Monday, October 15, 2018

MIAA Football: Top 25 Poll Week Six


St. John's Prep dominated BC High on Saturday afternoon to remain at No. 4 in our poll.

By Matt Feld (@Mattyfeld612)

It was a pretty status quo week across the MIAA Football landscape with a majority of teams in our top 25 holding serve.

There were a couple of exceptions. Needham took its first loss of the year to Milton despite a big night from Matt Smith dropping them down to No. 9 in our poll. Speaking of Milton, the Wildcats make their first appearance in our poll this season at No. 23.

Duxbury, meanwhile, moves into the top five as it continues to roll. Springfield Central makes the biggest move of the week, surging up to to No. 15 following a blowout win over Westfield.

Central Catholic continued its steady rise back towards the upper-echelon with another impressive performance in a win over Methuen.

Now, here is our brand new MIAA Football Top 25 Poll as selected by our panel of writers, correspondents, and editors.

1. Everett (6-0; Last Week: 1)  Everett defeated Medford for the 27th consecutive time on Friday night. You have to go back to the 

2. Xaverian (4-1; Last Week: 2) Despite the bye-week, Xaverian still emerged with a victory. With Needham's loss to Milton, the Hawks can grab the one seed in Div. 1 South with a win Friday versus BC High.  


3. North Andover (6-0; Last Week: 3) Pick-your-poisin with his offense. It was Freddy Gabin's turn to shine this week as the Scarlet Knights clinched a share of the MVC Small. 


4. St. John's Prep (5-1; Last Week: 4) St. John's Prep's defense was already playing at a high level. Then Colton Tangney returned from injury and it became that much better. 

5. Duxbury (6-0; Last Week: 7) The Dragons are all but a lock for the top seed in Div. 3 South after another lopsided victory - this one over Quincy. Could John Roberts be a player of the year candidate...

6. Mansfield (5-1; Last Week: 6) Mansfield continues to check all the boxes of a Super Bowl favorite, this time stringing together a game-winning drive to hold off Attleboro and claim a share of the Hockomock Kelly-Rex.

7. Acton-Boxboro (6-0; Last Week: 8) With its 35-0 win over Waltham, Acton-Boxboro is now averaging just over 32 PPG. They have a chance to secure at least the No. 2 seed in Div. 1 North with a win this week.  

8. Lincoln-Sudbury (5-1; Last Week: 9) Tom Lopez will be going for win No. 300 when Wayland comes to town on Friday.

9. Needham (5-1; Last Week: 5) Matt Smith's monster night was for naught as the Rockets missed multiple opportunities and came up short for the first time this season versus Milton.

10. Doherty (6-0; Last Week: 10) Going to be interesting to see how the Highlanders respond once the competition picks up come the postseason.

11. Natick (4-2; Last Week: 13) The odds were that whenever Angel Lebron touched the football on Friday, his next destination was the end zone. 

12. Catholic Memorial (4-2; Last Week: 12) Knights escaped with a road win over Billerica on Friday, but are still in search of their early-season rhyhtm.


13. Mashpee (4-0; Last Week: 12) Teams should probably stop throwing in Devaun Ford's direction.


14. King Philip (4-2; Last Week: 15) King Philip struggled early, but had its offense come to life once again in a win over Oliver Ames. The Warriors are averaging 33 PPG over the last three weeks.

15. Springfield Central (5-1; Last Week: 21) Springfield Central receives a well deserved rise in our poll this week after defeating Westfield with ease, 41-0. They sure look like the clear-cut favorite to make it to Gillette. 

16. St. John's Shrewsbury (4-2; Last Week: 16) Pioneers are mostly known for their offense, but last week it was their defense that did the trick as they held off a scrappy Shepherd Hill team.


17. Shrewsbury (5-1; Last Week: 17) Just 40 more points for a Shrewsbury team that has the weapons to go a long way. 

18. Central Catholic (3-2; Last Week: 23) Chuck Adamopolous' young Raiders continue to just get better and better. They took care of Methuen on Friday to position themselves for another MVC Large title. 

19. Hingham (4-1; Last Week: 18) Despite injuries aplenty on both sides of the field, still a quality bounce back win for the Harbormen over Plymouth North following a a tough loss to Duxbury.

20. Tewksbury (4-1; Last Week: 19) Redmen have a chance at the No. 1 seed in Div. 3 North if they can knock off Dracut this week in what is sure to be a battle.

21. Brockton (3-2; Last Week: 20) Back on track with a win over Durfee, the Boxers can enter the postseason as a threat if they can take care of business this week versus New Bedford. 

22. Stoneham (6-0; Last Week: 21) Spartans continue to steamroll the competition. They have 34 points or more in all six of their games thus far. 

23. Milton (5-1; Last Week: NR) Milton makes its way into our poll for the first time this season courtesy of a huge win over Needham that moves them into first place in the Bay State Herget. 


24. Nashoba (6-0; Last Week: 24) With the way they have made so far this season, would be a surprise to many if the Chieftains did not end up at Gillette. 

25. Falmouth (5-0; Last Week: 25) No Jake Murphy? No problem for the Clippers who are in line to lock-up the top spot in Div. 5 South heading into postseason play.

First 10 out: Marblehead (6-0), Lynn English (5-1) North Attleboro (4-2), Danvers (5-1), Whitman-Hanson (4-2), Barnstable (4-2), Pope John (5-0), Methuen (4-2), Walpole (4-2),  

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