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National Prep Poll: The FIRST national rankings released in the preseason and each week during the regular season.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Miami Northwestern begins its fifth consecutive week ranked No. 1 in the National Prep Poll, released Monday morning.

The Bulls have followed up their 29-21 win against No. 6 Southlake (Texas) Carroll on September 15 with three consecutive blowout wins (168-21 combined score) over teams with a cumulative won-loss record of 4-16.

Cincinnati St. Xavier remains ranked No. 2 despite winning in equally impressive fashion over much tougher competition. The Bombers have dominated their last three opponents by a combined score of 98-7. Those foes have a 13-10 cumulative record.

If St. Xavier is going to overtake Northwestern for the No. 1 ranking, it will likely do so with sophomore Luke Massa under center. Senior quarterback John Hurley sustained a knee injury in Saturday's 45-0 shutout of Lakewood St. Edward.

Through nine weeks of the season, only five of the Prep Poll's preseason Top 25 teams have lost to teams that are not currently ranked nationally or regionally. No Prep Poll Top 25 team has lost to an unranked team for three consecutive weeks.

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The National Prep Football Poll is compiled by high school sports journalist Jamie DeMoney with input from sportswriters, experts, and coaches. The national Top 25 and expanded regional Top 25's follow with won-loss-tie records:

Northeast Region
1. Wexford, Pa., North Allegheny (7-0-0) (1)
2. Ramsey, N.J., Don Bosco Prep (5-0-0) (2)
3. Everett, Mass. (6-0-0) (3)
4. Pittsburgh, Pa., Central Catholic (7-0-0) (4)
5. Lansdale, Pa., North Penn (7-0-0) (5)
6. Jersey City, N.J., St. Peter's (5-0-0) (6)
7. Wayne, N.J., Wayne Hills (6-0-0) (7)
8. Folsom, Pa., Ridley (6-0-0) (8)
9. Oradell, N.J., Bergen Catholic (5-0-0) (9)
10. Monroeville, Pa., Gateway (6-1-0) --

East Coast Region
1. Chantilly, Va., Westfield (7-0-0) (1)
2. Hyattsville, Md., DeMatha (6-1-0) (2)
3. Duncan, S.C., Byrnes (8-0-0) (3)
4. Fort Washington, Md., Friendly (6-0-0) (5)
5. Chesapeake, Va., Oscar Smith (7-0-0) (4)
6. Virginia Beach, Va., Salem (7-0-0) (6)
7. Charlotte, N.C., Independence (7-1-0) (7)
8. Roebuck, S.C., Dorman (7-1-0) (8)
9. Gaithersburg, Md., Quince Orchard (6-0-0) (9)
10. Greenwood, S.C. (7-1-0) --

Southeast Region
1. Miami, Fla., Northwestern (6-0-0) (1)
2. Batesville, Miss., South Panola (7-0-0) (2)
3. Warner Robins, Ga., Northside (7-0-0) (4)
4. Prattville, Ala. (7-0-0) (3)
5. Pahokee, Fla. (6-0-0) (5)
6. Miami, Fla., Booker T. Washington (5-0-0) (6)
7. Maryville, Tenn. (7-0-0) (7)
8. Lakeland, Fla. (6-0-0) (8)
9. Hoover, Ala. (5-1-0) (9)
10. West Monroe, La. (6-0-0) (10)

Midwest Region
1. Cincinnati, Ohio, St. Xavier (8-0-0) (1)
2. Cincinnati, Ohio, Colerain (8-0-0) (2)
3. Youngstown, Ohio, Mooney (8-0-0) (3)
4. Louisville, Ky., St. Xavier (7-0-0) (4)
5. Naperville, Ill., North (8-0-0) (5)
6. Muskegon, Mich. (8-0-0) (6)
7. Louisville, Ky., Trinity (5-2-0) (7)
8. Chicago, Ill., Mount Carmel (8-0-0) (8)
9. Joliet, Ill., Joliet Catholic (7-1-0) (9)
10. Dublin, Ohio, Coffman (8-0-0) (10)

Midlands Region
1. Littleton, Colo., Columbine (7-0-0) (1)
2. Eden Prairie, Minn. (7-0-0) (2)
3. Blue Springs, Mo., South (7-0-0) (3)
4. Denver, Colo., Mullen (7-0-0) (5)
5. St. Paul, Minn., Cretin-Derham Hall (7-0-0) (6)
6. Kansas City, Mo., Rockhurst (7-0-0) (4)
7. Hutchinson, Kan. (7-0-0) (9)
8. Kearney, Neb. (8-0-0) --
9. South Jordan, Utah, Bingham (8-1-0) (8)
10. Plymouth, Minn., Wayzata (7-0-0) --

