No. 1 is not so clear cut in Maryland Media State Poll

When a No. 1 team wins, it often reinforces its position.

This week, however, No. 1 St. Frances Academy won but lost a bit of its comfort zone in the rankings. Three voters shifted their first-place votes to DeMatha following St. Frances' 34-26 victory over St. Joseph's Prep (Pa.) on Saturday. DeMatha had a more comfortable win over the same team two weeks earlier.

Still, national powerhouse St. Frances retains its No. 1 state ranking over DeMatha, but the gap has thinned to four points. Archbishop Spalding inches up to No. 3, while Good Counsel and Quince Orchard round out the Top 5 this week.

There are three newcomers to this week's Top 25, and all three were in the "others receiving votes" last week. St. Mary's of Annapolis, which went 0-10 last year, checks in at No. 22 this week, powered by a 3-0 start and last week's win over former No. 25 Concordia Prep. St. Mary's is making a case for turnaround story of the year in its second season back in the MIAA A Conference.

A pair of Frederick County teams crack the bottom of the list -- Oakdale at No. 24 and Middletown at No. 25. Interestingly, they face each other this weekend.

Check out the rest of the rankings: