U.P. football holds to status quo
ESCANABA — The high school football poll maintains the status quo again this week as all the expected winners did what was expected.
The Upper Peninsula’s only 6-0 teams top each of their respective divisions, Calumet in the Large School, Ishpeming in the Small School and Pickford in eight-player. Each leader was a unanimous choice with all six Upper Peninsula Sportswriters and Sportscasters panelists placing them first.
Area schools are not getting much poll attention from that panel. Escanaba is second in the Large School ranks, and in eight-player, North Central is third and Rapid River is tied for fourth with Stephenson, which fell from third after getting drubbed at Pickford.
The only big change came in that eight-player division Stephenson was drubbed by Pickford and fell from third to fifth
Following Calumet and Escanaba are Marquette, Westwood and tied for fifth are Kingsford and Sault Ste. Marie. Negaunee is honorable mention.
In Small School, West Iron County is second, followed by Iron Mountain, St. Ignace and Gwinn, with Norway and L’Anse getting mention.
Engadine is second in eight-player, with Cedarville fourth. Forest Park, which was drilled by North Central, is honorable mention.
In the state Associated Press poll, U.P. schools continue to receive just scant attention.
Escanaba is honorable mention in Division 4, Calumet is No. 8 in D-6, Ishpeming is No. 4, West Iron is No. 9 and Iron Mountain is honorable mention in D-7 and St. Ignace gets HM in D-8.
In eight-player, Pickford remains No. 1, Engadine is No. 5 and North Central is honorable mention.
The primary game Friday sends Escanaba to Gladstone. Another key game brings top-ranked Ishpeming to No. 2 West Iron.
Elsewhere in the area Friday, Rapid River visits Cedarville and North Central goes to Florence, Wis. On Saturday, Superior Central hosts Pickford and Carney-Nadeau hosts Rudyard at Powers.
It also appears that Bark River-Harris will visit Newberry Friday, although that has not been confirmed. BR-H was slated to play at Manistique Friday but the Emeralds canceled the rest of their season last week because there were not enough players.