By BAKER ELLIS / Sports Editor

Another week passes and Spain Park is still the lone Shelby County blip on the ranked teams radar, coming in as the second-ranked team in 7A for the third week in a row. The Jaguars staved off a feisty Oak Mountain team on Oct. 16 to clinch the 7A Region 3 title. No other team in the county received a vote in the Week 9 poll.

The Jaguars finish up region play on Oct. 23 at home against Mountain Brook as Spain Park tries to finish region play undefeated for the first time in school history. Whatever happens against the Spartans, Spain Park has clinched the No. 1 overall seed in the region.

Spain Park highlights a list of five teams in the county that are most assuredly going to the postseason. Helena, Montevallo, Calera and Chelsea have locked up playoff bids to this point, and Briarwood still has a chance to lock up a spot this Friday. Oak Mountain, Thompson, Pelham, Shelby County and Vincent are out of contention for a playoff spot at this point.

Spain Park has now been ranked for four consecutive weeks, which ties the second-most number of weeks the school has spent in the top-10 of any one season. The most weeks the Jaguars have spent in the top-10 was last year, 2014, when they were ranked from Week 1 to Week 6 before dropping out, but were never ranked higher than No. 3 last season. The No. 2 ranking the Jaguars received again this week is the highest in school history.

Calera and Montevallo both spent time in the top-10 at different points in the year, but have since dropped out and did not receive a vote in the Week 9 poll. Montevallo (7-1, 4-1 4A R4) has a chance to grab back some statewide attention this Friday when the Bulldogs travel to Northside (7-1, 4-1 4A R4), which did pull in five votes in the 4A poll this week.