Five area teams crack Top 10 of Kansas Pregame PPI

Eight area teams appear in the Top 20 of the latest Kansas Pregame Prep Power Poll, which comes up with a computer ranking for every 8-man and 11-man Kansas High School football team.

Five of the eight are in their classification's Top 10, including Dodge City, who is 4th in Class 6A, and one of only four schools to earn over 100 points in this week's power poll. Rival Garden City is 6th in Class 6A.

The other three schools mentioned in the Top 10 of their respective classifications have one thing in common - they're ranked 8th in the poll. Cimarron (2-1), Stanton County (2-1) and Meade (3-0) share that honor in Class 2A, 1A and 8-Man Division I, respectively.

The Kansas Pregame PPI ranks teams according to their PPI rating calculated using a number of factors. The PPI also includes the overall points for (PF) and points allowed (PA) and the strength of schedule rating and schedule rank.

According to the Kansas Pregame website, For close to two decades, then Salina Journal sportswriter Tim Hostetter used his Prep Power Index to provide a computer based ranking of high school football teams in Kansas. This unique ranking system not only tries to establish who the top teams are in Kansas, but also considers a number of factors to determine each team's strength of schedule.

Hostetler relocated to Kansas City in 2020, and decided to take a break. After taking last year off, Kansas Pregame took over the PPI. with the help of former Sixteen 60 Publishing Co. graphic designer Kayla Kvacik and current Kansas Pregame staff writer Keegan McCullick.

The Kansas Pregame PPI will update rankings for the six 11-Man and two 8-Man classifications in the state each week.