Entering the third week of the regular season in prep baseball, only one thing is clear.
Nobody has any idea who the best team in the state is.
For the first time since the first poll of the 2016 season, five different teams were ranked No. 1 this week out of the 10 voters in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser Baseball Top 10.
It’s not uncommon for as many as five teams to be picked No. 1 in a poll to start a season. But after two weeks of play? Generally a consensus begins to form.
In this case, it’s only getting more difficult to figure out.
Six of the 10 teams in the ILH have only one loss and eight out of 10 are at .500 or better. Three games into the OIA West season and every team has lost at least once. Kailua is the lone undefeated team left on Oahu, and after Kailua coach Corey Ishigo admitted the Surfriders took offense to being left out of the first Top 10, voters have taken notice.
Kailua picked up two first-place votes this week and jumped to No. 4 in the rankings.
Mid-Pacific and ‘Iolani flip-flopped at the top spot with the Owls pushing past the Raiders for the No. 1 spot after a classic 1-0 win over ‘Iolani on Tuesday.
The Raiders dropped a spot to No. 2, but remained in front of No. 3 Baldwin, which again fell outside of the top two despite receiving half of the first-place votes.
The Bears are ranked first on five ballots, but none of the other five have Baldwin in the top three.
The 10 teams to make the top 10 didn’t change but the order did for every other squad than Baldwin. Campbell, which earned the last first-place vote, dropped a spot to fifth while Punahou moved up two spots to No. 6.
Saint Louis is at No. 7 after it was fifth last week.
Waiakea, another team voters can’t seem to figure out, moved to No. 8, ahead of No. 9 Mililani and No. 10 Kamehameha.
Waiakea, which finished runner-up to Maui in the state final last year, received a second-place vote and a third-place vote but was also left off of four ballots completely.
Pearl City (14), Hilo (11), Kalani (six), Kamehameha-Maui (one) and defending state champion Maui (one) also received votes.
It should help that the MIL opens league play this week. The first sets of games this week are between Baldwin and Lahainaluna, and Maui and King Kekaulike.
Honolulu Star-Advertiser Top 10
| FOOTBALL | ||
|---|---|---|
| Updated: 10/23 | ||
| RANK | SCHOOL | VOTES |
| 1. | Kahuku (10) | 100 |
| 2. | Miililani | 86 |
| 3. | Campbell | 81 |
| 4. | Punahou | 73 |
| 5. | Saint Louis | 53 |
| 6. | Kapolei | 50 |
| 7. | Konawaena | 40 |
| 8. | Farrington | 23 |
| 9. | Lahainaluna | 18 |
| 10. | Kamehameha | 8 |
History shows in the past couple years the 4 top seeds going into the state tournament, usually ain’t there by the second game let alone winning it all.
ILH is tough, the OIA West has a Gauntlet as well, but OIA East isn’t as strong as the other leagues. Kailua will probably go undefeated till the OIA tournament. Outer island is always tough on the top but a big drop on the bottom.
See who gets hot at the right time. Good luck to all..