The Skyline Preview

St. Croix Lutheran was undefeated in the Skyline last year, but a lot has changed with this league. We run you through the changes and we predict the season, NOW!   Conference Commentary   Top Ten in State: Maranatha Christian Academy   MCA returns four starters from last year and they added Al Harris as their coach ([program_tooltip program_id='2075431' first='D1' last='Minnesota'] 17u coach last season) and super scorer [player_tooltip player_id='2569257' first='Marcus' last='Marshall'] Jr transferred from Minneapolis North to MCA. They have all the talent to win this league, make a run at the section title, be a top ten team, and push for state. Obviously 5AA also has Holy Family, Breck and Blake among others so it's a tough run, but MCA has the talent and experience to make that run.   League Title Contenders: Legacy Christian, St. Croix Lutheran, St Croix Prep   Legacy Christian is new to the league (replacing Cristo Rey) and they bring back half of their eight man rotation from last season. That is three of their top four scorers return from a 17-win team. The Lions should be a good team once again.   St. Croix Lutheran was 25-4 last season and won this league with a 16-0 record. But they did lose their top five scorers from last year. On the other hand, the Crusaders went 12 deep into their bench last year twenty different times so that brings a lot of guys back with experience despite losing the top five scorers. They should still be a strong team.   St. Croix Prep lost five of their players from their eight man rotation from last season but they do return their second and third leading scorers. Two starters back that can score is a big asset which means the players needing to step in must fill roles but not huge roles.   Compete with Most: New Life Academy, Nova Classical, Concordia Academy   On one hand New Life returns all but one player from the roster last year. On the other hand they gave up more points than any team in the league falling to 4-12 in league player (9-18 overall). With just about everybody back they should be a better team but the question is how much better, and what level of talent do they have as they try and make an improved push.   Nova is an experienced team that has seven guys that played in 20 or more games last season. Nova was an 11-16 team last year but they won just three league games. They will have one of the top returning scorers in the league but they need some more scoring punch to develop along with [player_tooltip player_id='2436922' first='Caleb' last='Taylor'].   Concordia Academy was 11-5 in the league last season but they also lost four of their top five scorers to graduation. They are a team that had only two juniors a season ago and those juniors played less than a lot of the sophomores who are now juniors. A young team that will take some bumps but there is some up and coming talent.   Rebuilding: St. Agnes, Trinity   St. Agnes lost just about their entire line-up from a 13-14 team, they lost their coach, hired a new coach, and then lost that coach to Park Center. There is a lot of change with a new staff and new players so it's tough to have any expectations for the team this year. The Bulls lost their top ten scorers and only one guy that saw game action of any kind last year returns.   Trinity is starting over too although not quite as fresh as St. Agnes. Trinity was 13-15 a season ago but they have lost seven of their top eight guys to graduation so they will have a new line-up. They also have a new coach in Pat Buchanan who is new at the school as head coach, but not new to the school as Pat has worked at Trinity for years. And he is a good coach so their rebuild is in a better situation it appears. Trinity is also the one Class A school in the league so they have a better hope come section time when it comes to making a run.     25-26 Conference Predictions   Skyline Power Rankings   (1) Maranatha Christian Academy   (2) St. Croix Lutheran   (3) Legacy Christian   (4) St. Croix Prep   (5) Concorida Academy   (6) New Life Academy   (7) Nova Classical   (8) Trinity   (9) St. Agnes     Preseason All Skyline   First Team   [player_tooltip player_id='2569257' first='Marcus' last='Marshall'] Jr of Maranatha Christian Academy (Jr)   [player_tooltip player_id='2382254' first='Hudson' last='Strand'] of Legacy Christian (Sr)   Daijior McCrimmon of Maranatha Christian Academy (Sr)   [player_tooltip player_id='2984157' first='Logan' last='Eiselt'] of St. Croix Prep (Sr)   Ty Nelson of Legacy Christian (Sr)   Second Team   [player_tooltip player_id='2691123' first='Eli' last='Ahrends'] of Maranatha Christian Academy (Sr)   [player_tooltip player_id='2708051' first='Ali' last='Akram'] of St. Croix Prep (Sr)   [player_tooltip player_id='2436922' first='Caleb' last='Taylor'] of Nova Classical (Sr)   [player_tooltip player_id='2569255' first='Logan' last='Duis'] of Concorida Academy (Jr)   [player_tooltip player_id='2414662' first='Colin' last='Avery'] of St. Croix Lutheran (Sr)   [player_tooltip player_id='1525457' first='Teni' last='Phillips'] of Maranatha Christian Academy (Sr)     Third Team   [player_tooltip player_id='2410596' first='Max' last='Leifker'] of Legacy Christian (Sr)   Evan Seaton of New Life Academy (Jr)   Grant Clausen of New Life Academy (Sr)   Jaidyn Rennie of Maranatha Christian Academy (Sr)   Thomas Hermann of St. Croix Lutheran (Sr)     Fourth Team   [player_tooltip player_id='2827951' first='John' last='Norring'] of New Life Academy (Jr)   Ryan Wald of Legacy Christian (Jr)   Cooper Beckmann of St. Croix Lutheran (Sr)   Tobias Berge of Trinity (Sr)   Isaac Garcia of St. Croix Lutheran (Sr)     Fifth Team   [player_tooltip player_id='2569252' first='Langston' last='Huffman'] of Concordia Academy (Jr)   Dylan Wall of New Life Academy (Sr)   [player_tooltip player_id='2837250' first='Zeid' last='Ndiaye'] of Concordia Academy (Soph)   Kincaid Gerber of Nova Classical (Sr)

St. Croix Lutheran was undefeated in the Skyline last year, but a lot has changed with this league. We run you through the changes and we predict the season, NOW!