PALM BEACH COUNTY – Hello Boca Raton and Boynton Beach.
Goodbye Glades Central and Benjamin – for now at least.
For this week, we get two newcomers in our latest combined Top 10.
To keep this relatively short and sheet, we will break down how this happened.
Thanks to a 9-8 road win over then-No. 2 Dwyer (4-2) this past Saturday night, we got a well-deserved Top 10 spot for Boca Raton (5-1), which has won four straight games to date.
Bobcats linebacker Valentino Diaz, who is our MVP of Week 7, sealed the win with an interception returned for a score that gave his team a 9-0 lead – enough to overcome a late rally by the Panthers.
This proved to be the most consequential game of Week 7 that was completed.
As for our second Top 10 newcomer, all it took was a five-game winning streak and a 63-16 blowout win for Boynton Beach (5-1) over John I. Leonard (1-5) this past Thursday night.
As a result of these breakthrough wins – and defeats by then-No. 7 Glades Central (13-6 loss to Booker T. Washington – Miami this past Friday night) and then-No. 8 Benjamin (43-20 home loss to Mainland – Daytona Beach this past Thursday night) – Boca Raton made its Top 10 debut at No. 6 and Boynton Beach slid in at No. 10.
Glades Central (3-3) and Benjamin (4-2) are out of our Top 10 – at least for this week.
Every other Top 10 team – save for then-No. 2/now-No. 7 Dwyer and then-No. 6/now-No. 9 Atlantic (39-10 loss to Naples this past Friday night; dropped to 3-3) – moved up at least one spot this week.
No. 2 Park Vista (5-0) reached its peak ranking thanks to a lightning delay that ultimately resulted in a cancelled game against No. 1 Palm Beach Central (5-0).
No. 4 Pahokee (4-1) and No. 8 Cardinal Newman (3-2) had the same exact situations this past week with their games against Treasure Coast (4–1) and St. John Paul II (0-4), respectively.
No. 3 Palm Beach Gardens (4-2) and No. 5 Seminole Ridge (5-1) enjoyed their Week 7 byes.
Finally, speaking of Seminole Ridge, it reached the top tier for the first time this season by surging four spots from No. 9.
With that, here are our latest Combined Top 10, Public Top 10, and Private Top 5 team rankings.
COMBINED TOP 10: WEEK 7
1. Palm Beach Central (5-0) [PR: 1]
2. Park Vista (5-0) [PR: 3]
3. Palm Beach Gardens (4-2) [PR: 4]
4. Pahokee (4-1) [PR: 5]
5. Seminole Ridge (5-1) [PR: 9]
6. Boca Raton (5-1) [PR: NR]
7. Dwyer (4-2) [PR: 2]
8. Cardinal Newman (3-2) [PR: 10]
9. Atlantic (Delray Beach) (3-3) [PR: 6]
10. Boynton Beach (5-1) [PR: NR]
Dropped out of Top 10: Former No. 7 Glades Central (3-3), Former No. 8 Benjamin (4-2)
PUBLIC TOP 10: WEEK 7
1. Palm Beach Central (5-0) [PR: 1]
2. Park Vista (5-0) [PR: 3]
3. Palm Beach Gardens (4-2) [PR: 4]
4. Pahokee (4-1) [PR: 5]
5. Seminole Ridge (5-1) [PR: 8]
6. Boca Raton (5-1) [PR: 9]
7. Dwyer (4-2) [PR: 2]
8. Atlantic (Delray Beach) (3-3) [PR: 6]
9. Boynton Beach (5-1) [PR: 10]
10. Glades Central (3-3) [PR: 7]
PRIVATE TOP 5
1. Cardinal Newman (3-2) [PR: 2]
2. Benjamin (4-2) [PR: 1]
3. King’s Academy (5-1) [PR: 4]
4. Glades Day (5-1) [PR: 5]
5. Jupiter Christian (4-1) [PR: 3]
NEXT RANKINGS UPDATE: Tuesday, Oct. 19
PHOTO CREDITS: Xavon Christopher and Trennell Hollis
