It’s Week 3 of the “Al Packer Ford Coaches Poll” and the top three teams are so close right now that a single change in a single vote could completely re-order them.  Only three total points separate the group. 1- St. Thomas Aquinas is back at number one this week.  The Raiders had one game during the voting week, a 15-2 victory over University (2-4.)  They have since defeated 0-5 Plantation. St. Thomas gets into the tougher portion of their schedule as the remainder of their opponents have winning records with the exception of Lake Forest (0-0.)  Down the road they have other top ten teams like Lake Mary, Jupiter, Boca Raton, and Barron Collier.

2- Lake Highland Prep has rebounded from the opening week loss to STA and won four straight.  During the voting week they played Oviedo and a scored a big 12-9 win over Jupiter, which clearly impacted the voting this week.  They played IMG to an incredible two goal game last night and face a tough Lovett (GA) team tomorrow night.

3 – Ponte Vedra defeated Bartram Trail, a district 6 opponent, and then played a brutal game against IMG in which they put up 14 goals, the most of anyone this season.  They have a great chance to move back up in the polls with games against Charlotte Catholic, Lake Mary, Bolles, and Jupiter right around the corner. 4 – Jupiter had won six straight including quality wins over Pope, Jensen Beach, Douglas, Oxbridge, and Boca before falling to LHP 12-9.  They play IMG tonight, and some observers think they may just have the right recipe to knock off the currently undefeated Ascenders.

5- Lake Mary remains undefeated at 9-0 but the schedule has failed to sway our voters to move them up past #5 yet.  A win over Ponte Vedra on Saturday would probably cure that. 6/7 – We had a rare tie this week.  In fact, we had two ties.  Barron Collier and Douglas tied for 6th place.  Barron scored a quality win over Oxbridge last week 11-8.  They really don’t have the strength of schedule to move up the charts in the next week as they play Community School of Naples and Golden Gate.  They do have an undefeated Bishop Verot on Saturday.  Douglas has won three in a row to get to 5-1 with wins over Cardinal Gibbons and a struggling Spanish River team.  They faced a tough Gulliver Prep team this week and won 1-5.  The remainder of their regular season schedule is not as tough as some other teams on our top ten, so they may have trouble moving up much further.

8 – Boca Raton was putting together a solid season and an OT win over Vero Beach at the end of the voting week was rewarded by our voters with a #8 ranking.  A loss last night to rival Pope John Paul II may send them back out of the top ten.  However, with nobody on the schedule left with a losing record and five games against teams who have had time on the top ten list, they have the opportunity to make some believers out of our voters.  Jensen Beach, St. Andrew’s, Lake Mary, St. Thomas Aquinas, and Benjamin is a strong way to finish a season.  They better not look past a 4-1 West Boca team and if Gulf Coast can get healthy they could be dangerous as well.  No easy games left for these guys. 9/10 This is only the second tie I can remember in our coaches poll and the first one is just up the page.  Seminole High School and St. Andrew’s have tied for 9th place.  Seminole dropped a heart breaker to the number 5 ranked Lake Mary rams.  They are now 7-2.  While a win probably would have pushed them up the charts, they were not punished for the close loss.  The voters may not be as kind when taking into consideration the 1 goal victory over 4-5 Dr. Phillips.  However, we think Dr. Phillips is a better team than their record shows at this point.  St. Andrew’s  looked very good against Benjamin with a stifling Match-up Zone defense in our our Live Stream game on Friday.  They have Jupiter this Saturday and we’ll no doubt see a great game there.