Gotta tell you – these rankings are getting excruciatingly tougher to put together every week.

The top three or four are usually pretty easy. After that … not so much.

I usually rank these teams based on my ‘hot’ meter: Who is playing well? Who is sneaking up on people and maybe surprising some teams? Who is winning titles and will be a favorite to win more championships down the road?

Yadda-yadda-yadda.

I don’t have any secret formulas. But I do have a pretty good pulse on the league. So that’s how I go about this every week. And by the way, I really don’t care about what happend in Week 5, or if that team beat this team already or if that team would beat this team in a dream-world game on a neutral field on a Wednesday afternoon. I’m worried about Week 9.

Anyhoo … with two of the three section races wrapped up, and with the District 3 playoffs on the horizon, here are my top 5 this week …

1 – Manheim Central (6-0 Section 2, 9-0 overall; last week – 1st) – Barons locked up the outright Section 2 title with a 47-0 wipeout over Lebanon, plus Cocalico’s 21-14 win over Conestoga Valley, which officially bounced the Buckskins from the race. So Central has section title No. 20 in its possession, and a win over winless Garden Spot in Week 10 will give the Barons the No. 1 seed in the District 3 Triple-A playoffs. Something tells me I’ll be wearing out a path to Manheim the next several weeks. Has anyone else noticed that Central has won via shutout three games in a row? Or that the Barons have five shutout victories this season? Or that Central has allowed a league-low 76 points? Wowzer. This defense, ranked No. 1 in the league, is mighty scary. And did I mention Central has scored the second-most points in the league this season and has the second-ranked offense in the league? You can stop me anytime here … UP NEXT: Friday at home vs. Garden Spot (0-6, 0-9).

2 – Lancaster Catholic (6-0 Section 3, 8-1 overall; last week – 2nd) – Crusaders locked up at least a tie for their fifth Section 3 championship in a row. Catholic can win it outright with a win Friday against Elco. The Raiders would tie the Crusaders for the crown with a win. And if Elco and L-S win, there would be a lovely three-way tie for the title. Just a hunch, but I’m quite sure the Crusaders are looking forward to taking care of business and winning this sucker outright. Same thing happened in Week 10 last year, when Catholic visited Myerstown, and Elco needed a win to clinch a tie. End result: Catholic 42, Elco 7. Tip of the cap to QB Kyle Smith, who broke the tie with Pat Bostick and now leads the state with 99 career TD passes. I know Smith and Catholic coach Bruce Harbach were getting a smidge tired of answering all the questions the last couple of weeks about the record. And to all the haters out there: Appreciate what Smith did and continues to do. Don’t rip the kid because he plays in Section 3 or in Double-A. That’s a joke. Not sure I’ve ever seen a teenager more prepared for a football game than Smith. He’s a film-room geek and a practice nut. Doesn’t matter if Catholic is playing Pequea Valley in Week 7, or Mount Carmel in a state-playoff game. Smith is always ready to go, and he’s a terrific leader and field general. Where am I going with this? Anyway – layoff Smith. He’s a kid, for crying out loud. Congratulate him. Don’t tear him down because of where he plays. That’s completely, 100 percent bogus. Off the soapbox. Sorry. UP NEXT: Friday at Elco (5-1, 8-1). We’ll be blogging this game live at LancSports.com. Not sure who drew the long sausage for that assignment yet.

3 – Wilson (6-0 Section 1, 8-1 overall; last week – 3rd) – Bulldogs wrapped up the Section 1 title outright with a sizzling, come-from-behind 24-20 triumph over Penn Manor, which looked poised to force a tie heading into Week 10, but couldn’t hold off the ‘Dawgs. So much for that rebuilding phase in West Lawn, right? Terrific regular season to this point for Wilson, which is 3 points and wide-left field goal (vs. Manheim Central) from being 9-0. Offense. Defense. Special teams. Wilson’s been gaining serious momentum in all three categories. And if the ‘Dawgs can wrap up the No. 2 seed in District 3 Quad-A, they’d get three home-cooking games. Yeah, those 20 new starters are doing just fine, thank you. UP NEXT: Friday at home vs. Warwick (3-3, 5-4), which will likely need a win to make Districts.

4 – Elco (5-1 Section 3, 8-1 overall; last week – 5th) – Bumped the Raiders up a notch in my standings after they dumped Donegal 44-14 and remained on Lancaster Catholic’s heels in the Section 3 derby. Elco’s D held Donegal to 146 yards and three first downs, by the way. And senior QB Arron Achey (just wondering how many times I’ve typed his name the last two months?) did it again, rushing for 232 yards and three TD and passing for another score. He also registered a safety on D … and handed out candy bars to trick-or-treaters at halftime. Achey: Pound-for-pound the MVP of the league this season. I’m just saying … The Week 6 loss at L-S was a stinger, but Elco has won three in a row – by an aggregate 119-14, including two shutouts – and got its wish: A trip to Catholic in Week 10 with the section crown (a piece of it, anyway) hanging in the balance. Two more notables: Elco has just seven (7) giveaways and is a league-best plus-24 in turnover ratio. Terrific season for these guys. UP NEXT: Friday at Lancaster Catholic (6-0, 8-1). Again, we’ll be blogging live from this game at LancSports.com.

5 – Lampeter-Strasburg (5-1 Section 3, 6-3 overall; last week – not ranked) – Yep, the Pioneers. You know all about Manheim Central and Wilson and Lancaster Catholic. But the hottest team in the L-L League at the moment just might be L-S, which is whacking teams left and right. Since a razor-thin 14-13 loss to Lancaster Catholic in Week 5, the Pioneers have taken no prisoners: 40-14 win over previously unbeaten Elco; 46-0 whitewash over Donegal, when L-S held the Indians to minus-12 total yards; 35-0 win over Pequea Valley; and a 42-7 demolition over Northern Lebanon. That’s four wins in a row, and L-S has outscored its foes 163-21 over that clip. And the Pioneers have forced 10 turnovers in the last four games, and their 21 takeaways and plus-9 turnover ratio are both second-best in the league behind Elco. Scariest 6-3 team in District 3 Triple-A. You want these guys in the first round? Have fun. UP NEXT: Friday at Annville-Cleona (3-3, 3-6). Pioneers need a win and an Elco win to share the Section 3 crown three ways with Catholic and Elco.

HONORABLE MENTION: Feeling frisky again this week, so I’ll drop a few more teams here for you – Cocalico (4-2, 7-2; QB Carty back in the saddle; keeping fingers crossed for first-round district game in Denver); Conestoga Valley (4-2, 6-3; loss to Cocalico was a stinger, but Bucks will go to postseason while RB Kelley chases 2,000-yard regular season); Manheim Township (4-2, 6-3; sniffing a home game in first round of Districts; have a feeling about these guys – might be around a while); Penn Manor (4-2, 7-2; loss at Wilson was an absolute crusher, but Comets are still thinking big postseason-wise; they will be heard from again – trust me).