FLN Weekly High School Media Poll (Well, This Writer Anyhow!)
Written by Lee Roggenburg on . Posted in Uncategorized.
For the first time in awhile there really is not a lot of movement in the polls for the week ending April 6th. Until I got to the bottom half. Ponte Vedra’s convincing win over Melbourne Central Catholic was enough to drop MCC from the Top 10 this week but I am still considering them for that consideration as I can’t penalize them too much for PV playing a nearly perfect game against them.
Vero Beach went 0-2 on their west coast trip to Barron Collier and Gulf Coast and are now an incredible 1-4 since upsetting Jupiter last month. In addition, Vero Beach now is only the FOURTH seed in the District 19 playoffs coming up!
How crazy is District 19?
St. Edwards is the #1 seed, at 5-1 in conference, but their only loss?
To Vero.
First round match-up? St. Edwards vs. Vero . . .
Other match-up is Martin County vs. Jensen Beach.
The team on the outside looking in? South Fork. Currently 8-5 but only 2-4 in the district, and with a road win over Pope John Paul.
Oh, whoever survives this . . . gets the Jupiter – Benjamin survivor in the first round.
All of the District games are now done, unless there were any weather-related ones that are still to be made up.
There are some inter-District games left that will affect the Top 10 next week, most notably Boca Raton – Benjamin and Barron Collier – Gulf Coast on Tuesday, St. Thomas Aquinas – Jupiter and Maclay – Oak Hall-Gainesville on Thursday.
Right now these games are more for getting ready for the postseason than for bragging rights.
Buckle your seats. It’s going to get real good, real fast!
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 Gulf Coast
#8 Benjamin
#9 St. Thomas Aquinas
#10 tie – Maclay and Oak Hall-Gainesville
Also considered: Lake Mary, Pope John Paul II, Columbus Catholic, Bishop Moore, and Melbourne Central Catholic
I’d also consider whoever survives District 19 as they are collectively almost the clinical definition of schizophrenic. I thought long and hard about St. Edwards from that district but their out of conference record is not particularly impressive.
Lake Highland went 3-0 on the week, including home wins over Seminole and Saint Andrew’s. They finish the season with two games, including a matchup with Maclay. An easy District and a clear path to the final four looms ahead.
Barron Collier remains at #2 with a home win over Vero Beach. The West Coast showdown with Gulf Coast is next week.
Jupiter remains at #3 with a workmanlike week where they toppled Palm Beach Gardens, a road win over Hagerty and a neutral site win over Centennial (Ga.). Is that the lacrosse version of a Gordie Howe hat trick?
Ponte Vedra remains at #4 with the big win over MCC and the solid effort against a pretty good Winter Park team. The path also looks clear for them to make a final four run but teams like Maclay, Lake Mary and Oak Hall-Gainesville look to put up a roadblock.
Boca Raton remains at #5 after running off 5 straight wins after the 2-game losing streak, including a solid 17-11 road win over Columbus Catholic, a difficult place to play. The last two games are home tilts against Benjamin and Jensen Beach . . . not a bad way to get ready for the playoffs.
Saint Andrew’s stays at #6 as they split the two games on their Orlando swing, losing to LHP 9-8 in their annual regular season game and then following up with an 8-6 win over Lake Mary.
Gulf Coast moves up to #7 as they added a solid win over Vero Beach over the weekend to a resume that only shows one loss to Milton (Ga.). The showdown with Barron Collier looms ahead.
Benjamin moves up to #8 as they continue their momentum with a comfortable road win over Spanish River. They finish with a road game at Boca Raton and a home game against Martin County.
St. Thomas Aquinas moves back in at #9 as the injury bug has started to reverse itself. RJ Curtin is putting up big numbers since making his debut and they have solid wins over University School on the road and Milton at home yesterday. The final regular season tuneup is against Jupiter at home this week. A great measuring stick game.
Tied at #10 are two northern schools Maclay and Oak Hall-Gainseville, who are having terrific seasons and deserve the recognition before the playoffs start.They meet the last game of the week for the bragging rights and Maclay also hosts LHP this week. A heck of a way to get ready!
The teams that are also considered all have some nice accomplishments this season and at least one hiccup where they shouldn’t have.
But that doesn’t really matter that much right now as the season winds down.
For them, the second season is the best way to show their mettle.
Good luck to all . . .
And
Get out to a game! Even if you don’t have a rooting interest.
Because if you don’t . . . you’ll be waiting until February 15th, 2015 to do so!