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New kids on the block: Sentinels crack U.P. 11-player rankings after 5th straight win

Sentinels crack U.P. 11-player rankings after 5th straight win

By Steve Brownlee 5 min read

MARQUETTE -- Marquette has made its first appearance in the weekly Upper Peninsula high school football polls conducted by the U.P. Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association.

The Sentinels probably didn't feel they were getting much respect after they have turned an 0-2 start on its head with five straight victories.

Sporting a much nice looking 5-2 mark, MSHS is coming off a 49-13 home thrashing of Gaylord on Friday. The Blue Devils have a respectable 3-4 record.

Marquette not only leads the Big North Conference -- a league with three U.P. and four Lower Peninsula schools -- with a perfect 5-0 mark, but one of the Sentinels' victories has come against one of their closest pursuers, Cadillac, a 33-27 home win on Sept. 19.

The Vikings are 4-1 in conference, as is Petoskey, the team that is on deck for Marquette this week.

Each of those top three Big North teams is 5-2 overall, and all of them along with Gaylord are in MHSAA Division 3, meaning they're vying against each other for postseason playoff positions, too. MSHS is the only U.P. team in Division 3.

By the way, in the UPSSA poll, the Sentinels probably have to pay their dues with their first-time appearance in the 11-player rankings, since they're still only No. 5.

MSHS is the only one of the three U.P. teams from the Big North getting any U.P. poll votes, though to be fair to the voters, they're also the only U.P. Big North team with a winning record -- Escanaba is 3-4 and Sault Ste. Marie is 1-6.

Negaunee (4-3) actually moved up a spot from a tie for fourth to No. 3 despite a 38-28 home loss to unanimous No. 1 and undefeated Menominee (7-0) on Friday.

The Miners continue getting respect despite the most losses of any top-five team in either 11- or eight-player rankings, considering their losses have come to formerly ranked Calumet, No. 2 Kingsford and No. 1 Menominee. And that trio of setbacks were by a combined 18 points.

Kingsford (7-0) couldn't budge Menominee out of the top spot after a narrow 15-8 win over Westwood on Friday.

Bark River-Harris (6-1) remained at No. 4, just not tied for the position now, after thumping Hancock 44-14 on the road on Friday.

Calumet tumbled from No. 3 to the "others receiving votes" purgatory by losing at Escanaba 21-20 on Friday. The Copper Kings received five voting points, two shy of what Marquette got that moved the Sentinels into fifth.

Iron Mountain (5-2) received a vote for the first time this season as the Mountaineers have taken a similar road to Marquette this season -- IM started 1-2 but has won four in row since, including a 41-0 home blanking of L'Anse on Friday.

The first four teams in the eight-player poll remained the same, while the only area team receiving votes, Ishpeming (5-2), continued receiving votes as an "others" squad.

The Hematites outscored Ironwood 64-18 on the road on Friday.

Lake Linden-Hubbell (7-0) remained a unanimous No. 1 after pulling out a 42-38 home victory over Forest Park (5-2), which remained No. 3.

Between them is No. 2 Pickford (6-1), a 36-30 double-overtime winner at Indian River Inland Lakes, which still has a solid 4-3 record. Both are members of the Straits Division of the Bridge Alliance Conference.

St. Ignace (6-1), another Straits Division member, held onto No. 4 in the U.P. with a 34-18 home win over Rudyard. The Saints' only loss this season was to Pickford, while the Panthers' lone setback was to Lower Peninsula powerhouse Portland St. Patrick.

There's a new No. 5 team, though, with North Central (5-2) making its first appearance in the poll this fall. The Jets posted a 29-14 home win over Norway (4-3), last week's No. 5 team that didn't receive a vote this week.

In this week's Associated Press state polls, which did come out in time to be reviewed for this story, Kingsford is No. 6 in Division 5, while Menominee is No. 1, but not quite unanimously, in Division 7. The Maroons received four of the five first-place votes, with No. 2 Pewamo-Westphalia (7-0) receiving the other.

Also in 11-player, Bark River-Harris is No. 9 in Division 8.

Among eight-player U.P. teams in Division 1, Pickford is No. 3, while Forest Park and Rudyard (5-2) are just outside the top 10.

For eight-player Division 2, LL-H is No. 2, St. Ignace No. 7 and North Central just outside the top 10. The Lakes received two of the five first-place votes, with No. 1 Mendon (7-0) getting the other three.

In games involving area teams this week, all at 7 p.m. EDT Friday, Gwinn is at Westwood, Marquette at Petoskey, Houghton at Negaunee, Ishpeming at Norway, Ontonagon at Munising, Hancock at L'Anse, Newberry at Rudyard and Manistique at Bark River-Harris.

Superior Central's game hosting Mid Peninsula on Saturday afternoon was canceled after the Wolverines ended their season in mid-September.

The regular season concludes after next week's game, with first round in both 11- and eight-player playoffs starting Friday and Saturday, Oct. 30-31.

With Gwinn's scheduled game next week against West Iron County canceled after the Wykons ended their season about a month ago, this Friday's game at Westwood will be the Modeltowners' final one of the season.

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

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