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Super 25 Regional Football Rankings: Week 12

As playoffs get underway in many states, here are the latest Super 25 Regional High School Football Rankings for Week 12…

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USA TODAY High School Sports’ Super 25 regional rankings in football is selected by the HSS staff with weekly rankings in five regions — East, Southeast, Midwest, Southwest and West.

SUPER 25: TOP 25 | TOP STAR | How the Super 25 Fared

EAST

Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, District of Columbia, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Vermont, Virginia, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Maine

  1. St. Frances Academy, Baltimore, Maryland (10-1)
  2. St. Joseph’s Prep, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (8-2)
  3. Southern Columbia, Catawissa, Pennsylvania (12-0)
  4. St. John’s, Washington, District of Columbia (6-4)
  5. Highland Springs, Virginia (10-0)
  6. Gonzaga, Washington, District of Columbia (8-2)
  7. Pine-Richland, Gibsonia, Pennsylvania (10-1)
  8. McDonogh School, Owings Mills, Maryland (11-0)
  9. St. Joseph Regional, Montvale, New Jersey (6-3)
  10. St. Peter’s Prep, Jersey City, New Jersey (8-1)

SOUTHEAST

Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and South Carolina

  1. St. Thomas Aquinas, Fort Lauderdale, Florida (10-0)
  2. Lakeland, Florida (11-0)
  3. IMG Academy, Bradenton, Florida (9-1)
  4. Dutch Fork, Irmo, South Carolina (10-0-1)
  5. Lowndes, Valdosta, Georgia (9-0)
  6. McEachern, Georgia (10-0)
  7. Central, Phenix City, Alabama (10-1)
  8. Hoover, Alabama (9-2)
  9. Colquitt County, Moultrie, Georgia (8-2)
  10. Thompson, Alabama (9-1)

MIDWEST

Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, West Virginia and Wisconsin

  1. Mentor, Ohio (11-0)
  2. Male, Louisville, Kentucky (11-0)
  3. Muskegon, Michigan (11-0)
  4. East St. Louis, Illinois (11-0)
  5. Muskego, Wisconsin (12-0)
  6. De Smet Jesuit, St. Louis (10-0)
  7. Lincoln-Way East, Frankfort, Illinois (11-0)
  8. St. Edward, Lakewood, Ohio (10-1)
  9. Wayzata, Plymouth, Minnesota (11-0)
  10. Archbishop Hoban, Akron, Ohio (10-1)

SOUTHWEST

Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas

  1. Duncanville, Texas (10-0)
  2. Katy, Texas (10-0)
  3. Allen, Texas (10-0)
  4. North Shore, Houston, Texas (9-1)
  5. Carroll, Southlake, Texas (10-0)
  6. Archbishop Rummel, Metaire, Louisiana (10-0)
  7. Owasso, Oklahoma (10-0)
  8. Catholic, Baton Rouge, Louisiana (10-0)
  9. Longview, Texas (10-0)
  10. Picayune, Mississippi (10-0)

WEST

Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming

  1. Mater Dei, Santa Ana, California (10-0)
  2. St. John Bosco, Bellflower, California (9-1)
  3. Saint Louis, Honolulu (10-0)
  4. De La Salle, Concord, California (9-1)
  5. Chandler, Arizona (10-0)
  6. Bishop Gorman, Las Vegas (10-1)
  7. Corner Canyon, Draper, Utah (12-0)
  8. Mission Viejo, California (10-0)
  9. Folsom, California (9-1)
  10. O’Dea, Seattle (9-0)

Tom Brady not over Super Bowl loss, hints at Patriots using their own ‘Special’ play vs. the Eagles

Tom Brady says he’s still not over Super Bowl loss to the Eagles

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Tom Brady is preparing for his first duel with Carson Wentz, yet he still can’t get over the sting of New England’s crushing 41-33 loss to Philadelphia in Super Bowl LII.

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While a guest on WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show” in Boston on Monday morning, Brady discussed the ‘mental scar tissue’ that remains from that crushing defeat against the Birds.

“You assume I’m over it? Come on now,” Brady said. “That’s a lot of mental scar tissue from that year. That was a tough game.

Brady went on to provide further insight into the lasting hangover he feels from that loss.

