November 9, Boys Postseason Blog #8

November 9, Boys Postseason Blog #8

Only two more days until a HUGE Saturday in MO Soccer - Quarterfinal day!

An overview blog today… game previews coming tomorrow.

First, a quick correction: Ft. Zumwalt South was a 3 seed and not a 5 seed as mentioned yesterday. Ladue was the only 5 seed (or lower) to advance. Apologies for the error.

Updated MPR rankings for each of the 8 remaining teams in each class. Each private school remaining has a score in parentheses indicating how many Championship Factor points it had entering this year (+ score) and how many points will come off (- score) after this season. This year’s points were not added, although each team will have earned at least one by the time we finish:

Class 1:
1 - Bishop DuBourg (+2, -0)
2 - Duchesne (+2, -1)
3 - Maryville
4 - Metro
6 - Father Tolton (+2, -0)
12 - College Heights Christian (+0, -0)
16 - Laquey
19 - Stover
Highest ranked teams knocked out: Valley Park (5), Cristo Rey (7), MMA (8), St. Mary’s Southside (9), Maplewood-Richmond Heights (10).

Notes: C1 has been the most accurate with regards to MPR, which shouldn’t be much of a surprise as the top six teams in C1 all had MPR scores of over 3.13 with a significant drop (-.46) to #7… Valley Park had the unfortunate draw of meeting #1 Bishop DuBourg in a district final (D1), which also boasted #9 St. Mary’s Southside, the state’s most competitive C1 district… The top 3 teams remaining have all spent time at #1 in MPR this year…Both Tolton (MMA) and Maryville (Cristo Rey) had to beat top 10 teams in district finals, but neither struggled, winning 4-0 and 4-1, respectively against teams that were nearly .50 below them.


Class 2:
1 - Westminster Christian (+0, -0)
2 - Logan-Rogersville
4 - Orchard Farm
6 - Harrisonville
7 - Affton
10 - Sacred Heart (+3, -3)
16 - Excelsior Springs
20 - Fulton
Highest ranked teams knocked out: Summit Christian (3), Clayton (5), Bayless (8), Barstow (9).

Notes: Westminster Christian took over the #1 spot from undefeated Logan-Rogersville in the second rankings and has held firm since…Affton (D1) and Harrisonville (D7) won arguably the most difficult districts, which had three teams each in the top 11. #10 Sacred Heart is the smallest school enrollment-wise (78) left in the tourney in any class. In comparison, C1 #3 Maryville is the largest school left in that class with 380, while C1 #12 College Heights Christian’s enrollment of 134 is the smallest school left in C1. Fulton, while the lowest remaining team in C2 and coming from a district with no one else ranked as high as #22 (Moberly who didn’t make the D4 final), has made a steady climb to #20 from #28 in the 10-16 MPR.

Class 3:
1 - Rockwood Summit
3 - East (KC)
4 - Van Horn
8 - Springfield Catholic (+3, -1)
16 - Ladue
21 - Ft. Zumwalt South
22 - Farmington
45 - Springfield Central
Highest ranked teams knocked out: St. Michael (2), Platte Co. (5), Borgia 6), Ft. Zumwalt East 7), Webster Groves (9), Whitfield (10).

Notes: Rockwood Summit has been on top of the C3 MPR all year…From there, C3 has been unpredictable…Only three teams in the initial MPR (9-26) advanced: Summit, Farmington, East (KC)…MPR #2 (10-3) added one more district winner (Springfield Catholic at #15), with the highest team left from that poll being East (KC) at #10. East, a finalist last year, may have also won the second most competitive district (D8), which had 4 teams in the top 19. Van Horn, the D7 winner, had to navigate through three other top 14 teams to advance as a #4 seed. Springfield Central has been on the soccer roller coaster, debuting at #34 for the first MPR, falling to 47 after a seven-game losing streak to end the regular season and now back to 45, by far the lowest remaining team in any class based on team ranking in that class.

Class 4:
1 - Rockhurst (+16, -4)
3 - CBC (+10, -2)
5 - Park Hill South
8 - Liberty (Wentzville)
9 - Lindbergh
11 - Ozark
13 - John Burroughs (+9, -1)
16 - Rock Bridge
Highest ranked teams knocked out: De Smet (2), SLUH (4), Vianney (6), Chaminade (7), St. Dominic (10).

Notes: #1 Rockhurst has spent all but one week on top of the C4 MPR (SLUH held the spot in the 10-10 poll), while also remaining top 5 nationally all year as well in the United Soccer Coaches rankings. The two-time defending C4 champs have climbed all the way to #2 this week nationally but struggled against #15 Ray-Pec in the D6 finals, winning in OT after nearly blowing a two-goal lead…Last year’s runners-up, CBC, advanced out of the most difficult district (D2), which had three top 7 teams and four in the top 18. D1 winner Lindbergh also had a demanding route in winning there as four schools finished in the top 19. Rock Bridge jumped from 27 in the final regular season MPR to 16, but is still the lowest remaining squad in C4, which just goes to show how the final two weekends will likely be in C4, especially factoring in travel, teams hosting and geographic matchups.