Bartram Trail (St. Johns) keeps top spot in regional all-classification rankings despite first loss of 2020 season
GAINESVILLE — For the second week in a row, the top two football teams in The Prep Zone Power Poll were knocked off last week.
But despite their first setback of the season, the Bartram Trail (St. Johns) Bears stayed on top of the rankings for the second straight week.
Bartram Trail (3-1) lost 35-10 to American Heritage (Plantation), which is ranked sixth in Florida regardless of classification and 21st nationally by Max Preps.
Despite the loss, the Bears received four of the nine first-place votes to stay as the #1 team again this week. They face another tough test this week against St. Johns County rival #11 Ponte Vedra, which enters the game undefeated at 4-0.
Last week’s #2 team, Trinity Catholic (Ocala), also went down to defeat for the first time in 2020 last Friday night.
The Celtics (2-1) dropped a home game to then-RV The Villages, 27-25. The loss drops Trinity Catholic down a tie for 7th this week with undefeated Baker County (Glen St. Mary).
With the victory The Villages (3-0) moves into the poll for the first time this season at #12.
Vanguard (Ocala) moves up to 2nd after finally winning their 2020 opener 20-14 at then-#18 Forest (Ocala) last week.
The Knights face another undefeated Marion County team in RV West Port (Ocala) this Friday. West Port improved to 2-0 by winning at then-#19 North Marion (Citra) 24-13 last week.
Madison County remains third but picks up four first-place votes as well.
The Cowboys (4-1), who were the #1 team in the first three polls of the season, rebounded from their first loss of the season at Florida High (Tallahassee) the previous week to ease past Bradford (Starke) 14-0 last week to stay in the #3 position.
Bolles (Jacksonville) also moved up one spot to 4th this week after blasting Palatka 49-0. The Bulldogs (3-1) rebounded from a loss to #13T Creekside (St. Johns) the previous week to get back in the win column with a running clock victory.
Bolles faces another tough test this Friday as they host Trinity Catholic in a top 10 showdown.
Rounding out the top five is Fleming Island (Orange Park).
The Golden Eagles (4-0) staged a major comeback with 20 fourth-quarter points to rally past then-#10 Creekside, 26-23, and stay undefeated.
The brutal slate continues for Fleming Island this week as they will be on the road against another Clay County rival, #13T Oakleaf (Orange Park), which dropped seven spots from the previous poll after dropping a 25-12 decision to Camden County (GA).
The rest of the top 10 is Baker County and Trinity Catholic in a tie for 7th, followed by DeLand, which remains 9th after improving to 2-0 by holding off Spruce Creek (Port Orange) 30-24, and No. 10 Trinity Christian (Jacksonville).
Along with The Villages, Sandalwood (Jacksonville) is new to the poll at #19.
Forest and North Marion both drop out from a week ago.
The Prep Zone Power Poll ranks the top 20 high school football, volleyball, basketball, baseball & softball teams (regardless of FHSAA classification) across 26 counties in North Florida (Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Citrus, Clay, Columbia, Dixie, Duval, Flagler, Gilchrist, Hamilton, Hernando, Jefferson, Lafayette, Lake, Levy, Madison, Marion, Nassau, Putnam, Sumter, St. Johns, Suwannee, Taylor, Union & Volusia counties). It is voted on weekly by sportswriters and sportscasters and it is powered by Anytime Fitness of Gainesville.
THE PREP ZONE POWER POLL – 2020 FOOTBALL POLL #5
(School, followed by classification, first-place votes, current record, and total voting points)
1. Bartram Trail (St. Johns) (8A) (4) (3-1) – 165
2. Vanguard (Ocala) (5A) (1-0) – 159
3. Madison County (1A) (4) (4-1) – 155
4. Bolles (Jacksonville) (4A) (3-1) – 151
5. Fleming Island (Orange Park) (7A) (1) (4-0) – 150
6. Robert E. Lee (Jacksonville) (6A) (3-0) – 110
7T. Baker County (Glen St. Mary) (5A) (4-0) – 106
7T. Trinity Catholic (Ocala) (3A) (2-1) – 106
9. DeLand (8A) (2-0) – 104
10. Trinity Christian (Jacksonville) (3A) (2-1) – 102
11. Ponte Vedra (6A) (4-0) – 99
12. The Villages (4A) (3-0) – 69
13T. Creekside (St. Johns) (7A) (2-2) – 64
13T. Oakleaf (Orange Park) (8A) (2-2) – 64
15. Dunnellon (5A) (2-0) – 63
16. Fletcher (Neptune Beach) (7A) (3-1) – 62
17. Clay (Green Cove Springs) (5A) (3-0) – 50
18. Flagler Palm Coast (8A) (2-1) – 34
19. Sandalwood (Jacksonville) (8A) (3-0) – 20
20. Columbia (Lake City) (6A) (0-2) – 18
Also receiving votes: Mainland (Daytona Beach) (6A) (2-1) – 8; Baldwin (3A) (4-0) – 6; Wildwood (1A) (4-0) – 6; Nature Coast Tech (Brooksville) (5A) (2-0) – 5; Forest (Ocala) (7A) (1-1) – 4; Hawthorne (1A) (3-0) – 4; Hilliard (1A) (5-0) -3; West Port (Ocala) (8A) (2-0) – 2.
