Class 3 and 4 Previews (10-29)

Coaches - The last regular season Power Rankings will be posted shortly. While these have proven to be fairly accurate (based on postseason successes) in our short run of using them, there are also the "gotta play the games" and "it's soccer...anything can happen" factors that make the postseason so fun. There has been a lot of talk regarding the way that we seed our districts and if we would be better off with using our Power Rankings. For fun (or maybe more out of curiosity), here's a look at how the districts were seeded and how they would have been seeded if we used the power rankings. One big argument regarding the use of Power Rankings to seed comes from teams within a district not playing each other during the regular season, unlike football, for example.

The rankings used were from the Oct. 25 edition that came out earlier this week - mainly because if we did use these to seed, we would use ones from that time period and not the final ones that will be posted later today. "No change" means that the districts were seeded as teams were ranked in the Power Rankings. As you can see, the class 3 and 4 versions almost all had some changes based on the rankings and the actual seedings.

(Apologies, in advance for any errors...)

Class 3

District 1 - The big one here is #1 Cape ND (6) over #2 Mehlville (2). The two didn't play in the regular season and both had outstanding seasons...should be a fun one! Fun note: this seeding was decided by a coin flip that Cape ND won. #7 Lutheran South (51) a spot below #6 Sikeston (52) isn't much of a difference, but one has to wonder if the smaller sized private schools who move up often deal with a little voting bias from the established teams in the class.

District 2 - #2 Webster Groves (15) nips #3 (and defending Class 2 champs) MICDS (14) for the 2nd spot. The two didn't play BUT Webster does have a late season 2-1 win over #1 Ladue (5). Ladue did get a solid 4-1 win over MICDS earlier. #7 Principia (33) behind #5 Parkway Central (36) and #6 Parkway West (37). Central squeaked by West 1-0, while Principia played a mostly smaller school schedule and no common opponents in that group of 3.

District 3 - The defending champs (Zumwalt South) are in this district, along with the bottom 4 teams in Class 3 that are off by one #6 Warrenton (61) is behind #5 McCluer North (62). The last 4 seeds there likely went by win totals.

District 4 - This district (based on the rankings) is all over the place. #1 Summit (23), who didn't play anyone in the district, is ahead of #2 Capital City, followed by #3 Jeff City (30), #4 Rolla (25), #5 Union (29). Hard to settle this one as Cap City beat JC and Rolla early in the season, while the Jays lose to Rolla but beat Union 3-0. The 6-8 seeds Washington, Pacific and Camdenton are 46, 48, 49, so this district could be a wild one.

District 5 - The only discrepancy here is #4 Parkview (39) over #4 West Plains (38), but Parkview beat the Zizzers 5-1 late in the year. #1 Glendale (1), #2 Branson (8) and #3 Catholic (9) lined up correctly, but each game among the three were one goal games, so next week could be for some fun soccer in the SW.

District 6 - No change. The only class 3 district to align. Neosho (7) is the only top 15 team.

District 7 - The top 4 seeds in this one are all ranked from 10-21 so semifinal action should be close. #4 (and formally a Class 1) St. Paul Lutheran (16) sits behind #2 Van Horn (18) and #3 Grain Valley (21) and didn't play any class 3 or 4 schools all year. #5 St. Michael's (34) and #6 Smith-Cotton (35) make a case for a higher seed based on scheduling, but St. Paul's has a rich tradition at the lower classes and only one loss on the year.

District 8 - Another highly competitive district. #1 Pembroke Hill (4) already has a solid win over overall #1 Glendale and will face challenges from #2 (and host school) Platte Co. (11), #3 Smithville (13) and #4 Guadalupe (12). Smithville did beat Guadalupe 1-0 earlier and took Platte Co. to OT before losing. All three Platte Co. losses came by one goal.

Class 4

District 1 - This one is a bit scattered. #1 Jackson (16), #2 Vianney (37), #3 Oakville (19), #4 Northwest (28), #5 Lindbergh (48) and #6 Seckman (31) are a bit jumbled. Vianney's OT win over Oakville is likely a big factor. Also doubt the Vianney schedule (MCC) didn't hurt, either. Northwesta lost to Oakville but had a big 5-0 win over Seckman. Seckman finished the regular season 17-4, but seeded behind 6-11-3 Lindbergh. District 1 is always a challenge to seed due to the SE teams and STL teams trying to compare.

District 2 - Almost lined up, but lots of equality here.#1 CBC (5) over #2 Marquette (6) and #3 (deSmet (22). Only flip would be #6 Eureka (41) and #7 Parkway South (39) - Parkway South opened the year with an OT win over Eureka.

District 3 - No change. Splitting the MCC schools into three different districts could mean more of the MCC schools get out with #1 SLUH (2) and #2 Chaminade (3) dealing with former Class 2 power #3 John Burroughs (21) in the semis. Despite being much smaller in enrollment, the Bombers have a championship pedigree and play most of the MCC schools. SLUH has been a top team all year, but CCP has already knocked off the Billikens 1-0.

District 4 - This one will be fun...#1 St. Dominic (15) tied #2 Liberty (11) earlier in the season. #3 Howell (14) and #4 Timberland (25) are also highly competitive. Dominic's 2-0 win over Howell was likely the big factor as Liberty and Howell didn't play.

District 5 - The Southwest is always tight and this year is even more so with 5 teams within the top 30. #1 Kickapoo (9) edged out Nixa (7) and #3 Ozark (18). #4 Joplin (27)and #5 Republic (26), along with #6 Carthage (29) make for a top heavy district. Kickapoo gets the 1 based on wins over Nixa and Ozark.

District 6 - This may be the poster child for why rankings would be helpful. Three KC schools, four Mid-Mo schools and one STL area school thrown together. #1 Hickman (8) the top team in Mid-Mo all year and deserving of #1. #2 Blue Springs South (17) behind #3 Blue Springs (13) in rankings but beat Blue Springs two out of three (all close games) to get the 2 seed. #5 Troy (56) leapfrogs #6 Ft. Osage (43), and #8 Helias (54)...likely due to the way their seasons ended. Helias behind #7 Battle (58) due to Battle's 1-0 regular season win.

District 7 - Overall #1 Rockhurst the favorite here, but #2 Lee's Summit (4) and #3 Lee's Summit West (12) pose threats. #5 Belton (23) behind #4 Ray-Pec (36) despite beating Ray-Pec 1-0. Uniform choice is the only difference in the long run.

District 8 - Only slight change would be #6 North KC (57) and #7 St. Joe Central (55). St. Joe Central also beat North KC...big difference between playing a 2 and 3 seed sometimes. In this case, playing the two seed (Park Hill 20)  and three (Park Hill South 30) are mainly a new foe. St. Joe lost to Park Hill South twice already and has yet to play Park Hill.