PALM BEACH COUNTY – It is stable at the summit.
Top-ranked Palm Beach Central (2-0) and second-ranked Cardinal Newman (2-0) have secured their grip as the cream of the crop in Palm Beach County – for
now. Both teams proved it with convincing wins in Week 2.
Palm Beach Central’s 27-7 road win over Lakewood (St. Petersburg) proved that it can compete with a great team away from home – and do it quite well.
Meanwhile, Cardinal Newman’s 42-0 road win over American Heritage (Delray Beach) proved that it has staying power in our area – at least for one week.
Pahokee and Palm Beach Gardens swapped the 3-4 spots from each other.
How did this happen?
It is relatively simple. This week’s third-ranked team took down then-fifth ranked/now-eighth ranked Benjamin (0-2) in Week 2 (36-31 home win), while this week’s fourth-ranked team dropped a 34-0 decision in Week 2 to a powerhouse program in Vero Beach.
At No. 5 is Atlantic (Delray Beach), a 28-12 winner over Monarch in Week 2. Its 16-point home win resulted in a two-spot lead from last week’s No. 7 position.
As for the biggest riser of this week, it is Santaluces (2-0) – a 22-7 home win over Boynton Beach in Week 2. The budding program moved up three spots from No. 9 to No. 6.
Speaking of Boynton Beach (1-1), it drops two spots from No. 8 to No. 10.
We have two Top 10 debuts this week: Seminole Ridge (2-0) at No. 7 and Inlet Grove (1-1) at No. 9.
We will explain how Seminole Ridge and Inlet Grove earned our Top 10 debut spots.
Seminole Ridge is our seventh-ranked team this week due to its two wins and zero losses, one being a Week 1 road win over Glades Central.
Inlet Grove checks in as our ninth-ranked team and is one spot ahead of tenth-ranked Boynton Beach due to how each team played against sixth-ranked Santaluces.
Inlet Grove lost 32-20 in Week 1 – a 12-point loss margin. Boynton Beach’s 22-7 defeat is a 15-point loss margin.
To sum it up, both teams have identical records. The loss margin to a higher ranked team proved to be the difference.
Dropping out of our Top 10 are former No. 6 Dwyer (1-1) and former No. 10 Wellington (1-1).
Dwyer dropped a 24-10 decision at home to Jensen Beach in Week 2. Wellington lost 42-7 to a young and dangerous Martin County team on the road in Week 2.
We have three pieces of criteria for how we rank our teams each week:
•Strength of overall team
•Strength of schedule
•Wins and losses
Now with that being said, here is the entire Top 10 list – plus five teams that are in our Close to 10 mention.
1. Palm Beach Central (2-0) [PR: 1]
2. Cardinal Newman (2-0) [PR: 2]
3. Pahokee (1-1) [PR: 4]
4. Palm Beach Gardens (1-1) [PR: 3]
5. Atlantic (Delray Beach) (1-1) [PR: 7]
6. Santaluces (2-0) [PR: 9]
7. Seminole Ridge (2-0) [PR: NR]
8. Benjamin (0-2) [PR: 5]
9. Inlet Grove (1-1) [PR: NR]
10. Boynton Beach (1-1) [PR: 8]
Close to 10: Boca Raton (1-1), Dwyer (1-1), Glades Central (1-1), Wellington (1-1), West Boca Raton (1-0)
NEXT TEAM RANKINGS RELEASE: Tuesday, Sept. 13 or Wednesday, Sept. 14
