Tuesday, September 22, 1998

Upsets churn AP high school poll; Sweetwater falls

By DENNE H. FREEMAN

Associated Press

There was a shakeup this week in the top three of the Associated Press' Class 5A high school football poll, although Killeen Ellison remained No. 1 with a wild 23-21 victory over Austin Westlake.

Upsets allowed Longview to move up to No. 2 and Katy to jump to No. 3.

Second-ranked Arlington Lamar lost to No. 9 Lewisville 37-27. No. 4 Longview trounced No. 3 Duncanville 36-15.

Katy, formerly No. 5, mauled Fort Bend Elkins 31-14 to step up two notches.

The only other 5A Top 10 team to fall was No. 8 North Mesquite, which lost to Abilene Cooper 28-3.

The big news in Class 4A was the ending of Sweetwater's 41-game regular-season winning streak as the fifth-ranked Mustangs fell to Borger 19-15.

Top-ranked La Marque was idle as No. 2-rated Corsicana edged the Waxahachie Indians 14-7 and No. 3 West Orange-Stark blanked Willis 29-0.

Tenth-ranked Terrell lost to Greenville 28-17.

There was a change in the top three in Class 3A as third-ranked Cleveland took a 35-13 whipping from No. 9 Newton. Alvarado held off Red Oak 17-13 to move to the No. 3 spot. Top-ranked Breckenridge beat Graham 28-23 and El Campo's Ricebirds gave No. 2 Sweeny a tussle before falling 23-12.

No. 6 Vernon lost to Wichita Falls 24-17 in the only other shocker.

In Class 2A, top-ranked Stanton beat Colorado City 24-6, but third-ranked Omaha Pewitt was upset 7-0 by Hooks, and No. 6 Grand Saline lost to Canton 30-0. Second-ranked Mart pounded Teague 28-6. The Winters Blizzards chilled Ozona 34-6 to move to No. 3.

Class A was ambush city over the weekend.

Top-ranked Tenaha beat Joaquin 43-0, but five other ranked teams lost.

No. 2 Wheeler lost to Wellington 21-16, No. 3 Bartlett fell to Thorndale 11-6, No. 6 Sudan lost to 2A's No. 8 team Spearman 56-6, No. 9 Wink fell to Plains 21-6 and No. 10 Roscoe lost to No. 5 Aspermont 20-14 in overtime.

Iola, which downed Leon 28-8, moved to No. 2 while Aspermont took over the No. 3 ranking after its exciting victory over Roscoe.