Week Two is in...

...the rearview mirror and Loyola, despite its narrow one-point victory over Maine South, is still No. 1 in all the polls.

I was up there in Wilmette on Saturday and it was one of the best games I've seen in a long time. (Mike Clark of the Tribune and Michael O'Brien of the Sun-Times covered it well.)

Hard to argue that Loyola's Jake Marwede (above) and Maine South's Nick Leongas and Fotis Kokosioulis weren't the players of the game, but I think Rambler coach John Holecek was also right when he said:

“Our offensive line obviously was the strong point again. Big, tough, [Maine South] loaded the box and we still ran it on them.”

That's interesting coming from a coach whose teams are usually known for their defense. But, as both Chicago sportswriters pointed out, 43 points is the most allowed by a Loyola squad since a 45-20 loss to Mount Carmel way back in 1998, before most of today's players were even born.

The Hawks, for their part, have now scored 87 points in two games. As I said last week, these guys are back. Maine South has now cracked the top ten in both the Sun-Times' and MaxPreps' rankings, as well they should.

That other game I didn't see (gotta pick your battles), IC Catholic at St. Laurence on Friday night, also ended in a shoot-out, with the Knights prevailing, 63-49. (Guess I should have taken the "over" in that one.) IC remained at No. 5 in MaxPreps' rankings. Are they really that good? Could they beat Lincoln-Way East or Glenbard West or Waubonsie Valley, three teams ranked behind them? We'll never know as the Knights will probably end up in Class 3A again this year. And they've already dispatched the two best teams on their schedule.

As for this week's rankings, Glenbard North was dropped from the Trib in favor of Prairie Ridge; and Crete-Monee and Bolingbrook were replaced in the Sun-Times by Maine South and Oak Park and River Forest. But it was MaxPreps that saw the most changes, as Prairie Ridge and Brother Rice moved up while Lincoln-Way East, St. Charles North, Maine South, and Waubonsie Valley were all added to the top ten.

Here are the rankings, with all teams undefeated unless otherwise noted.

Trib:

1. Loyola
2. Lincoln-Way East 
3. Glenbard West
4. Mount Carmel
5. Homewood-Flossmoor
6. Brother Rice
7. Waubonsie Valley
8. Neuqua Valley
9. Palatine
10. Prairie Ridge

Sun-Times:

1. Loyola
2. Mount Carmel
3. Homewood-Flossmoor
4. Glenbard West
5. Lincoln-Way East
6. Brother Rice
7. Maine South (1-1)
8. Neuqua Valley
9. Marist (1-1)
10. Oak Park and River Forest

MaxPreps:

1. Loyola
2. Prairie Ridge
3. Brother Rice
4. Palatine
5. IC Catholic
6. Lincoln-Way East
7. St. Charles North
8. Maine South (1-1)
9. Glenbard West
10. Waubonsie Valley

As for this week's games, talk about an embarrassment of riches! Loyola will travel to Mount Carmel, Waubonsie Valley will host Neuqua Valley, Homewood-Flossmoor will be at Lincoln-Way East, and Barrington will play host to Maine South.

What will be my Game of the Week? That should be obvious.