“In a lot of ways we learned from that year and we came back stronger the next year. We won the Super Bowl in ’18. I think everything is a matter of perspective and when you play in that game and you play great teams, you’re not going to win them all. This is not the Harlem Globetrotters vs. the Washington Generals. This is all about tough competition against the best teams. They deserved it that year, and now a couple years later we get a chance to play the organization again. We’ve had a lot of changes, they’ve had a lot of changes. It’s totally different circumstances. Huge game for us. Big game for them. The better team is going to win.”

Both teams are coming off bye weeks and the Patriots (8-1), are nearly unbeatable when they’ve had a week to prepare.

While discussing the “Philly Special”, Brady hinted at the Patriots pulling out their own bag of tricks in the rematch.

“Tough play to stop. They executed it well,” Brady told WEEI. “That play will go down in history, just like a lot of those big plays in the Super Bowl have. Good for them.”

Mark Ingram led ‘MVP’ chants for Lamar Jackson from the sidelines

In Cincinnati!

Lamar Jackson had himself quite the day in the Ravens’ 49-13 win over the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday. The second-year quarterback threw for three touchdowns and a perfect passer rating. He also broke out the signature touchdown run of his young career.

It was such an impressive performance that Jackson had his own teammate playing cheerleader from the sidelines.

The official Ravens Twitter account shared video from late in Sunday’s game as running back Mark Ingram led actual “MVP” chants from the sidelines. This game was in Cincinnati, but plenty of Ravens fans made the trip — enough to make the MVP chants audible from the field.

Ingram was so pumped that his efforts were successful. The entire video was great.

Jackson, in particular, was appreciative of his running back and hype man.

That’s one way for Ingram to get over Alabama’s loss to LSU on Saturday.

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Michigan football – Indiana kickoff time set

We now know the rest of the start times for Michigan football moving forward. With the two upcoming home rivalry games kicking off at noon EST, the lone game we didn’t know about was the final road game of the season, as Michigan travels to …

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We now know the rest of the start times for Michigan football moving forward.

With the two upcoming home rivalry games kicking off at noon EST, the lone game we didn’t know about was the final road game of the season, as Michigan travels to Bloomington to take on a currently ranked Indiana team.

While the Hoosiers play Penn State this weekend, which could affect their ability to be ranked, regardless, it’ll be a big matchup for a Wolverines team that has recently struggled at Indiana, with each of the last two road games there going to overtime.

As a result, it won’t just be an early kickoff, as Indiana announced that the game will kick off at 3:30PM EST, and will be televised on either ABC or ESPN.

Michigan has to really maintain focus, either way, given the recent struggles against the Hoosiers, especially on the road. But, it’s somewhat exacerbated given that the maize and blue take on archrival Ohio State the very next week. In recent memory, when the Wolverines have taken on Indiana, the home games have been the week before The Game, but the road games came at least two weeks before said matchup.

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Sixers take significant tumble in latest ESPN power rankings

After a disappointing West Coast swing, the Sixers fell hard in the latest NBA power rankings from ESPN.

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After starting the season with five-straight victories the Philadelphia 76ers were riding high. As a result, they had climbed all the way to the top of ESPN’s NBA power rankings. But a lot can change in a week’s time, and after a thoroughly disappointing West Coast trip during which the team dropped three out of four contests, the Sixers have suffered a precipitous fall in this week’s edition of the rankings.

Philadelphia has fallen all the way to the eight spot, trailing the Lakers, Clippers, Bucks, Celtics, Jazz, Nuggets, and Raptors. Two of those teams, the Jazz and Nuggets, handed the Sixers losses during the west coast swing.

Falling seven spots in a single week hurts, but it’s hard to say it was undeserved. The Celtics are off to a 7-1 start, while Toronto is 7-2 and coming off a win against the Lakers that snapped Los Angeles’ seven-game winning streak. Meanwhile, Denver also has seven wins in addition to its recent win over the Sixers, while Utah is even with the Sixers at 6-3 but also holds a head-to-head victory over Philadelphia.

The events of the West Coast trip were disappointing, but it’s also fair to take them with a grain of salt. West Coast trips are inherently difficult, and the fact that it came early in the season as the new-look Sixers look to build chemistry only added to the difficulty. The team was without Joel Embiid for two of the games due to his suspension and was without Ben Simmons for basically one and three-quarters of the trip after he was injured early in the game against the Jazz.

Despite all that, it’s also fair to be concerned. The team was in position to win both the Pheonix and Utah games but failed to do so, and it blew a 21-point lead in the loss to Denver. The fourth-quarter offense was anemic against the Nuggets and the Sixers settled for too many difficult shots. In addition, turnovers continue to be a serious concern. Adding to the frustration is the fact that Joel Embiid’s conditioning once again appeared to be a factor in the three-game losing streak and Ben Simmons has yet to show any signs of progression.

