Jacksonville schools Andrew Jackson, Impact Christian hold top spots
GAINESVILLE — The holiday season is over, which is amongst the busiest of the year in high school boys basketball with a plethora of holiday tournaments.
Meanwhile, the race to the top of The Prep Zone Power Poll has tightened up.
Andrew Jackson (Jacksonville), which is ranked sixth overall in Florida in the latest FHSAA rankings, suffered its first loss of the season, 62-60, to then-No. 3 Impact Christian Academy (Jacksonville). However, that’s the only loss of the season for the Class 3A Tigers, who are 19-1 and picked up wins over No. 9 Mainland (Daytona Beach), No. 10 Fleming Island (Orange Park), and then-No. 9 Ribault (Jacksonville).
That was enough to keep Andrew Jackson on top of the latest all-classification regional rankings as the Tigers received five of the 10 first-place votes to remain No. 1.
Class 1A No. 1 Impact Christian, which is No. 7 overall in Florida, received the other five first-place votes, but the Tigers edged the Lions (17-2), 195-193, in total voting points despite the head-to-head loss.
The Lions also defeated Fleming Island and Rickards (Tallahassee) with their only loss in the last month coming to a team from Texas.
Class 2A Providence (Jacksonville) moved up to 3rd.
The Stallions (16-3) defeated No. 6 Bishop Kenny (Jacksonville), along with RV Raines (Jacksonville), RV University Christian (Jacksonville) and RV St. Augustine. Their only loss came to Grayson, a state-ranked team in Georgia.
The Villages, which is ranked No. 9 in Class 3A and 18th in the state, fell two spots to 4th.
The Buffalo (12-5) lost four games since the last poll, which ranks the top 20 teams across 26 counties, but those losses were to a team from New York and Georgia, with a two-point loss to nationally-ranked Bartow and another setback to Montverde Academy.
Newberry rounds out the top five.
The 3A Panthers (12-1) finally lost a game, falling to defending 4A state champion Stranahan (Fort Lauderdale) at the Kingdom of the Sun in Ocala, but finished third in that tournament and also defeated Dr. Phillips (Orlando), No. 8 North Marion (Citra), No.12 Williston, RV Atlantic (Port Orange), and P.K. Yonge (Gainesville).
Bishop Kenny leads off the second five.
The Crusaders (16-3) only lost one game since the last poll, to Providence, and defeated No. 15 Nease (Ponte Vedra), RV Atlantic Coast (Jacksonville), Fletcher (Neptune Beach), and Menendez (St. Augustine).
Tocoi Creek (St. Augustine) dropped a couple of spots to No. 7, and North Marion is up seven spots to No. 8.
Mainland (Daytona Beach), unranked in the previous poll, moved all the way up to ninth after a 15-2 start with one of those losses by three points to top-ranked Andrew Jackson. Fleming Island (Orange Park) rounds out the top 10.
San Jose Prep (Jacksonville) and Episcopal (Jacksonville) also moved in this week at No. 19 and 20, respectively, along with Wildwood, which is tied for 16th with New Smyrna Beach.
Dropping out from the previous poll are Ribault, Leesburg, Buchholz (Gainesville), Hawthorne, and Atlantic.
The Prep Zone Power Poll ranks the top 20 high school football, girls basketball, boys basketball, softball & baseball 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 by sportswriters and sportscasters and it is powered by Be Well Fitness of Gainesville.
THE PREP ZONE POWER POLL – 2025-26 BOYS BASKETBALL POLL #3
(School, followed by classification, first-place votes, record through Jan. 13, and total voting points)
1. Andrew Jackson (Jacksonville) (3A) (5) (19-1) – 195
2. Impact Christian Academy (Jacksonville) (1A) (5) (17-2) – 193
3. Providence (Jacksonville) (2A) (16-3) – 179
4. The Villages (3A) (12-5) – 157
5. Newberry (3A) (12-1) – 154
6. Bishop Kenny (Jacksonville) (4A) (16-3) – 133
7. Tocoi Creek (St. Augustine) (6A) (14-4) – 132
8. North Marion (Citra) (4A) (12-2) – 95
9. Mainland (Daytona Beach) (6A) (15-2) – 94
10. Fleming Island (Orange Park) (5A) (13-6) – 82
11. Ponte Vedra (5A) (11-5) – 78
12. Williston (Rural) (11-4) – 70
13. Eustis (4A) (12-4) – 65
14. Forest (Ocala) (6A) (12-5) – 58
15. Nease (Ponte Vedra) (6A) (14-4) – 56
16T. New Smyrna Beach (5A) (15-3) – 42
16T. Wildwood (Rural) (17-2) – 42
18. Bradford (Starke) (3A) (11-1) – 37
19. San Jose Prep (Jacksonville) (2A) (15-3) – 36
20. Episcopal (Jacksonville) (3A) (15-3) – 35
Also receiving votes: Buchholz (Gainesville) (6A) (11-5) – 28; Baker County (Glen St. Mary) (4A) (17-1) – 24; Trenton (Rural) (12-4) – 22; Leesburg (5A) (10-6) – 16; Hawthorne (Rural) (4-3) – 15; Atlantic (Port Orange) (4A) (12-6) – 14; St. Augustine (5A) (10-4) – 12; Atlantic Coast (Jacksonville) (7A) (14-5) – 10; Vanguard (Ocala) (5A) (12-6) – 10; Columbia (Lake City) (5A) (10-8) – 8; Lecanto (5A) (11-4) – 5; Ribault (Jacksonville) (4A) (9-8) – 5; University Christian (Jacksonville) (2A) (8-6) – 3.
