Legendary professional wrestler Ric Flair coined the catchphrase, \u201cTo be the man, you gotta beat the man,\u201d during his world championship reign in the 1980s.<\/p>\n
That holds for this week\u2019s Times-Tribune High School Football Poll.<\/p>\n
Scranton Prep defeated North Pocono, 37-36, in a game remembered for its physicality, intensity and wild three-overtime finish. The Cavaliers ended the Trojans\u2019 16-game regular-season winning streak and their 18-week hold on the No. 1 spot in the rankings.<\/p>\n
In the aftermath, voters unanimously selected Scranton Prep as the new No. 1 team. The Cavaliers\u2019 only loss is to Loyola-Blakefield of Maryland, which is 5-1 overall and ranked No. 7 in its state by MaxPreps.com.<\/p>\n
Scranton Prep last held the No. 1 ranking in 2024. That season, the Cavaliers were the preseason top team and held the spot for 11 weeks.<\/p>\n
Scranton Prep faces another ranked opponent this week. The Cavaliers (6-1) are at No. 8 Wallenpaupack. Last Thursday night, the Buckhorns (5-2) had their five-game winning streak snapped by No. 7 Abington Heights (3-4).<\/p>\n
Dunmore (7-0) is having an historic season. The Bucks defeated Western Wayne, 72-0, last week. They average 55.7 points per game and win by an average of 52.3 points. With 386 points, they obliterated the previous Lackawanna Football Conference high-scoring total of 334 in seven games set in 2022 by Lakeland. More impressively, they scored 275 points in the first half.<\/p>\n
This week, Dunmore hosts No. 5 Honesdale (6-1). The Hornets posted another impressive win, beating Lakeland, 51-20, in a battle of teams that shared fifth place in the poll. They have 50 or more points in four of six victories this season.<\/p>\n
North Pocono suffered its first loss of the season and fell to No. 3. The Trojans outgained Scranton Prep, 377-281. They will try to get back on track this week at Delaware Valley on Friday.<\/p>\n
Valley View (5-2) held its position at No. 4. The Cougars won their third straight game, with their losses coming against Northwestern Lehigh (7-0), 28-16, and North Pocono (6-1), 27-14. They host Abington Heights in another game in Week 8 between ranked opponents.<\/p>\n
Lakeland (6-1) suffered its first loss as they cope with a depleted starting lineup. The Chiefs host No. 9 Mid Valley (4-3) on Friday.<\/p>\n
Mid Valley returned to the poll this week after pushing past Riverside, 49-28. The Spartans sandwiched wins over Lackawanna Trail and Riverside around a loss to Dunmore in the last three weeks.<\/p>\n
Carbondale Area (4-3) remained undefeated in the Lackawanna Football Conference Division III. The Chargers host Montrose on Friday.<\/p>\n
The Times-Tribune Top 10<\/p>\n
1. Scranton Prep, four first-place votes, 40 points<\/p>\n
Record:\u00a06-1.<\/p>\n
Last rank:\u00a03.<\/p>\n
Last week:\u00a0Beat North Pocono, 37-36, 3 OTs.<\/p>\n
Next:\u00a0Friday at Wallenpaupack.<\/p>\n
2. Dunmore, 35 points<\/p>\n
Record:\u00a07-0.<\/p>\n
Last rank:\u00a02.<\/p>\n
Last week:\u00a0Beat Western Wayne, 72-0.<\/p>\n
Next:\u00a0Friday vs. Honesdale.<\/p>\n
3. North Pocono, 33 points<\/p>\n
Record:\u00a06-1.<\/p>\n
Last rank:\u00a01.<\/p>\n
Last week:\u00a0Lost to Scranton Prep, 37-36, 3 OTs.<\/p>\n
Next:\u00a0Friday at Delaware Valley.<\/p>\n
4. Valley View, 27 points<\/p>\n
Record:\u00a05-2.<\/p>\n
Last rank:\u00a04.<\/p>\n
Last week:\u00a0Beat West Scranton, 45-6.<\/p>\n
Next:\u00a0Friday vs. Abington Heights.<\/p>\n
5. Honesdale, 25 points<\/p>\n
Record:\u00a06-1.<\/p>\n
Last rank:\u00a05t.<\/p>\n
Last week:\u00a0Beat Lakeland, 51-20.<\/p>\n
Next:\u00a0Friday at Dunmore.<\/p>\n
6. Lakeland, 19 points<\/p>\n
Record:\u00a06-1.<\/p>\n
Last rank:\u00a05t.<\/p>\n
Last week:\u00a0Lost to Honesdale, 51-20.<\/p>\n
Next:\u00a0Friday vs. Mid Valley.<\/p>\n
7. Abington Heights, 17 points<\/p>\n
Record:\u00a03-4.<\/p>\n
Last rank:\u00a09.<\/p>\n
Last week:\u00a0Beat Wallenpaupack, 21-7.<\/p>\n
Next:\u00a0Friday at Valley View.<\/p>\n
8. Wallenpaupack, 12 points<\/p>\n
Record:\u00a05-2.<\/p>\n
Last rank:\u00a07.<\/p>\n
Last week:\u00a0Lost to Abington Heights, 21-7.<\/p>\n
Next:\u00a0Friday vs. Scranton Prep.<\/p>\n
9. Mid Valley, 8 points<\/p>\n
Record:\u00a04-3.<\/p>\n
Last rank: NR.<\/p>\n
Last week:\u00a0Beat Riverside, 49-28.<\/p>\n
Next:\u00a0Friday at Lakeland.<\/p>\n
10. Carbondale Area, 3 points<\/p>\n
Record:\u00a04-3.<\/p>\n
Last rank:\u00a010.<\/p>\n
Last week:\u00a0Beat Holy Cross, 43-20.<\/p>\n
Next:\u00a0Friday vs. Montrose.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Legendary professional wrestler Ric Flair coined the catchphrase, \u201cTo be the man, you gotta beat the man,\u201d during…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":305531,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[305,178,180,179,726],"class_list":["post-305530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-high-school-sports","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=305530"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305530\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/305531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=305530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=305530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=305530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}