The Wolverines are also owners of something else — the top ranking in this week’s New York State Sportswriters Association Class C poll through games of Jan. 28.

Westfield, which has been ranked No. 2 for most of the season, moved up a spot after defending state champion and previous No. 1 Randolph (13-1) suffered its first loss of the season last Saturday at No. 15 York. The Cardinals now stand at No. 16.

Other area ranked teams in Class C are Panama (11-2), which dropped from No. 5 last week to No. 18 this week; and Maple Grove (10-4), which fell from No. 23 to honorable mention.

In Class AA, Jamestown (13-2), fresh off a win Monday at Clarence, dropped one spot to 17; Frontier fell one place to No. 18; and Health Sciences went from No. 18 to No. 19. Other AA ranked teams from WNY are No. 10 Bishop Timon and No. 9 Canisius, which were No. 1 and No. 10 respectively last week. Honorable-mention teams in AA are Orchard Park (8-2) and St. Joseph’s (6-7).

OBSERVER File Photo by Braden Carmen Tanleigh Bestine and th Westfield Wolverines returned to the New York State Sportswriters Association Class C rankings, assuming the No. 21 spot on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, in Class B, Salamanca (10-3) remains at No. 5, while Fredonia (9-5) moves up one spot to No. 15.

GIRLS

The defending Section VI Class B2 champion Southwestern Trojans got off to a slow start this season beginning 1-6, but those losses to quality teams did not tell the whole story. Since the new year the Trojans have not lost a game, beginning their seven-game win streak against Class B’s No. 16 Portville and now they have their first appearance in the state rankings at No. 21.

Southwestern (8-6) went from not being ranked to No. 21, leaping over league opponent Salamanca (12-3) following last Friday’s 60-46 victory that relegated the Warriors to No. 24 in the Class B rankings.

Frewburg (14-2) continued to solidify its spot at No. 2 in Class C after defeating Randolph last Friday 64-46, dropping the Cardinals (9-6) four spots to No. 8.

Westfield (10-5) claimed a spot in Class C, jumping up to No. 21 despite losing to Sherman last Friday. Cassadaga Valley (8-5) fell five spots to No. 24 after losing to Westfield last week 49-45.

Clymer (13-2) lost its spot atop Class D after picking up its second loss to Cassadaga Valley in overtime last week, but the Pirates just fell to No. 2. Sherman (11-4) remains at No. 3 as it strung together a five-game win streak prior to Monday’s loss at Clymer.