Prep Lacrosse National High School Rankings: Week 2, March 24

It didn't take long for a new No. 1.

On Friday, No. 6 Calvert Hall (Md.) continued to stay true to its 'Cardiac Cardinals' nickname by securing its third consecutive overtime win in as many weeks, handing then-No. 1 Malvern Prep (Pa.) its first loss of the year. Matt Mackrides' Friars put together arguably the toughest high school schedule in recent memory, making a setback almost inevitable. This time, it came at the hands of a surging and confident Calvert Hall team that had knocked off preseason No. 2 Lawrenceville (N.J.) in double overtime a week earlier. The Cardinals can't live on OT wins forever, but they've already put together a wildly impressive campaign on the non-conference front, and for that, they jump into the No. 1 spot just days before the start of conference play.

The Friars of Malvern Prep only fall back to the No. 2 position, a nod to their early-season body of work and how much they've passed the eye test, though the defense will need to be more buttoned up moving forward. Ideally, I'd avoid bumping three teams down within the top five—especially one that hasn't played yet—but the fact that the Friars will visit No. 4 Loomis Chaffee (Conn.) on Thursday before hosting No. 3 St. Anthony's (N.Y.) next Saturday gives everybody the chance to work everything out on the field.

At the end of the day, these are just national rankings in March. The real focus remains on winning when it matters most: come conference championship time.

Minor adjustments took place throughout the rest of the Top 10 into the middle of the rankings, where Deerfield (Mass.) and Salisbury (Conn.) received a natural bump up despite being inactive (besides scrimmages in Florida), a byproduct of other teams ranked near them falling last week.

Spots 13-19 are where much of the chaos ensued. Previously unranked Delbarton (N.J.) made a national statement by establishing a 10-3 fourth-quarter lead at Haverford, however, the Fords ended up going on a furious five-goal run to make the outcome more respectable at 10-8 in favor of the Green Wave. Landon (Md.), a team that fell to Haverford in OT last weekend, received a nine-spot promotion with a body of work that is held up largely by its dominant 15-7 win over newly ranked Benjamin School (Fla.), which beat McDonogh (Md.) 8-7 a few days earlier. Although the Eagles' defeat came without their top player, No. 1 senior Brendan Millon (Virginia), McDonogh's third non-conference loss drops them to No. 17 heading into Tuesday's tilt with the Fords.

Western Reserve went 1-2 during the Pioneers' trip to Maryland, notching two respectable losses to Spalding and Loyola Blakefield, with a comeback win over St. Paul's sandwiched in between. Following Friday's seven-goal loss at Spalding, Bullis drops five spots to No. 24. Boys' Latin (Md.) and Taft (Conn.) drop out of the Top 25 this week after one-sided setbacks, with the Lakers falling 10-1 at No. 6 Lawrenceville and the Rhinos dropping a 12-6 contest against a St. John's team that was in consideration to climb back into the Top 25.

1. Calvert Hall (Md.), 5-0
Last Week: No. 6

2. Malvern Prep (Pa.), 5-1
Last Week: No. 1