PALM BEACH COUNTY – The regular season has reached its conclusion for all but one of our area’s private high school football teams.
To be completely blunt here, this latest iteration of our rankings is going to come down to head-to-head results.
Let us get right to it.
With the American Heritage (Delray Beach) Stallions taking down the Cardinal Newman Crusaders in a 19-0 shoutout win on the road this past Friday night (Oct. 30), it is safe to say that they are the No. 1-ranked private school in Palm Beach County.
Despite their 2-3 final regular season record, the Stallions did not lose one game to a Palm Beach County team. No other private school program can say that – period.
As for the No. 2 spot, this one is going to the Crusaders.
Despite a humbling 19-point loss to the Stallions, they did beat the idle King’s Academy Lions earlier this season (35-14 win on Sept. 25). They are 4-3 overall, but their strength of schedule has reigned supreme over the Lions.
Speaking of that, while King’s Academy sports the county’s best regular season record at 4-1, its best win came against St. John Paul II (28-21 triumph; Friday, Oct. 2). Along with the head-to-head loss to Cardinal Newman, this is why King’s Academy is No. 3 for now.
Right behind at No. 4 are the St. John Paul II Eagles, who will remain there for the moment. They are 4-2, as their two losses this regular season were to No. 3 King’s Academy (28-21 defeat; Oct. 2) and No. 2 Cardinal Newman (25-12 defeat; Oct. 9).
There is a newcomer to the No. 5 spot this week. It goes to the St. Andrew’s Scots (1-1), who scored a 34-25 triumph on the road over Westminster Academy (2-6) this past Friday night (Oct. 30).
St. Andrew’s, which opened its season with a 28-20 home loss on Oct. 23 to No. 4 St. John Paul II, took the No. 5 spot from Boca Raton Christian (4-2 final record) because of how it fared against Westminster Academy. While the Scots won their game over the Lions, the Blazers lost theirs earlier this season (39-15 defeat; Friday, Sept. 18).
Here is the final regular season Top 5 and Close to 5 team rankings list.
1. American Heritage (Delray Beach) (2-3) [Last week: 3]
Game result from Friday, Oct. 30: Defeated Cardinal Newman, 19-0
2. Cardinal Newman (West Palm Beach) (4-3) [Last week: 1]
Game result from Friday, Oct. 30: Lost to American Heritage (Delray Beach), 19-0
3. King’s Academy (West Palm Beach) (4-1) [Last week: 2]
Game result from Friday, Oct. 30: Idle; scheduled contest against Benjamin was reportedly canceled because of health concerns
4. St. John Paul II (Boca Raton) (4-2) [Last week: 4]
Game result from Friday, Oct. 30: Idle; scheduled contest against North Broward Prep was canceled for unknown reasons
5. St. Andrew’s (Boca Raton) (1-1) [Last week: Not ranked]
Game result from Friday, Oct. 30: Defeated Westminster Academy, 34-25
Dropped from rankings: Former No. 5 Boca Raton Christian (4-2)
Close to 5: Benjamin (1-3), Boca Raton Christian (4-2), Jupiter Christian (3-3)
NOTE: This will be the second-to-last private school team rankings of the 2020 season. The final rankings will be released once all 10 of our private schools have completed their respective seasons.
