PALM BEACH COUNTY – The apex of our area’s high school football team hierarchy is unchanged.

It is quite obvious that there’s Atlantic and then everyone else.

Our No. 1 overall team made that clear in last week’s kickoff classic game, where it outlasted another supremely talented collective in Palm Beach Central by a score of 31-17.

Read below to see where Palm Beach Central lands in our combined initial Top 10 of the 2021 fall football season and more.

COMBINED
1. Atlantic (Delray Beach)
2. Palm Beach Gardens
3. Palm Beach Central
4. Glades Central
5. Dwyer
6. Benjamin
7. Jupiter
8. Pahokee
9. American Heritage (Delray Beach)
10. Cardinal Newman

For the first time, we are releasing three sets of team rankings: combined, public, and private. We feel this would be a way to get many more teams represented in our area.

And with that, we feel there is no longer a need to have our “Outside Looking In” section of the team rankings.

Here are the other two sets.

PUBLIC SCHOOLS
1. Atlantic (Delray Beach)
2. Palm Beach Gardens
3. Palm Beach Central
4. Glades Central
5. Dwyer
6. Jupiter
7. Pahokee
8. Palm Beach Lakes
9. Forest Hill
10. Seminole Ridge

PRIVATE SCHOOLS
1. Benjamin
2. American Heritage (Delray Beach)
3. Cardinal Newman
4. King’s Academy
5. Jupiter Christian

NOTE: If you look at this closely, the Outside Looking In teams for this week (in alphabetical order) would be Forest Hill, Jupiter Christian, King’s Academy, Palm Beach Lakes, and Seminole Ridge.

Right now, these are the top 15 teams in Palm Beach County – 10 on the public school side, five on the private school side.

And for next week’s team rankings, we could see some major moves, depending on the outcome of our following marquee Week 1 games.

GAME OF WEEK 1: Atlantic (No. 1 Combined; No. 1 Public) at Palm Beach Gardens (No. 2 Combined; No. 2 Public) – Friday, Aug. 27, 6:30 p.m. kickoff

This is the first time in recent memory we will see a No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup in Week 1. We can see this game going either way.

NEXT GAME OF WEEK 1: Dwyer (No. 5 Combined/No. 5 Public) at Jupiter (No. 7 Combined/No. 6 Public) – Friday, Aug. 27, 6:30 p.m. kickoff

We can see this matchup going either way as well. We will be surprised if the Dwyer-Jupiter clash is not a close on at Jupiter High School.

THIRD GAME OF WEEK 1: Glades Central (No. 4 Combined/No. 4 Public) at Palm Beach Lakes (No. 8 Public) – Friday, Aug. 27, 6:30 p.m. kickoff

This is yet another game that could go either way.

It may not look like it on paper, but we believe the team that plays together better will win this one, not necessarily the more talented one. It is the primary reason why Palm Beach Lakes has a chance to pull off an early upset win here.

We will see what happens Friday night at Palm Beach Lakes.

WEEK 1 TEAM RANKINGS RELEASE: Tuesday, Aug. 31

PHOTO CREDITS: Keith Forde