central to move from a tie for third into second, leaving Forest Park third. And St. Ignace jumped a spot from a tie for fifth to fourth, while one of last week's other fifth-place teams, Newberry, is in the "other receiving votes" category, and the the third fifth-place squad, Rudyard, isn't even receiving votes anymore.
Most of this week's games will be on Friday with a couple on Saturday.
On Friday -- all at 7 p.m. EDT -- Negaunee is at Houghton, Pickford is at Newberry, St. Ignace is at Munising, L'Anse is at Gwinn, Westwood is at Hancock, Ishpeming is at West Iron County and Manistique is at Bark River-Harris.
On Saturday, Engadine plays at Superior Central at noon, while Marquette goes to Cadillac at 6 p.m.
In the weekly Associated Press state polls, which like the UPSSA's are also released each Tuesday, Negaunee remained third in MHSAA 11-player Division 6 with 39 points behind a pair of undefeated teams -- unanimous No. 1 Warren Michigan Collegiate and No. 2 Almont. Gladstone is No. 10 in those rankings.
Kingsford is 11th in Division 5, Menominee eighth in Division 7 and Iron Mountain seventh in Division 8.
In eight-player, Pickford is tied with Bridgman for first in Division 1, St. Ignace is fifth, Newberry tied for 12th and Norway tied for 15th.
In Division 2, North Central is fourth and Forest Park sixth.
Steve Brownlee can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 552. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.