Sorry for this lengthy delay . . . work issues and the desire to finalize the new site design pushed a number of articles back. And we also are close to announcing a very exciting new platform for FLN that will substantially increase the amount of content we can bring you!

One big difference from Class 1A is that the balance of power was more geographically spread out in 2A, as pretty much each of the four regions had a similar diffusion in this poll. There were certainly some new names throughout the year in the Polls, plus the reemergence of a storied program from year’s past. A couple of newcomers fell just short and will need to improve their schedules.

When you read these results you’ll see some divergence from the math rankings and as I went down the line the importance of a quality win carried more weight with me. #4 through #9 was VERY close and I wish I had seen more teams in person; we’ll try to change that next year and hopefully we’ll see more intersectional play next season!

Overall Strength of Schedule was not as high as in 1A but I do think that the Top 5 or Top 10 in 2A is definitely stronger this year than 1A. And if St. Thomas had defeated Benjamin that would have been even a bigger gap, since they lost a one-goal road game to SA, lost a one-goal home game to Jupiter in the regional final and are the only team to beat Jupiter, by one goal in the regular season.

Okay, here we go!

Final Top 15 Poll for Boys Class 2A

1) Jupiter – the best offense in the state and solid all around; no weakness

2) Winter Park – one of the storied programs in the state’s history came alive and barely came up short of running the table

3) St. Thomas Aquinas – the Benjamin loss kept them from being co-#2

4) Lake Mary – when I looked through the entire body of work I gave them the slight edge for this spot

5t) Ponte Vedra – just like in 1A we have a complete body of work . . .

5t) Plant – and a one-goal road loss is pretty darn equal . . . great seasons for both

7) Creekside – a few tight regular season losses kept them lower, but the District win meant a lot to the state

8t) Oviedo – another situation where I had to balance the entire body of work . . the win over Lake Mary versus

8t) Newsome – win over Riverview vs three close losses to Plant as the only blemish

10) Riverview-Sarasota – wins over Berkeley Prep and Jesuit but a couple of weak efforts hurt

11) Lake Brantley – this is where it gets hard . . wins over Bishop Moore and Boone with competitive games against teams above them, with one bad loss

12) Nease – early season victory over Fleming Island and a tough schedule in a monster district . . took Creekside to the wire

13) Western – quality wins over Gulliver Prep and Boca Raton, but a big loss to STA

14) Gulf Coast – quality win over Cardinal Mooney but the rest of the schedule capped them here

15) Fleming Island – I wish I could have ranked them higher but the best win was over Forest and that wasn’t enough

Also Considered:

Boca Raton, Mitchell, Steinbrenner, Stoneman Douglas and Windermere – none of them had a significant win that would give me reason to rank them.

Again, I apologize for the delay in this and we will be getting back on track going forward!