Updated Illinois Power 25 Team Rankings

April 30, 2018
By Drew Locascio
Illinois Scouting Director

This is the third installment of the Power 25 Rankings update and with plenty of action statewide, including four ranked teams representing Illinois at Midwest Select, there was plenty of shifting within this edition of the list. Three teams fell of the board, making way for three new teams to earn their season debuts on the Power 25.

Below is a look at last week's IHSA action:

UPDATED TOP 5

RANK	LAST WEEK	TEAM	CLASS	2018 RECORD
1	1	Neuqua Valley	4A	18-0
2	2	O'Fallon	4A	22-1-1
3	3	Joliet Catholic	3A	18-3
4	4	Lincoln-Way East	4A	18-2
5	5	St. Laurence	4A	20-3

CLIMBING

+ Brother Rice - Brother Rice climbed to No. 6 in the Power 25 after a 2-1 week. The Crusaders lost to Loyola 5-3 last Monday but bounced back in a big way later in the week, knocking off Providence Catholic 9-6 and 13-3.

+ Mount Carmel - The Caravan slipped two weeks ago and even uncharacteristically lost three straight games. They answered back in a strong way last week going a perfect 3-0. On the week they knocked off Providence Catholic and Loyola twice. Mount Carmel now sits at No. 12 in the Power 25.

+ Edwardsville - Like Mount Carmel, Edwardsville struggled two weeks ago but answered back in a big way last week. The Tigers went 4-0 on the week and their offense put up seven plus runs in each game.

+ Plainfield East - The Bengals jumped up four spots into the top 20 after a 4-0 week. Plainfield East took two games from conference foe Oswego and also knocked off Morgan Park and Joliet West. Plainfield East now sits at 19-2 on the season.

+ St. Rita - The Mustangs jumped up three spots after a 3-1 week, knocking off St. Francis twice and Reavis once. Looking ahead, the Mustangs have a tough week with two games against No. 6 Brother Rice and one game against a quality Loyola club.

+ Marist - The Redhawks had five critical East Suburban Catholic League games last week and finished with an impressive 4-1 record. The Redhawks took down St. Viator twice, Nazareth once and split with benet. Marist is now sitting at 16-5 on the season and up to No. 21 in the Power 25.

SINKING

+ Mundelein - Mundelein fell six spots after an up-and-down 2-2 week. The Mustangs knocked off Crystal Lake Central but North Suburban foe, Warren, took 2-of-3 from them. The Mustangs have another big week ahead with a three-game conference series against No. 11 Libertyville.

+ Grayslake Central - After a 15-0 start to the season, the Rams are now 2-2 in their last four games. They lost most recently on Saturday to Conant and split a series to start last week with Antioch. Still, they earned wins over that same Sequoits team and got a win over Chicago U-High to help keep them on the board in the Power 25.

NEW TO THE TOP 25

+ No. 22 Plainfield South - That’s now three Plainfield-area teams on the Power 25. They lost their game on Saturday to a tough Hononegah after snapping off 10 straight wins following a 4-2 start to the spring. On deck this week is a huge crosstown showdown with Plainfield East in a two-game series. They’ll meet with Plainfield North the following week.

+ No. 23 Barrington - Since losing back-to-back games to Barlett at the end of March, Barrington’s gone 11-1, with their loss coming over this past weekend to new No. 7 Plainfield North. This is Barrington’s debut on the Power 25 this season and they check in at No. 23.

DROPPED OUT

+ Providence Catholic - The Celtics lost three times last week, including a two-game sweep courtesy of Brother Rice. Wins over Lockport and Romeoville weren’t enough to salvage Providence Catholic’s standing on the Power 25. It’s the first time they’re unranked all season.

+ Lockport - The Porters were unranked in the preseason but quickly changed that with a red-hot start out of the gate. They’d been on each and every edition of the Power 25 since but they fall off this week after going 2-3-1, including losses to unranked Joliet West and Homewood-Flossmoor.