Into the nitty-gritty: With 2 weeks left in regular season, area high school football teams try to hold onto Upper Peninsula rankings

With Ishpeming trying to play catchup against Indian River Inland Lakes in the fourth quarter, Hematites quarterback Caden Luoma, top, throws the ball past a swarm of defenders that would get intercepted and effectively end their game played at the Ishpeming Playgrounds on Sept. 28. (Journal photo by Caden Sierra)
UPSSA Football Polls
(first-place votes in parentheses)
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11-player W-L Pts Pvs
1. Menominee (5) 7-0 25 1

Marquette quarterback Ford Richardson, left, picks up several yards before he would be pushed out of bounds by Escanaba's Gavin Wagner at William R. Hart Stadium in Marquette on Oct. 4. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)
2. Kingsford 7-0 20 2
3. Marquette 5-2 12 3
4. Iron Mountain 7-0 10 5
5. Negaunee 5-2 7 4
Others receiving votes: Calumet (4-3) 1

Ishpeming quarterback Caden Luoma gets tied up with Indian River Inland Lakes defenders while trying to make a gain in third quarter of their game played at the Ishpeming Playgrounds on Sept. 28. (Journal photo by Caden Sierra)
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8-player W-L Pts Pvs
1. Forest Park (3) 7-0 23 1
2. Pickford (2) 7-0 22 2
3. North Central 6-1 13 4
4. Norway 6-1 12 3
5. Ishpeming
- With Ishpeming trying to play catchup in the fourth quarter, Hematites quarterback Caden Luoma, top, throws the ball past a swarm of defenders that would get intercepted and effectively end their high school football game played at the Ishpeming Playgrounds on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (Journal photo by Caden Sierra)
- With Ishpeming trying to play catchup in the fourth quarter, Hematites quarterback Caden Luoma, top, throws the ball past a swarm of defenders that would get intercepted and effectively end their high school football game played at the Ishpeming Playgrounds on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (Journal photo by Caden Sierra)
- With Ishpeming trying to play catchup against Indian River Inland Lakes in the fourth quarter, Hematites quarterback Caden Luoma, top, throws the ball past a swarm of defenders that would get intercepted and effectively end their game played at the Ishpeming Playgrounds on Sept. 28. (Journal photo by Caden Sierra)
- Marquette quarterback Ford Richardson, left, picks up several yards before he would be pushed out of bounds by Escanaba’s Gavin Wagner at William R. Hart Stadium in Marquette on Oct. 4. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)
- Ishpeming quarterback Caden Luoma gets tied up with Indian River Inland Lakes defenders while trying to make a gain in third quarter of their game played at the Ishpeming Playgrounds on Sept. 28. (Journal photo by Caden Sierra)
Others receiving votes: Munising (5-2) 1, Bessemer (4-3) 1, Rudyard (4-3) 1
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MARQUETTE — Negaunee and Munising slipped a bit while Marquette was able to maintain its position in Upper Peninsula high school football polls after all three area teams lost last week.
And Ishpeming made a move back into the top five after the Hematites posted a rather convincing win.
All this is included in the weekly rankings among U.P. teams conducted each week by the U.P. Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association.
Ishpeming blew out Sturgeon Bay Sevastopol, Wisconsin, 54-0 on Friday to move back into the No. 5 position in the eight-player ratings, but just barely.
The Hematites (4-2) drew two votes as previous fifth-place Munising (5-2), along with Bessemer (4-3) and Rudyard (4-3), each garnered a single vote and just missed the top five.
Munising lost a narrow 29-28 decision to Rudyard to slip in the rankings.
The top four teams in eight-player had minimal changes after each won last week. No. 1 Forest Park (7-0) remains one vote ahead of No. 2 Pickford (7-0) as the Trojans bounced Ironwood 58-8 and the Panthers pulled off an almost identical 58-0 shellacking of St. Ignace.
No. 3 North Central (6-1) switched spots with No. 4 Norway (6-1), with the Jets outscoring Ontonagon 78-43 and Knights sneaking by Newberry 36-30.
In 11-player, Negaunee (5-2) slipped a position to No. 5 after the Miners lost 34-19 after hosting unanimous No. 1 Menominee. This was easily the Maroons closest game so far this season.
Marquette (5-2) held onto No. 3 despite falling to Petoskey 28-23.
Iron Mountain (7-0) remained unbeaten and bumped past Negaunee into the No. 4 spot after the Mountaineers flew past Bark River-Harris 40-7.
Kingsford (7-0) remained a consensus No. 2 after handling Westwood 34-6, while Calumet (4-3) picked up a single vote after downing Hancock 47-18.
The Associated Press also releases statewide rankings for each MHSAA division, but those weren’t available by early Tuesday evening.
In area games this week, there are a quintet of contests scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday — Gwinn at L’Anse, Hancock at Westwood, Houghton at Negaunee, St. Ignace at Munising and Iron Mountain at Manistique. The Mid Peninsula at Ishpeming game also scheduled for that night was previously canceled.
On Saturday, Superior Central hosts Carney-Nadeau at 4 p.m., while Marquette entertains Cadillac at 6 p.m.
Steve Brownlee can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 552. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.