“Hot Potato. A children’s game played with a ball or similar item similar to musical chairs.  The idea of the game is that you gather in a circle and toss the item around and when the music stops or the leader calls out the person with the item in their possession is eliminated.” Yeah, I know.  I could write last week’s column, switch Lake Highland to #1, Barron Collier to #2 and Jupiter to #3 and pretty much write the same thing I did last week while dropping a few teams to #6 from #5. Certainly would save me a LOT of time. Maybe if the season keeps going like this I could put the Vero Girls in at #10? How else do you explain Vero going on the ROAD to defeat then #1 Jupiter and coming HOME to lose to Pine Crest, a team that had three losses that weren’t very close? And now we are another upset away from another school I haven’t mentioned all year, Palm Beach Gardens, who is 7-3 and faces Jupiter on Tuesday, from ascending to Top 10 consideration. Or do I start thinking about Jensen Beach, winners over Vero and Spanish River their last two games, with Boca Raton and others to come, standing 6-3 with their three losses by a total of 6 goals? Can I move Gulf Coast up?  The Tampa Jesuit win doesn’t look as good as it did then.  Won’t really matter as they have Milton (Ga.), Vero and Barron Collier in a row soon.  We’ll know then if they are contenders or pretenders. We’ll also soon learn about Lake Mary, as the EASIEST team left according to the power ratings is 5-2 Boone.  A Boone team that beat Hagerty.  They play Lake Brantley next and LB looks vulnerable now that Tim Gehlbach is likely out for the year. Oxbridge?  Quietly having a very good year but lost to the two best teams on the schedule. Maybe the Palm Beach Gardens game gives some clarity? The toughest part of this week’s rankings is what made last week so tough, the bottom 3-4.  So many options.  I probably could consider 10-15 schools for those last three spots. So without further ado:   Here is this week’s Top 10 Media Poll!   #1  Lake Highland Prep #2  Barron Collier #3  Jupiter #4  Ponte Vedra #5  Boca Raton #6  Saint Andrew’s #7  Melbourne Central Catholic #8  Gulf Coast #9  Benjamin #10  Vero Beach   Also considered:  St. Thomas Aquinas, Lake Mary, Pope John Paul II, Seminole, Oak Hall-Gainesville, Columbus Catholic and Maclay Next Week I might well be considering other teams too!   This certainly shows what is going on in the state.  Remember this line? In a state this big one other thing I can say is that SOMEONE will come out of nowhere to have a great season and SOMEONE will completely make me look foolish. Such is the nature of predictions. Yep.  Melbourne Central Catholic and Gulf Coast. Yep.  Hagerty. Or this? Championship Game Prediction – Jupiter beats Lake Brantley in the final, with Lake Brantley getting by Ponte Vedra in the semifinals and Jupiter knocking off the St. Thomas/Barron Collier survivor (too close to call right now) on their side of the bracket. So much for that one. I won’t get to into the analysis this week but my thought process was like this: Lake Highland moves up as it looks like their losses were better than Jupiter’s.  The defending state champs look like they have gotten their mojo going and Friday’s big win over Lake Brantley positions them for the coming schedule that includes Saint Andrew’s and Ponte Vedra. In order to be the man you need to beat the man and LHP is the defending state ‘man’. Barron Collier slides up to #2 for the simple reason that no one is beating them right now and their defense is approaching armed forces levels. Only Vero and Gulf Coast loom large until the playoffs. Jupiter remains highly ranked even though they lost two of their last three this week.  With the schedules the top teams face no one could be expected to go undefeated and the entire body of work still shows off to be damned good.  I really could have co-ranked them #2.  The schedule gets easier now until Milton (Ga.) and STA finish it up.  And Jesse Foertmeyer made his season debut Thursday and looked really good.  Just what the Dr. Loftus ordered. Ponte Vedra showed extremely well in the loss to Jupiter and will be pointing for Wednesday’s showdown in Melbourne. Boca Raton’s total body of work is still very good and the mid-season slump has been answered the last three games.  They are legitimately TWO QUARTERS away from being unbeaten and #1 right now.  Columbus Catholic, Benjamin and Jensen Beach are still on the schedule. Saint Andrew’s was off last week and travel to LHP and Lake Mary this week so we really will get to see if the break helped or hurt. Melbourne Central Catholic can be ignored no more.  The road win over Winter Park was important to see if they could beat a quality team on the road as they’ve been home-based for awhile.  They need not to look beyond Oviedo before the huge game Wednesday.  Only the biggest game in school history . . . Gulf Coast climbs some because they still are winning games.  Time will tell whether I jumped the gun on them or not but undefeated is still undefeated. Benjamin is more of a gut feel right now than a statistical one.  The big win on Wednesday over Jupiter on the road and the way they played the MIAA games tells me that this team is coming together at the right time.  Maybe I’m jumping the gun here a little too; a road trip to Boca looms on April 8th. Vero Beach.  And angina.  They seem to go together in a sentence.  The most interesting body of work, good and bad, this season.  But they’ve done enough to slip into the Top 10 due to that Jupiter win.  Maybe as high as #7 if they held serve Friday but they didn’t. All of the other schools I considered can have cases made for them too.  Thankfully the schedule has enough big match-ups to prove their fitness too!   Key Games This Week:   Monday:  LHP host Seminole, Oviedo hosts Melbourne Central Catholic Tuesday:  LB hosts Lake Mary, Martin County hosts Vero Wednesday:  CC host Boca, Jupiter host PB Gardens, MCC hosts Ponte Vedra Friday:  Barron Collier hosts Vero, Gulf Coast vs. Milton (Ga.), LHP hosts SA, LM hosts Centennial (Ga.), PB Gardens host Oxbridge Saturday:  Gulf Coast hosts Vero, Jupiter vs, Centennial (Ga.), LM hosts SA, STA hosts Milton (Ga.), Oak Hall-Gainesville hosts Providence, PV host Winter Park   Remember, get out to a game even if you don’t have a rooting interest in it!  Plenty to choose from!