Southwest Region
1. Katy, Texas (6-0-0) (1)
2. Southlake, Texas, Carroll (5-1-0) (2)
3. Tulsa, Okla., Union (7-0-0) (3)
4. Chandler, Ariz., Hamilton (8-0-0) (4)
5. Jenks, Okla. (6-1-0) (5)
6. Odessa, Texas, Permian (6-0-0) (6)
7. Allen, Texas (6-0-0) (8)
8. Arlington, Texas, Bowie (6-0-0) (10)
9. Las Vegas, Nev., Bishop Gorman (7-0-0) --
10. Stephenville, Texas (6-0-0) --

West Coast Region
1. Concord, Calif., De La Salle (5-0-0) (1)
2. Santa Ana, Calif., Mater Dei (6-0-0) (2)
3. Corona, Calif., Centennial (6-1-0) (3)
4. Orange, Calif., Lutheran (6-0-0) (4)
5. Lake Balboa, Calif., Birmingham (5-1-0) (5)
6. Sherman Oaks, Calif., Notre Dame (5-1-0) (6)
7. Lakewood, Wash., Lakes (7-0-0) (9)
8. Honolulu, Hawaii, St. Louis (7-0-0) (7)
9. Newhall, Calif., Hart (6-0-0) --
10. Lake Oswego, Ore. (7-0-0) (10)

Dropped out: Northeast: No. 10 Philadelphia, Roman Catholic (6-1-0). East Coast: No. 10 Parkersburg, W. Va. (7-1-0). Midlands: No. 7 Sandy, Utah, Jordan (7-2-0), No. 10 Sandy, Utah, Alta (8-1-0). Southwest: San Antonio, Texas, Madison (6-1-0), No. 9 Copperas Cove, Texas (5-1-0). West Coast: No. 8 Carlsbad, Calif. (5-1-0).

FEATS OF THE WEEK: The nation's first state champion of the season was crowned in Alaska. Soldotna beat Kodiak, 47-27, for its second consecutive small-schools title. The Stars, who finished 10-0, defeated foes by an average margin of 54-13 this year . . . Tyler Jones of Cherokee, Iowa, Washington tied the state record for career passing yardage in his team's 44-7 loss to Central Lyon/George-Little Rock. Only a junior, Jones now has 6,813 passing yards after throwing for 138 in the game . . . According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, sophomore running back Woodrow Vortors of Bristol, Pa., had 419 rushing yards and seven touchdowns on 25 carries in a 55-32 win against Jenkintown . . . Javier Melendez of Springfield, Mass., Central ran 28 times for 410 yards and three touchdowns in a 30-20 defeat of Westfield. The Springfield Republican reported the senior had 222 yards on his first three carries of the game which were touchdown runs of 65, 71, and 86 yards . . . Johnny MacArthur nailed a 43-yard field goal as time expired to lead Newhall, Calif., Hart past Canyon Country, Canyon, 31-28, and into the regional rankings. Stanford-bound running back Delano Howell led Hart with 209 yards rushing and two touchdowns.

Copyright 2007 World Features Syndicate, Inc...endit

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About the National Prep Poll: Compiled weekly since 1987 and a property of World Features Syndicate, the National Prep Poll is the nation's second oldest weekly high school sports rankings and are the only high school rankings distributed to newspapers and Web sites around the United States by the Associated Press national wire service. The National Prep Poll is the first high school football and boys basketball poll to released in the preseason and during each week of the regular season. Criteria considered for the National Prep Poll rankings are strength of schedule, the ability to accomplish the ultimate goal on a team's schedule (i.e. winning a championship), impact players and performers, a team's coaching and recent tradition.

Jamie DeMoney has covered high school sports and been involved with prep recruiting and evaluation for nearly 15 years. He has compiled the National Prep Poll for World Features Syndicate and the Associated Press since 1999. He is former managing editor of American Football Monthly, the premier trade publication in America for football coaches. DeMoney is also a full-time staff member of Forbes Recruit Evaluation, a football scouting service subscribed to by more than 300 college coaching staffs. Each football season, DeMoney evaluates thousands of high school football players and teams in person and on tape. DeMoney maintains a library of more than 3,000 high school game tapes from the last three seasons. It isn't likely that any other national high school rankings compiler watches even 10 percent as much game tape of the teams he considers for rankings as DeMoney does. DeMoney's other credits include serving on the selection panel for the Old Spice Red Zone Player of the Year, as editor of Gridiron Greats recruiting yearbook (1995-99), Associate Editor of Hawkeye Nation magazine, contributor to NFLHS.com and doing play-by-play high school sports for KCJJ-AM in Iowa City, Iowa, during the mid-90s. DeMoney is a 1994 graduate of the University of Iowa School of Journalism, a member of the Football Writers Association of America and the United States Basketball Writers Association.

Note: Jamie DeMoney also compiled the preseason Power 50 national and regional rankings for the GRIDIRON Magazine, published by RISE. The publication includes in-depth capsules on all 50 nationally ranked and 100 regionally ranked teams, including key players, strengths, weaknesses and overall outlook.