It’s incredibly early and way too soon to be pushing any panic buttons, but to be sitting at 6-3 after a 5-0 start is frustrating. The recurring issues are problematic, but we also don’t want to overreact to a tough stretch of games during which the team wasn’t really at full strength.

The Sixers got back on track with a win over the Hornets on Sunday and will look to build on that Tuesday when they host the Cleveland Cavaliers. Hopefully, the team will start climbing its way back up the rankings and look more like the team that was good enough to hold the top spot just a week ago. [lawrence-related id=19074,19064,19038,19021,19002]

Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes continues to break NFL records

Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes’ performance on Sunday helped him leave his mark on NFL history yet again.

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If you’re in need of an indication that Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is back and as good as ever, this should do the trick.

Mahomes made his 25th career start on Sunday against the Tennessee Titans. It also marked his return from a kneecap dislocation. Despite the Chiefs’ loss, Mahomes completed 36-of-50 passes for 446 yards and three touchdowns.

A lot of NFL records have crumpled at the hands of Mahomes, and he added several more on Sunday. According to NFL Communications, Mahomes now holds the record for the most passing yards through 25 career games with 8,007. Hall of Famer Kurt Warner is the only player who comes close to that in 25 games, with just under 7,400 passing yards.

That isn’t the only record Mahomes surpassed. He also passed Dolphins legend Dan Marino for the most passing touchdowns through 25 career games with 68. Marino had 65 in his first 25 career games.

And that’s not all. According to Chiefs team reporter Matt McMullen, Mahomes has the highest passer rating and the most completions in his first 25 starts of any player in NFL history. He’s essentially leading all quarterbacks in four of the most meaningful passing categories through 25 games.

Finally, Sunday’s game marked Mahomes’ 16th with at least 300 passing yards. It was enough to surpass Warner for the most games with at least 300 passing yards in a player’s first 25 games.

You won’t see Mahomes bragging about these individual accolades, especially when the Chiefs aren’t winning. Still, it’s awe-inspiring how every time Mahomes steps on the football field he manages to break another record and etch his name in the NFL history books. You can rest assured this won’t be the last time you hear about Mahomes surpassing a record. The next one may even happen as early as Week 11 against the Chargers in Mexico City.

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The Dion Waiters marijuana edible situation, explained

Waiters was just suspended for 10 games.

Welcome to FTW Explains, a guide to catching up on and better understanding stuff going on in the world.

The Miami Heat recently suspended guard Dion Waiters 10 games for what was called “conduct detrimental to the team” after reports of an incident involving a marijuana edible on the team plane.

It ended days of reporting and speculation about just what happened with the NBA veteran on that plane as everyone is piecing together reports about the incident that was considering detrimental conduct.

Here are some questions you might have and as many answers as we’ve gotten in the last few days about what exactly happened:

Who is Dion Waiters?

He’s a 27-year-old shooting guard for the Miami Heat who has averaged 13.2 points per game in a seven-year career after he was drafted out of Syracuse by the Cleveland Cavaliers with the fourth overall pick in 2012.

And what’s this now about marijuana edibles?

Well, marijuana is a substance that —

No no, what does that have to do with Waiters?

Oh, okay! There was a report on Friday from a Fox Sports radio host Andy Slater that a Heat player had a “medical emergency” on their flight out of Phoenix:

Slater added this:

Did that really happen?!

According to another report from ESPN, Waiters had a “panic attack” after consuming the edible.

Did the Heat confirm that was the case?

Not fully. In a statement that came with the 10-game suspension, the Heat said “Dion’s actions this season (included) the very scary situation on Thursday night,” and that the team was “grateful that the outcome wasn’t worse.”

They also mentioned there were other actions that were detrimental to the team this year.

Like what?

That might have been a reference to him being suspended for the home opener because of — per a Pat Riley statement via the Sun-Sentinel — “unprofessional conduct on the bench” during a preseason game.

Where did he get an edible from?

It’s unclear, but per The Athletic’s Shams Charania, the Heat believe it came from a teammate, although he won’t say:

How costly was this suspension?

Extremely:

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LeBron on seeing his sons rundown from AAU tournaments: ‘This isn’t right’

LeBron James said that he sees the toll of AAU basketball first-hand, with his two sons, and says the status quo bothers him.

