ESPN Boston and the Boston Globe's published rankings feature several local teams.
Editor's Note: The following story is published in Burlington, Woburn, Reading, North Reading, Wilmington, Tewksbury, Westford and Chelmsford as they are the towns currently included in Patch's region of sports coverage.
The state tournament is made to determine how teams stack up against one another. But until that time comes in just over a week, there’s another way to figure that out.
Several local media outlets compile weekly rankings for boys and girls teams in both hockey and basketball. And multiple Patch towns in the area are represented in the rankings posted in recent days by ESPNBoston.com and the Boston Globe.
Putting together the most impressive showing of the region’s teams is Reading. The Rockets are the top-ranked girls basketball team by both media outlets while each has Reading boys hockey at No. 4 in their rankings. In addition, the Lady Rockets hockey team comes in at No. 7 on both lists.
Boys Basketball
No teams in the current Patch region of Reading, North Reading, Wilmington, Tewksbury, Burlington, Woburn, Westford and Chelmsford crack the Top 25 on ESPN Boston.
Among ESPN Boston’s Last 10 Out are unbeaten North Reading (19-0) and Westford, which now sits at 15-4.
The Globe, meanwhile, shows a little more love for the unblemished Hornets. North Reading ranked at No. 10 as of Feb. 10, when the team was 17-0 before winning a pair of games in recent days.
Girls Basketball
Coming as a surprise to no one, the Reading girls basketball team is No. 1 in both polls. Thanks to a win this week that improved the team to 18-0 on the year, the Lady Rockets are on a 43-game winning streak as they hope to win a second straight state title.
Both polls agree on Reading’s positioning, as well as Westford’s. The Grey Ghosts sit at No. 13 on ESPN Boston along with in the Globe poll.
Boys Hockey
Things are much busier for the region in the hockey polls.
In addition to Reading at No. 4 on ESPN Boston, Division 2 defending champion Wilmington sat at No. 12 this week, Chelmsford is at No. 17, and Burlington has bounced back after a tough start to hop to No. 22.
Things are slightly different according to the Boston Globe. The newspaper agrees that Reading is No. 4, but has Wilmington at No. 11, Chelmsford at No. 19 and Burlington outside of its Top 20.
Girls Hockey
The polls agree on one thing. The Woburn girls hockey team is the best in the state.
Both ranking lists have the unbeaten Tanners atop them, with appearances in both by Westford as well.
The Lady Grey Ghosts, now 13-3-1 after drubbing Chelmsford on Saturday, are slotted by ESPN Boston at No. 25. The Boston Globe puts Westford in at No. 11.
What's your take? Is a team from your town not getting enough love? Think someone is ranked too high? What's your prediction for the rest of the way? Let us know in the comments section below. Comments will be included on this article from all eight Patch sites in the region.
John Intorcio
12:29 pm on Sunday, February 17, 2013
Really? The Lynnfield-North Reading wrestling team finishes the season at an unprecedented 25-0, wins the Div III North Sectional Championship, is ranked Div III No. 1 statewide by MassWrestling, and doesn't get even a mention in this article? Really?
Matt Schooley
12:37 pm on Sunday, February 17, 2013
John,
Thanks for checking in. This is a round up of rankings, not standings. It's a round up of where local teams fall in the ESPN Boston and Boston Globe rankings. Neither outlet does a Top 25 or Top 20 for wrestling that I saw. Congratulations to the Lynnfield-North Reading team, and I will do my best to get in touch with the team's coach for a feature on North Reading Patch in the near future.
Matt
Ron Powell
7:36 am on Monday, February 18, 2013
No good deed goes unpunished. The Patch tries to recognize some of the area's high school sports teams and gets pilloried for doing so. That will teach them, I guess.
ESPN ranks the following sports:
• Basketball
• Hockey
• Football
• Soccer
• Baseball
• Softball
• Lacrosse
The Boston Globe ranks the following high school sports:
Football
Boys soccer
Girls soccer
Girls volleyball
Field hockey
Boys basketball
Girls basketball
Boys ice hockey
Girls ice hockey
Baseball
Softball
Boys lacrosse
Girls lacrosse
Boys volleyball
If you do not see your sport in this list, it will not be appear in an article about these rankings. Nothing personal.
John Intorcio
8:17 am on Monday, February 18, 2013
Ron - Really? That's you position? The article ends with "What's your take? Is a team from your town not getting enough love?" and you call getting input being "pilloried"?
Ron Powell
8:32 am on Monday, February 18, 2013
Well, OK then, John. How about a shout out then to the Westford Academy Math League -- ranked #1 in its division according to Massachusetts Mathematics League Standing.
