Sheldon ShealerBerkshire School capped an undefeated run with a 2-0 victory over Phillips Exeter for the NEPSAC Class A. The win secured this year’s ESR Prep School No. 1 ranking.
Schools in this ranking are not eligible for the ESR Top 50 high school rankings because these schools either field post-grad players or compete in a league with post-grad and fifth-year players.
For the final rankings, in addition to the season information, ESR has included facts about the school. Many of these schools have been in existence for more than 100 years with storied histories. The alumni focus highlights one of the many greats who have attended each of these Top 10-ranked programs.
All-Time No. 1 teams
2012 – Berkshire School (Sheffield, Mass.)
2011 – South Kent School (South Kent, Conn.)
Rankings through matches played as of Nov. 18, 2012
| Rk. | School (City, State) | Record | Prev. |
| 1 | Berkshire School (Sheffield, Mass.) | 19-0-1 | 1 |
| Season complete: NEPSAC Class A champion. School Facts: Established in 1907. Private, boarding, 400 students in grads 9-12. Notes: Berkshire shut out Choate Rosemary, Kent School and Phillips Exeter en route to a Class A title and the Prep School No. 1 ranking. Berkshire blanked 10 of its last 11 opponents. Zeiko Lewis, the offensive star of the team, scored both goals in the final and ended with four goals and two assists in the playoffs. Record vs. Top 10: 4-0-1. Famous Alum: William Standish Knowles, Nobel Prize-winning chemist. He was best known for his work in hydrogenation reactions. |
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| 2 | Western Reserve Academy (Hudson, Ohio) | 19-0-2 | 2 |
| “Season complete: Midwest Prep Tournament champion. School Facts: Established in 1826. Private, boarding, 400 students in grades 9-12. Notes: Ryan Hassell netted three goals as Western Reserve shut down Kiski School (Pa.) 5-0 to complete an undefeated season. Record vs. Top 10: 0-0. Famous Alum: William Hopkins, first city manager of Cleveland. The Cleveland airport is named in his honor – Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. |
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| 3 | Phillips Exeter (Exeter, N.H.) | 16-3-2 | 9 |
| Season complete: NEPSAC Class A runner-up. School Facts: Established in 1781. Private, boarding, 1,050 students in grades 9-12. Notes: Phillips Exeter edged Loomis Chaffee on penalty kicks in the quarterfinals, Worcester Academy 2-1 in the semifinals, before falling to Berkshire 2-0 in the final. Record vs. Top 10: 3-2-1. Famous Alum: Franklin Pierce, 14th President of the United States. Pierce was President from 1853-1857. One of Pierce’s most noteworthy moves in office included signing the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which opened those territories to settlement. |
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| 4 | Worcester Academy (Worcester, Mass.) | 13-2-2 | 4 |
| Season complete: NEPSAC Class A semifinalist. School Facts: Established in 1834. Private, boarding, 500 students in grades 9-12. Notes: After edging Andover 1-0 in the quarterfinals, Worcester fell to Phillips Exeter 2-1 in the semifinals. Record vs. Top 10: 2-2-1. Famous Alum: Charles E. Merrill, who founded what is today known as Merrill Lynch. The investment company, with 15,000 financial advisors, is the largest brokerage in the world. |
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| 5 | Loomis Chaffee (Windsor, Conn.) | 10-4-3 | 6 |
| Season complete: NEPSAC Class A quarterfinalist. School Facts: Established in 1874. Private, boarding, 650 students in grades 9-12. Notes: Loomis pushed Phillip Exeter to a shootout following a scoreless match before falling in penalty kicks in the Class A quarterfinals. The result ended the team’s seven-match undefeated streak. Record vs. Top 10: 3-2. Famous Alum: Moe Drabowsky, set a World Series record by striking out 11 batters during a relief appearance for the Baltimore Orioles in 1966 Series. After his playing days, Drabowsky became a coach and ultimately helped Poland, his birth nation, field its first Olympic baseball team |
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| 6 | Kent School (Kent, Conn.) | 14-4-0 | 3 |
| Season complete: NEPSAC Class A semifinalist. School Facts: Established in 1906. Private, boarding, 565 students in grades 9-12. Notes: Kent defeated Hotchkiss in the quarterfinals 2-1 before losing to Berkshire 2-0 in the semifinals. Record vs. Top 10: 3-3. Famous Alum: Ted Danson, an Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actor. He is best known for his work on the TV sitcom Cheers. |
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| 7 | Hotchkiss School (Lakeville, Conn.) | 9-5-2 | 7 |
| Season complete: NEPSAC Class A quarterfinalist. School Facts: Founded 1891. Private, boarding, 600 students in grades 9-12. Notes: Hotchkiss’ season ended with a 2-1 loss to Kent in the Class A quarterfinals. Hotchkiss started strong in 2012, going 4-0-2 in its first six matches, which included a tie with top-ranked Berkshire. Hotchkiss took three losses to Top 10-ranked teams over the second half of the season. Record vs. Top 10: 2-3-1. Famous Alum: Potter Stewart, a U.S. Supreme Court Justice from 1959 until 1981. Among his most noteworthy rulings, Stewart extended the 1866 Civil Rights Act in 1968 that outlawed private refusals to buy, sell or lease real estate or personal property for racial reasons. He extended that Act again in 1976 as it pertained to private schools. |
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| 8 | Choate Rosemary Hall (Wallingford, Conn.) | 11-4-1 | 8 |
| Season complete: NEPSAC Class A quarterfinalist. School Facts: Founded 1890. Private, boarding, 850 students in grades 9-12. Notes: Choate started 0-2, then went 11-1-1 before losing to top-seeded Berkshire in the Class A quarterfinals. Record vs. Top 10: 1-4. Famous Alum: Glenn Close, a four-time Tony Award winner and five-time Oscar nominee highlights an impressive list of actors and actresses that have attended Choate Rosemary. |
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| 9 | Roxbury Latin (West Roxbury, Mass.) | 12-3-3 | NR |
| Season complete: NEPSAC Class B co-champion. School Facts: Founded 1645. Private, boys-only, 290 students in grades 7-12 Notes: Roxbury Latin handed Rivers School its only loss, in the last match of the regular season, then played to a scoreless tie with Rivers in the B final. Record vs. Top 10: 1-0-1. Famous Alum: William Hoyt, who two years removed from Roxbury Latin, won the first Olympic pole vault gold medal at the 1896 Games in Athens, Greece. |
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| 10 | Rivers School (Weston, Mass.) | 16-1-3 | 10 |
| “Season complete: NEPSAC Class B co-champion. School Facts: Established in 1915. Private, 450 students in grades 6-12. Notes: Rivers had a chance to avenge its only defeat, but failed to find the goal in a scoreless draw with Roxbury Latin in the Class B final. Record vs. Top 10: 0-1-1. Famous Alum: Elliott Richardson, a lawyer who was a cabinet member in both the President Nixon and President Ford administrations. |
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