Went out to Frontier at noon today for an announcement that Matt Darr has been named to the West roster for the U.S. Army All-American Bowl as a punter. Darr is a USC commit who punts, kicks and plays linebacker for 5-0 Frontier.

This is a pretty big deal for Darr — it's most of the best high school players in America going at it on national TV at the Alamodome in San Antonio. Past players include NFL standouts Reggie Bush, Ted Ginn Jr., Tommie Harris, Percy Harvin, Adrian Peterson, Mark Sanchez, Marcus Spears, Beanie Wells and Vince Young, plus college stars Tim Tebow and Terrelle Pryor. Pretty heady company there for Matt, and he deserves many congratulations.

Another standout at a northwest Bakersfield school could get to that point next year, but for now Cody Kessler is trying to get back under center for Centennial after a high ankle sprain suffered last Friday night. Read my update on it from last night here.

Now on to Week 6 rankings talk.

I always maintain that we get smarter as fans and analysts as the season goes on — not that that's a revelation, really — because we have more and more data to build a case for or against a certain team or outcome.

This year might be an extreme example of that, at least at the top of the Central Section. There are still big games to be played for sure, but I've got a pretty clear 1-2-3 in the section right now and a clear No. 1 in Division II. After that, you get into Kern County, and that's where it gets murky. Stockdale-Liberty should help clear things up even more this Friday. That might be the biggest game among a bunch of big ones in the section for Week 6.

It's also about time, as league play starts everywhere and the second half of the season gets under way, to start looking ahead at some playoff scenarios. These rankings, I'd like to think, are a pretty good indicator of where things stand in Division I — the three Fresno County teams at the top, followed by a host of able challengers from Kern County and maybe Fresno-Central or Clovis East from up north. Division II has a clear favorite in Tulare Union, but the Redskins will be challenged by a really deep field. Edison, San Joaquin Memorial, El Diamante and Frontier are the teams in the rankings this week, but there are some more who give teams headaches as well.

One area I'm still not sure what to do with is Division III, where it's clear there are some quality teams — Tehachapi, Delano, Clovis North, South, Ridgeview — but none, I don't think, that are really part of the section's elite right now. Other than South and Ridgeview, none play each other, either, which is going to make for a very deep and interesting D-III playoffs.

Let's set the scene for Week 6 with some rankings.

1. Fresno-Bullard (5-0, Division I, last week: 1) — After a week off, the Knights get an interesting game to open County-Metro Athletic Conference play against new school Clovis North. The Broncs aren't slouches, though; they've got longtime Clovis High coach Tim Simons at the helm and are among the Division III favorites.
LAST WEEK: BYE. THIS WEEK: vs. Clovis North

2. Clovis-Buchanan (5-0, Division I, last week: 2) — Rumor has it there was a flu going around the Bears last week, which may explain their trouble putting away defensive-minded Memorial. Excuses, excuses? Maybe, but either way, Buchanan found a way to win.
LAST WEEK: won vs. No. 10 Fresno-San Joaquin Memorial, 28-21. THIS WEEK: at Madera

3. Clovis West (2-3, Division I, last week: 4) — A comeback victory at Edison — the Golden Eagles trailed 14-0 at the break — finally gives Clovis West a foothold into a brutal schedule. Things don't get much easier this week, with speedy Central the opponent to open Tri-River Athletic Conference play.
LAST WEEK: won at No. 6 Fresno-Edison, 28-14. THIS WEEK: vs. No. 10 Fresno-Central

4. Tulare Union (5-0, Division II, last week: 3) — Nothing against the Redskins, but a blowout win over Granite Hills in perhaps the section's mismatch of the year doesn't quite have the oomph of a win against Edison. So TU loses a spot but remains a clear D-II favorite.
LAST WEEK: won at Porterville-Granite Hills, 69-0. THIS WEEK: vs. Visalia-Redwood

5. Stockdale (4-1, Division I, last week: 5) — It'll be fun to see Friday night how Stockdale's offense — the most efficient that I've seen thus far — matches up with Liberty's stiff defense. Last year, an early injury to Stephen Silva might have cost the Mustangs in a 17-10 loss at home.
LAST WEEK: won at South, 63-20. THIS WEEK: at No. 6 Liberty