John Intorcio
8:38 am on Monday, February 18, 2013
An outstanding achievement! (Though I might classify that under academics rather than athletics.) Way to go WAML!!!!
Ron Powell
8:21 pm on Monday, February 18, 2013
All kidding aside, much respect to the Lynnfield-North Reading wrestling team. Congratulations.
wilmom
8:53 am on Tuesday, February 19, 2013
And congrats to LNR-They did awesome at Sectionals as well on Saturday
Carlos Gomez
3:59 pm on Sunday, February 17, 2013
Hey John - News flash, nobody cares about wrestling. Especially D3 combined schools.
wilmom
8:54 am on Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Well they should! They are REAL athletes!
sonny
7:28 pm on Sunday, February 17, 2013
Matt: What about Austin Prep? Boys hockey ranked and they are a local team with local kids.
Matt Schooley
7:33 pm on Sunday, February 17, 2013
Good point, Sonny. Do you happen to know what towns are represented on the team? This will be a weekly feature, so I can look to include Austin Prep in future versions of the rankings round up.
John Intorcio
8:48 pm on Sunday, February 17, 2013
@Matt - Yah, they are RANKED #1 heading into the State tournament.
@Carlos - Yah, I know, Football, Basketball, and Baseball rule. Just thought some folks cared about the real athletes. My bad.
Ed McGrath
8:06 am on Monday, February 18, 2013
Hey John - Remember the definition of wrestling? What men do during boys basketball season.
andrew giannino
4:19 pm on Monday, February 18, 2013
I have spent the past 3 months every weekend at wrestling tournaments and I dare any other sports athletes to hop on the mat and square off against even a middle school wrestler and we will see who the real athletes are. Now it seems that the IOC will be attempting to remove wrestling as an olympic sport. Because we know rhythmic gymnastics, the trampoline, Beach Vollyball and equestrian dressage are so very important.
R Gagnon
11:01 am on Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Sublties abound in the sport of equestrain dressage. If you are not familiar with the sport, then it may look to you like something any horseman can do. Also, dressage is often one aspect of multidicipline equestrian events. If you don't thing the person in the dressage ring is a real athlete, just wait until you see him/her on the X-country course or in the stadium jumping.
Ronaldo
5:14 pm on Monday, February 18, 2013
During boys basketball season MEN wearing leotards grab each other while getting sweaty on mats?!
John Intorcio
8:56 am on Tuesday, February 19, 2013
They're called singlets. Do they make you uncomfortable?
Andrew Sylvia
5:15 pm on Monday, February 18, 2013
I also wanted to offer congratulations to the Souhegan Sabers, who were named as the 2012-2013 New Hampshire high school bowling champions last weekend.
I'm looking forward to the day when the Globe does power rankings for the bowling teams, as well as hoping it comes down here to Massachusetts. It's a great way for kids who might not otherwise be part of a high school athletic team to represent their school.
SMS
10:01 pm on Monday, February 18, 2013
My son has played many sports and there was no harder training or commitment than that of a wrestler. Some of the worlds top MMA athletes are wrestlers, I particularly wouldnt want to tell them they are not athletes.
Mary B
1:39 pm on Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Although, I personally do not like the sport of wrestling, I say I must agree with your point of view. The high school I went to had a wrestling team and two members from that high school went on to successful careers in the NFL.
Wrestling does belong in the Olympics. It is were the sport can be show cased. Sorry for all the beach volleyball lovers, but wrestling is more of an olympic sport than beach volleyball.
SMS
10:03 pm on Monday, February 18, 2013
Whoever decides the Olympic sports are ridiculous. Horse dressing and speedwalking?
wilmom
8:52 am on Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Ronaldo you clearly dont know a thing about wrestling. I'd like to see some of these people try wrestling. By far, the hardest training an athlete can get!
Not only that, Most are respectable kids who make good choices.
SMS-I agree with you-Horse dressage??
KarenL
10:14 am on Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Dressage has been in the Olympics for over 100 years. It was originally part of a "military test" and all competitors were intially military/calvary men.
All the goofy attention paid to it this last time, due to Mitt Romney's connection to it, doesn't make it not a real sport.
I AM sad to see wrestling go, it belongs in the Olympics as much as any, and far more than some, sports.
andrew giannino
9:39 am on Tuesday, February 19, 2013
For all those that enjoy wrestling, the Youth New England's will be held this year at Lowell High School March 9th and 10th. Many kids from all the surrounding patch towns will be competing at this prestigious event. Chelmsford Youth Wrestling will be sending 6 wrestlers to compete, a great feat just getting there. Andrew and Matt this would be a great oppurtunity as I know of many kids from Chelmsford, Westford, Reading, Tewksbury, Wilmington and numerous other towns will be competing there.
