As the high school football season barrels forward to the halfway point, it’s been an interesting season at the top of The Prep Zone Power Poll.
And this week there’s a change at the very top.
St. Augustine (5-0) won a back-and-forth battle at No. 5 Nease (Ponte Vedra), 28-24, avenging a loss to the Panthers (4-1) from a year ago. The Yellow Jackets already own a win at No. 3 Bolles (Jacksonville), and with this win, move to the top of the poll as they received six of the 10 first-place votes.
St. Augustine faces another tough test this week in their District 3-4A opener, hosting another unbeaten team, seventh-ranked Columbia (Lake City).
Raines (Jacksonville) was off this past week and drops a spot to No. 2. The Vikings (3-0) garnered the other four first-place votes this week.
Bolles stays put at No. 3 despite handing then-No. 6 Oakleaf (Orange Park) a 38-6 beatdown on the Knights’ field. Oakleaf (4-1) drops out of the top 10 to 11th after the loss.
Buchholz (Gainesville) moves up a spot to No. 4. The Bobcats (4-1) once again avenged a loss from 2024, beating Richmond Hill, Georgia, 21-0, in a game called a halftime due to weather. Buchholz has a chance to finish off the revenge tour this Friday as it hosts Nease in its District 3-6A opener.
Nease rounds out the top five.
Spruce Creek (Port Orange) leads off the second five. The Hawks (5-0) held off Titusville, 29-22, to stay unbeaten, and also open their District 2-7A schedule this week, hosting another unbeaten in No. 8T DeLand.
Columbia moves up two spots this week to No. 7 after holding off RV (receiving votes) Trinity Christian (Jacksonville), 27-20. As said earlier, the Tigers (5-0) hit the road for a huge district game at St. Augustine on Friday.
DeLand is tied for No. 8 with Mandarin (Jacksonville). The Mustangs (4-1) dropped their first game of 2025 as they were blown out at home 57-7 by the top-ranked team in the nation, IMG Academy (Bradenton).
Vanguard (Ocala) rounds out the top 10. The Knights (4-1) won their fourth game in a row since an opening-week loss at Buchholz, knocking off Marion County rival Dunnellon, 20-7.
Among the Mainstreet Daily News area teams in the second 10 are 12th-ranked Bradford (Starke) and No. 14 Hawthorne. The Tornadoes (4-1) rebounded from their first loss of the season at Mandarin last week and knocked off then-No. 20 Eastside (Gainesville), 28-7.
Hawthorne (3-1) was off last week and is off this week as well.
Chiefland and Santa Fe (Alachua) both are receiving votes.
Taylor County (Perry) is the only team to move into the rankings this week. The Bulldogs (5-0) won 35-6 at Destin last week.
Eastside is the only team to drop out of the poll from last week.
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 weekly by sportswriters and sportscasters and it is powered by Anytime Fitness of Gainesville.
THE PREP ZONE POWER POLL – 2025 FOOTBALL POLL #6
(School, followed by classification, first-place votes, current record, and total voting points)
Teams in the Mainstreet Daily News coverage area are in bold
1. St. Augustine (4A) (6) (5-0) – 194
2. Raines (Jacksonville) (3A) (4) (3-0) – 187
3. Bolles (Jacksonville) (2A) (4-1) – 181
4. Buchholz (Gainesville) (6A) (4-1) – 168
5. Nease (Ponte Vedra) (6A) (4-1) – 153
6. Spruce Creek (Port Orange) (7A) (5-0) – 143
7. Columbia (Lake City) (4A) (5-0) – 133
8T. DeLand (7A) (5-0) – 117
8T. Mandarin (Jacksonville) (6A) (4-1) – 117
10. Vanguard (Ocala) (4A) (4-1) – 112
11. Oakleaf (Orange Park) (6A) (4-1) – 108
12. Bradford (Starke) (2A) (4-1) – 97
13. Mainland (Daytona Beach) (5A) (3-1) – 77
14. Hawthorne (Rural) (3-1) – 73
15. Ed White (Jacksonville) (4A) (4-0) – 55
16. University Christian (Jacksonville) (1A) (4-1) – 36
17. South Sumter (Bushnell) (3A) (4-1) – 33
18. Beachside (St. Johns) (5A) (4-1) – 29
19. The Villages (2A) (5-0) – 27
20. Taylor County (Perry) (Rural) (5-0) – 12
Also receiving votes: Middleburg (5A) (5-0) – 11; Madison County (Rural) (2-3) – 10; Yulee (3A) (5-0) – 7; Chiefland (Rural) (4-1) – 5; South Lake (Groveland) (6A) (4-1) – 5; Ponte Vedra (5A) (3-2) – 3; East Ridge (Clermont) (7A) (5-0) – 2; Santa Fe (Alachua) (3A) (4-0) – 2; Trinity Christian (Jacksonville) (1A) (1-4) – 1.