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Photo Credit: Ryan Edwards

It’s really hard to believe that we’re three weeks into season already — especially with everything going on — but I’m not going to talk about that.

No, I’m going to focus on what I think the toughest conference in the metro is. And that conference just happens to be the Suburban Gold Conference.

Simply put, the Suburban Gold Conference is loaded. … top to bottom.

It’s like the SEC West in a sense — it's that competitive.

Just look at the teams in this conference. The names speak for themselves.

Raymore-Peculiar, Blue Springs, Blue Springs South, Lee’s Summit West and Liberty were once perennial powers in Missouri.

And with the uncertainty of the St. Louis schools season up in the air, any one of these teams has a chance to reclaim the crown as Missouri’s best.

Here’s a look at where things stand now in the Suburban Gold through three weeks:

Raymore-Peculiar is loaded and shows no signs of letting up anytime soon. The Panthers were tested by Liberty North this past week, the same Liberty North team the Panthers defeated in the Class 6 quarterfinals a season ago. With Conrad Hawley leading the way, the Panthers are a threat to anyone in the state.

Lee’s Summit West has rebounded after having a subpar year by its standards. The Titans have been tested this season, and one might argue that they have the toughest stretch of games to open the season. Having already played Park Hill and Blue Springs South, Lee’s Summit West’s next two games come against the other two undefeated programs in the conference — Liberty and Ray-Pec — if the Titans somehow end up winning those two games, it will be well deserved.

Liberty, well, Liberty is the new kid on the block. The Blue Jays have stunned a lot of people this season, including myself.

Lee’s Summit North is also in the mix to compete for the top spot in the Suburban Gold Conference. The Broncos only blemish came on Friday against the Blue Jays. Despite having a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter, Lee’s Summit North was unable to hold onto the lead as Liberty’s Alek Rottjakb drilled a 48-yard field goal with 1:12 left in the game. Not to go unnoticed, but the Broncos have one of the area’s top quarterbacks in Tre Baker. Baker has been impressive this season. The junior signal caller has put Lee’s Summit North on the map and will be tough to stop once he grows into the offense.

Yes, I know many of you think Blue Springs and Blue Springs South aren’t as good as they have been in recent memory, but the thing is, both Blue Springs and Blue Springs South have shown flashes this season — especially South, who is a handful of plays away from being undefeated on the year.

The same could be said for Park Hill.

The Trojans opened the season with an overtime loss against Lee’s Summit West and were handled by Rockhurst in Week 2, before picking up their first win on Friday at South.