St. Thomas Aquinas, riding the momentum of a nationally-televised win over Dallas Skyline 31-3, moved to the top spot of the Beef 'O' Brady's Top 25.
The Raiders, who spent most of last year on top of the poll before being defeated in the post-season by Manatee (#5) picked up only one first place vote, but were consistently ranked second and third in the ballots. Palm Beach Gardens Dwyer, which won last year's Top 25 trophy, is ranked second, followed by Pensacola, Seffner Armwood and Manatee.
Last week's #1 team, Tampa Plant, fell five spots to #6 after back-to-back unimpressive wins over Tampa Bay Tech and Tampa Hillsborough. The Panthers face off with Abilene (TX) Thursday night. Cocoa, which has yet to play an in-state opponent, is up four spots from #11 to seventh after defeating Abilene on the road last week. Tampa Jefferson, Miami Northwestern and Orlando Dr. Phillips round out the top 10.
"There appears to have been some shifting of opinions" said poll coordinator Steve Berrey, host of the Beef 'O' Brady's Scoreboard Show. "While some folks were impressed with Cocoa's out-of-state success, (evidenced by Cocoa's five first-place votes) others were not sold yet on the Tigers".
RN School Class W/L LW Pts.
1 St. Thomas Aquinas (1) 5A 1-0 5 243
2 Dwyer 4A 1-1 2 234
3 Pensacola 3A 2-0 3 232
4 Armwood 4A 2-0 4 230
5 Manatee (1) 5A 2-0 7 228
6 Tampa Plant (3) 5A 2-0 1 225
7 Cocoa (5) 2A 3-0 11 215
8 Jefferson 3A 2-0 8 206
9 Miami Northwestern 6A 2-0 9 203
10 Dr. Phillips 6A 2-0 10 188
11 Miami Central 6A 1-1 7 187
12 Glades Central 2A 2-0 12 168
13 Lakeland 5A 2-0 13 157
14 Miami Washington 4A 2-0 14 127
15 Deland 6A 2-0 15 117
16 Apopka 6A 2-0 16 116
17 St. Augustine 3A 2-0 19 89
18 Jacksonville Bolles 2B 2-0 18 87
19 Pompano Beach Ely 5A 2-0 21 59
20 Tampa Robinson 2A 2-0 20 57
21 Jacksonville First Coast 5A 2-0 24T 43
22 Niceville 4A 2-0 NR 35
23 Miramar 6A 1-1 17 27
24 Punta Gorda Charlotte 4A 2-0 NR 19
25 Orlando Olympia 6A 2-0 NR 11
OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES: South Fort Myers - 3A, 1-0, 9; Lake Wales - 3A, 1-0, 8; Lakeland Kathleen - 4A, 1-1, 8; Citra North Marion - 3A, 1-1, 8; Lauderdale Lakes Boyd Anderson - 5A, 2-0, 8; Melbourne Palm Bay - 4A, 2-0, 7; Clearwater Countryside - 5A, 2-0, 6; Miami Columbus - 6A, 2-0, 4; Madison County - 2A, 2-0, 4; Naples - 3A, 2-0, 3; Miami Jackson -3A, 2-0, 3; Delray Beach American Heritage - 1A, 1-1, 3; Jacksonville Trinity Christian - 1A, 1-1, 1.
HERALD STATEWIDE INFORMATION
Statewide Information
Let me get this straight. Miami Northwestern is ranked 8th nationally by ESPN, but only 9th in the state of Florida by this poll. Does that seem odd to anyone but me?
Posted by: New Jack Hustler | September 15, 2010 at 09:05 AM
NEWJACK, I'M STILL LAUGHING AT THIS POLL MYSELF. LIKE ESPN'S CHRIS BERMAN STATED "THAT'S WHY THEY PLAY THE GAME. PSALMS 91
Posted by: RICK TRUTH SPEAKER | September 15, 2010 at 02:44 PM
Booker T is not 4A and this poll is a serious joke!
Posted by: Muck City | September 16, 2010 at 08:53 AM
However, on Rivals Top 100 MNW is ranked 49th!
Posted by: Football Guy | September 16, 2010 at 09:50 AM
ESPN IS CONSIDERED BIGGER THAN RIVAL. I'LL GO WITH ESPN. PSALMS 100
Posted by: RICK TRUTH SPEAKER | September 16, 2010 at 07:54 PM
Want to know how flawed this poll is just look at Plant listed at 2-0 when everyone saw them on national tv being crushed by Manatee. It's a biased poll as I stated before with 15 teams west/northwest of alligator and are ranked higher than perennial powerhouses. It'll all come out during crunch time. Miami Herald you should stop publishing Creep-O-Gravies bogus poll!!
Posted by: Bull4LYFE | September 18, 2010 at 12:42 AM