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When it comes to his own load management, LeBron James has a pretty simple approach. But when it comes to the well-being of his children and the thousands of kids that play youth basketball on the summer tournament circuit, James has many more thoughts as a parent of two hoops hopefuls.

In an interview with Yahoo’s Chris Haynes, James tackled the issue of youth players coming into the league rundown and with injuries. He discussed seeing his sons being forced to play three games in one session at an AAU tournament this year and how jarring it was for him to see his kids rundown, explaining:

Because a lot of these tournaments don’t have the best interest of these kids, man. I see it. It’s like one time, they had to play a quarterfinal game, a semifinal game and a championship game starting at 9 a.m., and the championship game was at 12:30 p.m. Three games. I was like, ‘Oh, hell no.’ And my kids were dead tired. My kids were dead tired. This isn’t right. This is an issue.

Over the summer, the issue of youth basketball wearing down the game’s most promising young players was the topic of a phenomenal expose by ESPN’s Baxter Holmes. And as if the topic didn’t need anymore support, No. 1 overall pick Zion Williamson needed knee surgery days before the season began and No. 2 pick Ja Morant had a knee procedure over the summer.

The issue of players entering the league with chronic injuries is not one that will go away soon. And while LeBron can only influence the workloads of his two sons, it’s clear he doesn’t like the non-stop cycle that often chews up and spits out players before they get a chance to be fully-formed.

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Injury report: Enes Kanter cleared to play for first time since season opener

Boston Celtics center Enes Kanter is finally ready to return from a knee contusion that kept him out for nearly three weeks of action.

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If it seems like Enes Kanter hasn’t played much for the Boston Celtics this season, that’s because he hasn’t.

After signing a two-year deal with the Celtics over the offseason, seeking to team up with Kemba Walker and play for Boston’s revered franchise, the nine-year veteran has been out since the team’s regular season opener against the Philadelphia 76ers on Oct. 23 due to a left knee contusion.

Kanter, who started the game in a rather unexpected move by Celtics head coach Brad Stevens, recorded 12 points, six rebounds and two assists in 25 minutes.

The team has been hopeful Kanter would be cleared since last week but it wouldn’t be until Monday,  Nov. 11 — the day of Boston’s nationally-televised matchup against the Dallas Mavericks — that Kanter would be cleared by the Celtics’ medical staff.

Per the Athletic’s Jay King, Kanter told reporters that the training staff had cleared him after shootaround, “so [he’s] good to go tonight.”

Kanter may not start against the Mavericks considering he’s been out for nearly three weeks and the Celtics have won seven straight games without him.

However, with Gordon Hayward’s scoring punch set to be missing from the starting lineup for a few weeks after the versatile forward fractured his hand against the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday, Stevens may want to have Kanter in the starting unit as an experienced offensive threat in place of the longtime Utah Jazz star.

LeBron James blasts AAU culture: ‘AAU coaches don’t give a (expletive)’

Lakers star LeBron James had a candid conversation about AAU culture and how it’s contributing to injured NBA players.

The big debate of the early NBA season is load management, as the league debates why so many of its star players are choosing to sit out games during the regular seasons.

Players are banged up and being more careful to protect their bodies. The league is fine with that, in theory, but it’s hard to justify to people paying for expensive tickets, and for national TV audiences, why they can’t see their favorite players play on some nights.

The Lakers’ LeBron James has often spoken out about players having the right to do what’s best for their bodies, and is someone who has taken time off during the regular season to rest and recharge for a playoff push.

In a candid interview with Yahoo Sports this week, James also spoke out about what he sees as an issue for players’ health: The fact that they’re entering the league already banged up.

He points to a toxic culture in AAU youth basketball which puts players through outrageous schedules and is taxing on young bodies. He cites his perspective watching his two sons, LeBron Jr. and Bryce, go through the process now, and has seen what they are being demanded to do.

From Yahoo Sports:

“These kids are going into the league already banged up, and I think parents and coaches need to know [that] … well, AAU coaches don’t give a f—,” James told Yahoo Sports. “AAU coaches couldn’t give a damn about a kid and what his body is going through.”

He went on:

“I think [AAU] has something to do with it, for sure,” James told Yahoo Sports. “It was a few tournaments where my kids — Bronny and Bryce — had five games in one day and that’s just f—ing out of control. That’s just too much.

James went on to speak about how there isn’t being enough done to protect these athletes from fatigue, and how they aren’t being taught how to eat right, either. Read the entire article over at Yahoo Sports.

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