Barb Dwyer
10:43 am on Tuesday, February 19, 2013
It is incredibly vain that you all are arguing over wrestling not getting mentioned in the first time weekly write up by Matt. Our kids pursue sports they enjoy, and work hard at whatever they choose.
Barb Dwyer
10:51 am on Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Let's be honest, a distance track runner is the hardest working athlete. A good percentage of our population can't even run a mile. I respect the commitment and integrity everyone has for their particular sport, but in my opinion, you have to be extremely strong mentally to push your body past its breaking point and keep on going. See you all on the road.
JS
3:07 pm on Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Why is it always the parents that create the issues in youth sports? My childs sport is better/harder than your childs sport, blah blah blah. I have a novel idea why don't you just sit back and enjoy the moment. Once they have graduated from high school, 99% will never play on another school sponsored team. It's not about you it's about them, having fun, enjoying their teammates and the friendships they build.
TMHSGrad
5:13 pm on Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Amen
Earnhardt
5:43 pm on Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Well said JS, been watching this thread since yesterday, I can't believe the sniping and whining going on. Let the kids enjoy the moment!
Carl Lipani
7:34 am on Thursday, February 21, 2013
Well said !!!
Patch Blogger
5:42 pm on Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Anyone who gets into an argument about which high school athletes are more athletic, harder-working, masculine, worthy of attention, worthy of ranking, etc. is a freaking idiot. Some kids wrestle, some play basketball, some do track, some swim or dive, some cheerlead, etc. Some play in band competitions or do DECA or Academic Decathlon or Junior Classical League. They all work hard, they represent their schools and towns as best they can, they try to help their teams win. You 40-year-olds still wearing letterman jackets and swearing at refs from the stands should just let today's students do their thing without your foolishness getting in the way.
Carl Lipani
7:39 am on Thursday, February 21, 2013
100 % agree.....
sonny
6:24 pm on Tuesday, February 19, 2013
totally agree. i enjoy reading about local teams and kids in sports, drama, science team etc. let them do their thing and we can all enjoy reading about it. nothing to argue about.
SMS
8:27 am on Wednesday, February 20, 2013
I completely agree, my comment was directed towards the "MEN wearing leotards grab each other while getting sweaty on mats?!".But I also agree that you cant comment or give trophies to everyone. Have fun, work hard and do what you love!
Dan Gable
8:56 am on Wednesday, February 20, 2013
For ALL of those sports you mention (Baseball, Basketball, Hockey, Track, Football etc.) there is some great dream to strive for (NBA, MLB, Marathons, NFL). For wrestling, all it ever had was the Olympics and that's been taken away. When you are a child, competing in a sport (and none of this mamby pamby everyone gets a trophy competition. I mean the REAL competitors) it's that dream of making it big that drives every kid.
Wrestlers never had that. Instead, they have to endure stupid homophobic comments about their uniform, stupid misguided comparisons to WWE, and suggestions of striving towards MMA which is insane.
Maybe if half of you had a clue, you'd realize that your cherishing of the sports mentioned above leaves your children with role models like Ray Lewis, Alex Rodriguez, Latrell Sprewell, toothless NHL players, and a guy from South Africa that just murdered his wife. I'm not saying wrestling is a perfect sport (though damn close), I'm saying that it is, unequivocally, indisputably, the most difficult endeavor both mentally and physically that a child can endure.
So please, when they're successful, put their name in the freakin paper.
Wanna Hickey
9:29 am on Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Dan,
This is a round up of rankings, not standings. It's a round up of where local teams fall in the ESPN Boston and Boston Globe rankings. Neither outlet does a Top 25 or Top 20 for wrestling
I'm not saying wrestling is a perfect sport (not even close), I'm saying that it is, unequivocally, indisputably, the easiest way to get ring worm in athletics today.
Grapple with the fact that nobody likes wrestling except wrestlers!
Dan Gable
9:45 am on Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Wrong again! Wrestling is the most popular sport that does not have a professional league. It's hard to gain popularity when you can't watch something on TV. Nonethless, it still outpaces both tennis and golf at the HS level.
Just because YOU don't like it, likely because YOU couldn't hack it, doesn't mean the world agrees.
Oh, and yeah I'll take ringworm over concussionball any day of the week.
Mel Webster
11:40 am on Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Not going to get into this argument here, but just wanted to congratulate the North Reading boys' basketball team, which completed its 20-0 season Tuesday with a win over Shawsheen Tech. First undefeated season for the Hornets since 1977. On to the state tournament.
John Intorcio
11:43 am on Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Wooohoooo!!!!!