N. Mesquite, Alto Go Wire-to-Wire At No. 1

By JAIME ARON / Associated Press

DALLAS - Class 5A's North Mesquite and 2A's Alto were ranked No. 1 in the season's final Associated Press high school football poll released Monday, making them the only teams to go wire-to-wire atop their classes.

The other teams ranked No. 1 in the poll were Grapevine in 4A, Vernon and 2A and Windthorst in 1A.

North Mesquite, which had never been ranked before this season, received all 20 first-place votes for the fifth straight week. No other team was a unanimous No. 1 at any time this season.

The Stallions enter the 5A Division II playoffs as the prohibitive favorite. The crown is vacant, too, as defending champion San Antonio Roosevelt failed to make the postseason.

Converse Judson, the defending Division I champs, lasted eight weeks in the poll before being squeezed out. The Rockets shouldn't feel too bad - Aldine won and was knocked out of No. 10 this week by Richardson Lake Highlands, one of only three newcomers to this week's poll.

Rounding out the 5A poll, Marshall finished second, followed by Houston Yates, Midland Lee and Austin Westlake. Tyler John Tyler was sixth, followed by Galena Park North Shore, Duncanville and Humble.

Alto was the preseason favorite in 2A because it returned 15 starters from last year's 15-1 squad that lost the title game 32-28 to Celina.

Coach Lucky Gamble's Yellowjackets have lived up to the billing, outscoring opponents 524-94.

But don't count out the defending champs. Celina, which began the year ranked third and finished at No. 2, went 10-0 and has won its last 16 games - the state's longest current streak.

The rest of the 2A chase was Groveton in third, then Schulenburg, Iraan, Refugio, Mart, East Chambers, Ganado, and Italy.

Grapevine began the year ranked fourth in 4A with a bullet. Having been a 5A playoff team in 1995, the Mustangs were expected to become the team to beat in the first-ever 4A Division I playoff bracket.

They became tops in the class after week four, when La Marque's 50-game regular-season winning streak was ended by Tyler John Tyler.

One of the teams Grapevine leaped on the way up was Waxahachie, which began and ended the year at No. 3. Those two teams could meet in the second round, should they survive this weekend.

As for La Marque, the defending 4A champions returned to the poll this week at No. 9 after a one-week absence. The Cougars had been ranked for a state-best 42 straight weeks before falling out last week.

Corpus Christi Calallen - now the state leader with 43 consecutive poll appearances - finished second, Sweetwater was fourth, Navasota fifth, Brownwood sixth, Denison seventh and Hays Consolidated eighth.

Saginaw Boswell, the third team joining the poll this week, is No. 10.

Vernon made the biggest climb to No. 1, having opened the season at No. 7. An impressive early season - and losses by most of the six teams ahead of them - landed the Lions in the top spot after week four, and they haven't let up since.

Two-time defending champion Sealy, which opened the year No. 2, finished third. The Tigers flopped spots with Columbus, which began the year third and wound up second.

Then there's Atlanta - the only preseason favorite not to even appear in the final top 10.

Rounding out the 3A list are fourth-ranked Coldspring, followed by Crockett, Monahans, Mexia, Medina Valley, Kennedale, and Rusk.

Windthorst came as close as possible to being a seasonlong No. 1. The Trojans were second to Granger in the closest preseason balloting and overtook the top spot following the first weekend.

Granger's slide continued with a loss to Alto, then another defeat sent the Lions out of the rankings for a week. They returned to spend four weeks at No. 10 before making it up to ninth Monday.

Springlake-Earth finished second, Celeste third, Munday fourth, Burkeville fifth, Wortham sixth, Kress seventh, Tenaha eighth and Bartlett was No. 10.