#1. Bradford (4-0)- It was the game of the season. At least the first half of it, as Bradford showed Northeast Florida, what we already knew at Duval Sports. They are the top team in the area by beating Mandarin head to head. With that win, Bradford took down a team ranked #1 on many polls around the state. They stick to their formula of running the ball and playing defense, and they do it better than anyone around.
#2 Nease (3-0)- The Panthers move up a spot after a complete shellacking of previously undefeated Fletcher. The Panther prowl continues to impress with signature wins over big time opponents. What we know is, Nease takes your best player away on defense, and then surprise you with their well designed offense. Well, another big time opponent is ahead, as undefeated in St. Augustine. This will be their first test to try to take away several “best players” as St. Augustine is stacked on offense.
#3. Raines (4-0)- The Vikings got their revenge against Mainland from a loss last year. It was an impressive victory, where Raines showed they cant take a team’s best shot, and smile in their face and return one a knock out blow. What we know is their opponents don’t know where it’s coming from either. The defense, the offensive line or Timothy Cole at quarterback, has used several different receivers as well as his legs to bring home victories. They are on a bye this week before battling Riverside.
#4. Oakleaf (3-1)– Even though Oakleaf fell last week to Back-to-Back state champion Hawthorne, you should take confidence in this team, knowing that they are the real deal. When teams like St. Augustine struggled to stop Riverside, Oakleaf dominated them. When teams struggled to battle Hawthrone, Oakleaf was a Hail Marry away from going into overtime. They have Bolles up next, and if Oakleaf plays their game, the outcome his gonna surprise a lot of people.
#5. Mandarin (3-1)- Another team that is impressive is Mandarin. Even though they fell last week, the game was much closer than I expected. They went in without their starting quarterback, and lost their 5-star wide receiver Jaime Ffrench in the 2nd quarter, and still had a chance to win the game on the road. A reminder of what we know, that even without those two players Mandarin’s roster is extremely talented across the board, and still better than 98% of the teams in the area. They travel to IMG this week, a game that will be tough to tackle even for them.
#6. St. Augustine (3-0)- The Jackets went into a shoot-out with Riverside last week and came out victorious. What we know? St. Augustine is a master at exploiting matchups with their receivers. One night it might be Carl Jenkins Jr. The next, it might be Somourian Wingo. Well, last week it was Trenton Jones who went off at the wide receiver position. That’s hard to stop. The question is, can St. Augustine’s defense stop Nease, they struggled against Riverside.
#7. Bolles (2-1)- Bolles showed incredible resilience against Bishop Kenny, coming from behind to get the win. Bolles trailed 28-13 at one point in the third quarter, but Naeem Burroughs refused to let his team lose. With 168 yards receiving and 3 touchdowns, he helped the Bulldogs bite Bishop Kenny in the end. Yet, reality must set in for Bolles, and it’s what we all know, that they should not have been down to Kenny in the first place. They can’t afford to go down early against Oakleaf tonight, or it will be a long night.
#8. Baker County (2-1)- The Wildcats are back in the Top 10 since week 1. They fell to Bradford 13-7, in a game that showed just how tough this team is. Outside of that loss, a blowout of First Coast 30-0, and Palm Bay 35-7, haven’t provided much competition for us to know anything more of Baker County. As long as they win the games they are supposed to, and the way that they are supposed to, we’ll know just enough until a bigger matchup comes down the road.
#9. Ponte Vedra (3-1)- The Sharks defeated Menendez last night to improve to 3 wins on the year. A tough Beachside win, and a tough Bartram win have them secured at the #9 spot again this week. However, we know that the schedule gets a little tougher coming up for Ponte Vedra, so we will learn a lot about this team in the coming weeks as well.
#10. Columbia (2-2)- Entering the chat for the first time this year is Columbia. Tonight they face Trinity Christian as they battle a team from the 904 for the first time this year. They’ve done their annual South Georgia circuit falling to Coffee County, and their traditional battle against Madison County where they slipped 18-13. But wins over Suwannee and Hillsborough who we know are good team, is good enough for us to know that they deserve to be in the Top 10 this week.
Outside Looking In: Middleburg (4-0), Bishop Kenny (3-1), Beachside (2-1), Riverside (2-2), Creekside (2-3),
