Loyola returns to No. 1 as part of Super 25 shakeup after Week 2

Good morning,

Loyola is back in the top spot. There doesn’t seem to be much controversy around that, everyone knows how difficult it is to beat the Ramblers every season. 

Are they the best team right now? Who knows. I felt pretty good about St. Rita as my preseason No. 1 team, but that group only existed for about four minutes before Kaleb Brown’s injury. Warren clearly doesn’t have the offensive balance to be No. 1 right now —Maine South showed that on Friday.

Naperville Central has a solid resume, but it is uncertain how big that Lincoln-Way East win is just yet. Keep an eye on Brother Rice and Marist. Both teams have a ton of experience. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Crusaders are, right now, the best team in the state. But there is no proof of that. They didn’t even play a game last week after Perspectives forfeited. 

So here we are. There isn’t really any established hierarchy in place. Maine South and Naperville Central have nice wins. The Catholic League powers are the teams everyone trusts. It’s wait and see on the rest. 

That’s kind of fun. There are seven weeks for momentum to build and then some playoffs to figure it out at the end (hopefully). 

Well, that didn’t take too long.

Loyola is back on top of the Super 25. The Ramblers spent all six weeks on top of the rankings in the spring and have clearly reloaded quickly. This is a different team. There is no breakout talent like Vaughn Pemberton offensively, but the line play is very strong and the offense is as crisp and capable as last season.

I gave serious thought to Maine South and Naperville Central for the top spot. Naperville Central has the best resume in the area, with wins against Hinsdale Central and Lincoln-Way East. Maine South’s defense was an eye-opener in Gurnee on Friday night.

Brother Rice was a preseason contender for the top spot and was ranked second last week, but at this point I couldn’t elevate a team that has only played one game to number one.

Richards and Evanston drop out this week after picking up losses. Lockport and Lemont, a last-second winner against Nazareth, join the rankings.

Lemont grabs the Team of the Week honors for Week 2 by knocking off Nazareth on a Hail Mary toss at the buzzer. 

A pair of juniors pulled off the feat. Quarterback Payton Salomon threw the 40-yard pass to Mike Jabaay. Salomon scrambled to find some space and fired into the corner of the end zone where Jabaay dived to make the grab. 

The heroics gave Lemont a 15-10 win over the Roadrunners. 

Lemont is off to a 2-0 start. It beat St. Charles East 41-6 in Week 1 and will travel to Shepard for Week 3. 

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