Poll purpose: a look at the area teams in the rankings

After two weeks of football, the conference season is about to get under way for most Milwaukee-area teams. Here's how some are stacking up in the polls:

• Arrowhead dropped from 1 to 4 in our own Push Poll, but the Warhawks stayed at No. 2 behind conference foe Catholic Memorial in the Milwaukee-Journal Sentinel area poll. The coaches poll slots the Warhawks sixth in Division 1, but none of the squads ahead of it are Milwaukee-area. Hudson, the team that just beat Arrowhead in a nail-biter on Aug. 26, is ranked fourth. While it stands to reason that Arrowhead is still a viable contender to make the D1 state title game, losing to Hudson does raise some red flags, particularly considering 33 points were surrendered in the process. Kimberly, Appleton North and Bay Port, the top three in the coaches poll, will likely collide in the playoffs before the state final because of geography, but Hudson and Middleton (4 and 5) are candidates to meet Arrowhead before Madison.
• Catholic Memorial is our new No. 1 and also No. 1 in the MJS poll and No. 2 in the AP Medium Schools poll and D3 coaches poll behind Green Bay Notre Dame. I stand behind my preseason prediction that this is the squad to beat in the Classic 8 this season. For the moment, this is the area's undisputed No. 1 team.
• If CMH is the clear No. 1 team in the area, who's battling with Arrowhead in the mix for No. 2? Depends whom you ask. The Push poll considers Brookfield Central No. 2, but Muskego gets the nod in the AP poll (at No. 8, one spot behind Arrowhead), Homestead in the MJS poll (at No. 3) and Oak Creek (No. 7 in D1) in the coaches poll, with Homestead at No. 3 in D2 followed by Brookfield Central, Brookfield East, Waukesha West and Greendale. 
• We have Greendale at No. 3, which is probably a little high given that the Panthers only defeated Menomonee Falls, a squad which will battle tooth and nail to reach the playoffs in the Greater Metro, by one score. But Falls is the bigger school, and Greendale is seventh on the D2 coaches poll just ahead of a team it defeated, Menomonie (No. 8). What's more: Greendale is annually a team on the enrollment bubble between D2 and D3 and could fall to D3 in the postseason. MJS puts Greendale at No. 7, and AP doesn't even mention the Panthers (also a mistake, in my opinion; though Greendale is one of the smallest schools in the "Large School" division, it should at least be getting votes).
• Muskego remains a bit of a mystery. It deserves to be highly regarded based on tradition and the blowouts it has administered in the first two weeks, but both opponents are a huge step down in competition level compared to the Classic 8. We'll know a ton more about the Warriors after Thursday's game against Waukesha West.
• The same goes for Waukesha West, which won its first game handily and then lost a close call to an Illinois team, always a tough comparison for polling purposes. West is out of our top five and not even receiving votes in the AP poll but eighth in the MJS poll and sixth in D2 coaches poll. 
• It's hard to know where to peg Oconomowoc, a team that has won its first two games but had to rally to beat Kettle Moraine (a squad that looks much better than anticipated, but not an expected playoff team in the Classic 8) and went down early before easily beating Waukesha South (a team that will struggle to win games in the Classic 8). The Push Poll has them receiving consideration, MJS has them sixth, AP has them receiving votes and the coaches have them eighth in D1. Coming into the year, this team should have been seen as one of the five or six best in the state. The Raccoons may still finish in that place, but it's a tough gauge right now.
• Oak Creek is in an interesting place, too, in that the Knights may not get enough of a test in the Southeast to provide a gauge the rest of the way. We have them at No. 5, MJS says No. 4, AP receiving votes and coaches at No. 7. But at this point, it would be surprising if the Knights lost a Southeast Conference game, so they could easily be near the top by season's end, if not sooner. Certainly, the biggest tests will be Franklin and Indian Trail, but Franklin lost to Mukwonago (a team the Knights defeated somewhat easily) and Indian Trail got blown out by Homestead -- obviously, a great program, but Indian Trail is a bigger school and should have the horses to at least compete there. 
• We might see Arrowhead so high on the MJS list as a nod to how good Hudson is, or a nod to how good Homestead is (at No. 3), since Arrowhead topped the Highlanders to start the year. Homestead sits at No. 3 in the D2 coaches poll (behind Waunakee and Menasha) and No. 9 in the AP Large Schools poll. It seems the only people who don't see the Highlanders at quite that level ... is our poll, which has them receiving consideration but outside the top 5. If there's one program that thrives when there's even a sliver of doubt about its efficacy, it's Homestead.