In the 11-player poll, Escanaba and Menominee flip-flopped the top two spots for the second straight week. This time around, the Eskymos moved back into the top spot over the Maroons as both teams continue to be undefeated, now 6-0.

After Menominee edged out Esky by just one in first-place votes and voting points last week, this week the Eskymos have an edge by two in both those categories, receiving four top votes and 28 votes altogether, with the Maroons getting two and 26, respectively.

Playing in different conferences, unfortunately these two teams won’t have a chance to settle this dispute on the field.

In fact, only one common opponent could be found between them — U.P. No. 3 Kingsford. The Flivvers (5-1) lost at the start of the season at Escanaba 21-18, while KHS hosts Menominee on Oct. 17.

Ishpeming's Josh Wojie, right, breaks several tackles and gets past Munising’s MJ Bell, left, to score a touchdown during their Great Lakes Eight East Conference game played at the Ishpeming Playgrounds field on Sept. 20. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

The other change in this week’s poll occurred in eight-player, with Newberry (5-1) falling out of a fifth-place tie with Lake Linden-Hubbell, the Lakes remaining No. 5 while the Indians are now in the unenviable “others receiving votes” category.

In 11-player, Kingsford remained No. 3 with 18 voting points, Calumet (4-2) No. 4 with 10 and Negaunee (4-2) No. 5 with five. In addition, Bark River-Harris (4-1) remained outside the top five with three points.

The Miners were victimized with not having a game last week as a few days before the game, opponent Westwood decided it couldn’t field a team last week due to low numbers compounded by injuries.

No word is out yet about the fate of the Patriots’ home game this week against Kingsford.

Last week, Escanaba slid past Marquette 38-20, Menominee trounced Gladstone 61-6, Kingsford throttled Hancock 41-0, Calumet shut out Houghton 41-0 and BR-H downed L’Anse 44-16.

In the eight-player poll, Norway (6-0) remained a unanimous No. 1 with 30 polling points, Gogebic-Bessemer (6-0) stayed No. 2 with 24, North Dickinson (6-0) is still No. 3 with 16, Pickford (4-1) remained No. 4 with 12 and LL-H (5-1) fifth with six. Newberry received two points as the only “other.”

Last week, Norway rolled past Ishpeming 44-24, Gogebic-Bessemer slammed Forest Park 32-0, North Dickinson outscored Stephenson 60-36, Pickford was off, LL-H held back North Central 52-34 and Newberry won at Munising 60-14.

Already this week, Hancock has announced it won’t have the numbers to be able to play Calumet on Friday and Carney-Nadeau for the third straight week won’t be able to play, this week against North Dickinson.

In this week’s Associated Press statewide polls divided into the state’s 10 playoff divisions that came out just before noon on Tuesday, Newberry remained just outside the top 10 in 11th place in eight-player Division 1 with five votes, five shy of No. 10 Bay City All Saints (4-2).

Other U.P. teams that appear in the 11-player poll are Escanaba, 10th in Division 4; Kingsford, 11th in Division 5; Menominee, third in Division 7; and Iron Mountain, tied for 11th in Division 8.

Menominee is 13 votes behind Division 7 unanimous No. 1 Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central (6-0) and five votes shy of No. 2 Pewamo-Westphalia (5-0).

In eight-player AP rankings, Norway is tied for No. 2, and Pickford and Gogebic-Bessemer tied for No. 6 in Division 1; while North Dickinson is No. 4 and LL-H No. 10 in Division 2.

Norway received one of five first-place votes in its state rankings, falling eight points short of top-ranked Indian River Inland Lakes (5-0) and tied for No. 2 with Martin (6-0).

In games scheduled on Friday, Norway plays at Newberry at 6 p.m., while at 7 p.m. EDT are Petoskey at Marquette, Negaunee at Menominee, Kingsford at Westwood, Pickford at Munising, Superior Central at Stephenson and L’Anse at West Iron County.

Saturday’s game at 2 p.m. features St. Ignace at Ishpeming.

Story contents based on email received from the U.P. Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.