It’s time for Week 2 of the “Al Packer Ford Coaches Poll”and Ponte Vedra has taken the top spot away from St. Thomas Aquinas.  We saw last week’s number 8 team drop out and a new team has taken it’s place while a upstart Seminole team continues to rise.

1- Ponte Vedra-With convincing wins over Hagerty and Creekside last week Ponte Vedra was the top vote getter this week.  They did put up 16 goals last night in a close loss to a stacked IMG team so I think that impressive loss may actually help them in next week’s poll.  St. Thomas Aquinas and Ponte Vedra don’t have a common opponent until late in March so these team may continue to flip flop if they both keep winning.

2 – St. Thomas Aquinas had only one game during the voting period and they won impressively against Gulf Coast.  With no current top ten teams on their schedule until Barron Collier on March 13th they may not get their top spot back next week.

3 – Lake Highland Prep held the number three spot. As one voter put it, “Looks like LHP will get better as the season moves along (as usual).”  The Highlanders got past a stubborn Seminole team 11-7.  They face Jupiter at Jupiter tomorrow and IMG next.  But it looks like after the early loss the defending State Champs are starting to roll.  Chris Spaulding has always been able to get his guys to peak at just the right time.

4 – Jupiter’s offense is putting up 10 or more goals in every game.  A four goal margin of victory of Douglas is the closest they have come to a “scare” so far.  Tomorrow’s game against LHP will be a big one.  Jupiter’s defense has been getting it done keeping a previously undefeated Boca to 2 goals this week. 5- Lake Mary is 7-0 going 3-0 during the voting week.  Pre-season the schedule looked solid but now, two weeks into it, only one of their 7 victories has come against a team with a winning record.  However, already this week they beat a very good .500 team in Winter Park.  Tomorrow’s showdown with District 8 opponent Seminole, is looming and it is huge.  One of these top ten teams won’t make the play offs and we’ll know plenty about both of these teams by the end of that game. 6- IMG is still undefeated and still at number 6.  They have given up 11 and 16 goals in the last two games.  They have a ton of high quality teams left to play, the only question is, “can they run the table?”  It will be interesting to see.  PV gave everyone the blue print on how to score goals on them, but who can stop that offense?

7 – Vero Beach didn’t just make the top ten this week they jumped all the way to the seventh spot.  They are 6-0 with quality wins over St. Andrews and Maclay.  They have a strong stretch of games coming up including Boca, Jensen Beach, Martin County, and Pope.  If they keep winning they could keep moving up. 8 – Seminole moved up from the 10th spot with a win over Lake Brantley and a great performance in a loss to Lake Highland.  They have already upended a tough Bishop Moore team this week and a victory tomorrow over Lake Mary would propel this team into the top half of our poll for sure. 9 – Douglas fell from 7-9 this week with a loss to Jupiter and a close victory over 2-4 Pine Crest.  It’s a long season and the week one euphoria may be giving way to the grind at this point.  They have a chance for some quality wins coming up with and undefeated Gulliver Prep team on March 3rd and Oxbridge on March 10th. 10 – Barron Collier went from 9th to 10th due primarily to a single game week and the juggernaut rise of Vero than anything they did on the field.  They have a good game on the schedule with Oxbridge tonight but won’t be tested again until March 13th when they travel to St. Thomas.  A solid win tonight may be needed to keep them in the top ten. Some other teams garnering multiple votes this week; Newsome is 4-0 and everyone in Tampa is telling us this is the team to watch.  They just don’t have the strength of schedule to climb this poll, however.  But don’t be surprised if this team is around deep into the play offs.  If what we are hearing about these guys in true then we should look for them in the final 8. Fleming Island is getting some love from our voters.  What else can they do? They are 6-0 including a gut check over time win over Buchholz this week.  Admittedly, they hadn’t played any stud teams until then.  They have IMG tonight.  A respectable showing against IMG and any kind of stumble by a current top ten team may be enough to get them in.  Quoting one of our voters who knows about these things, “Is Fleming Island for real this year? Decent depth and a legit stud in LaVangie.”  If they show well against IMG and finally get the monkey off their backs with a win over district rival Bolles, I would have to say “yes, they are for real this year.” Buchholz got some votes this week but the votes were in before the OT loss to Fleming Island.  We’ll have to wait and see how that loss is perceived by our voters. Benjamin and St. Andrew’s, the subjects of our big LiveStream event tonight, are still hanging around.  Neither are having the type of seasons they are accustomed to yet, but smart observers are not counting either of them out.  Check out Lee’s preview of tonight’s match up.