6. Liberty (3-2, Division I, last week: 7) — A pretty surefire way to make people forget your 0-2 start is to win everything else. The Dallas Cowboys did it en route to the 1995 Super Bowl title, and Liberty has done it thus far. Find a way to win this week, and there aren't many tests left until the playoffs.
LAST WEEK: won at Foothill, 31-7. THIS WEEK: vs. No. 5 Stockdale

7. Bakersfield (3-2, Division I, last week: 8) — The Drillers' six-game gauntlet to open 2009 ends with a trip to Garces this Friday. The games have taken their toll, but one benefit of a front-loaded schedule is that this team's starters should be rested for the playoffs.
LAST WEEK: won at No. 9 Centennial, 22-7. THIS WEEK: at Garces

8. Fresno-Edison (3-2, Division II, last week: 6) — Not quite at the level of Buchanan or Clovis West, this team still obviously is a playoff factor in Division II. The Tigers get their warm-up CMAC games before ending the year against Hoover, Bullard and Clovis North.
LAST WEEK: lost vs. No. 4 Clovis West, 28-14. THIS WEEK: at Reedley

9. Fresno-San Joaquin Memorial (4-1, Division II, last week: 10) — Some losses speak louder than wins, and for the Panthers to put a huge scare into Buchanan says a lot. You'd better bring your best game to have a shot at many points on this defense, and at this point, anything but 9-1 would be a huge disappointment.
LAST WEEK: lost at No. 2 Clovis-Buchanan, 28-21. THIS WEEK: vs. Fresno

10. Fresno-Central (3-2, Division I, last week: 11) — This is the monkey wrench in the TRAC race: Central has lost twice without having played a Division I team. But they beat El Diamante, scared Edison and obliterated Fresno-Sunnyside. So how will the Grizzlies' obvious speed stack up in the TRAC? We're going to find out real quick.
LAST WEEK: BYE. THIS WEEK: at No. 3 Clovis West

11. Centennial (3-2, Division I, last week: 9) — The Week 2 win against Liberty is the only thing keeping the Golden Hawks relevant right now in any Division I title discussion, but there is reason behind that: If Centennial's defense can keep it in games, like against Bakersfield this past week, then the offense is good enough to worry you. The other huge caveat here, of course, is the status of junior QB Cody Kessler as the weeks go by.
LAST WEEK: lost vs. No. 8 Bakersfield, 22-7. THIS WEEK: vs. South

12. Frontier (5-0, Division II, last week: 14) — Nothing against the next two teams in the rankings, who both had impressive wins last week, but I had to do something to bump the Titans up after seeing them in person. They thoroughly whipped West, which had given El Diamante problems. Few teams will be more physical than Frontier, and even if they are, they'll have to contend with the Titans' defensive speed and special-teams prowess.
LAST WEEK: won at West, 42-7. THIS WEEK: vs. Ridgeview

13. Visalia-El Diamante (4-1, Division II, last week: 13) — The Miners' win against Southern Section stalwart Paso Robles looks impressive, to be sure, but keep in mind the Bearcats' dual-threat quarterback, Thomas Bernal, missed the game with an injury. It still means something to El Diamante, most likely a 9-1 season. But this is not quite the same team that's been in the Division II championship each of the past three years.
LAST WEEK: won at Paso Robles, 21-18. THIS WEEK: at Lemoore

14. Kingsburg (5-0, Division IV, last week: 12) — I can't justify dropping the Vikings two spots after another blowout win other than to say I don't think they beat Frontier or El D on a neutral field. It's just that Kingsburg proved its pedigree a little more to me earlier than those teams. But this still is clearly the best Sequoia-level team in the section, a title they can prove with a tough game this week.
LAST WEEK: won vs. Coalinga, 62-0. THIS WEEK: at Dinuba

15. Tehachapi (4-1, Division III, last week: NR) — The latest round of musical chairs ends with the Warriors in the 15 slot. I picked 'em over bigger schools like Fresno-Hoover and Clovis East and over fellow D-IIIs like Delano and Clovis North because (a) the easy win at Garces is looking better all the time, (b) the loss to Frontier is looking better all the time and (c) they've started to roll again, and this team got better and better and better as last year went on.
LAST WEEK: won vs. Rosamond, 32-6. THIS WEEK: at Shafter

Dropped out: No. 15 Chowchilla
Waiting: Fresno-Hoover, Clovis East, Clovis North, Fresno-Washington Union, Delano, Taft, Lindsay, Wasco, Chowchilla, Dinuba, Tollhouse-Sierra