Last week was one of the lighter weeks for high school football teams in The Prep Zone Power Poll, as half of the top 10 teams took the week off, so there wasn’t much change at the top.
St. Augustine (6-0) remains atop the poll this week after taking their bye week. The Yellow Jackets earned eight of the 11 first-place votes to stay No. 1. St. Augustine opens play in District 3-4A on Friday at Clay (Green Cove Springs).
Raines (Jacksonville) was in action last week and rolled rival Ribault (Jacksonville), 53-0, in the annual Northwest Classic on Saturday afternoon. The Vikings (5-0) also won their District 3-3A opener against the Trojans and received two first-place votes this week to remain at No. 2.
Buchholz remains at No. 3 as they also rolled rival Gainesville, 44-0. The Bobcats (6-1) won their eighth consecutive city title and beat the Hurricanes for the seventh straight time. Buchholz also earned a first-place vote, and they travel to Tocoi Creek (St. Augustine) in a District 3-6A contest this week.
Bolles (Jacksonville) stays at No. 4. The Bulldogs (5-1) also took the week off.
Rounding out the top five is DeLand. The Bulldogs (6-0) jumped Spruce Creek (Port Orange) as they took care of another rival in No. 16 Mainland (Daytona Beach), 28-20.
Spruce Creek leads off the second five as they had their bye week. Nease (Ponte Vedra) is at No. 7, followed by Mandarin (Jacksonville), Oakleaf (Orange Park) and Columbia (Lake City) to round out the top ten.
Nease and Oakleaf were also off. Mandarin (6-1) dropped a spot despite a 38-0 romp at Rockledge, and Columbia moved up two spots and back into the top after blanking Manatee (Bradenton), 35-0.
Among the Mainstreet Daily News teams in the second 10 are No. 12 Bradford (Starke) and 13th-ranked Hawthorne. Both teams pitched shutouts as the Tornadoes (6-1) blanked Palatka, 36-0, for their fourth shutout of the season, and the Hornets (4-1) returned to the field for the first time in three weeks and eased past Bayshore (Bradenton), 41-0.
Receiving votes is Chiefland (6-1), who blew out Dixie County (Cross City), 63-8.
Ed White (Jacksonville) returns to the rankings this week and tied for 19th with University Christian (Jacksonville). The only team to fall out of last week’s poll is Madison County.
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 #8
(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) (8) (6-0) – 215
2. Raines (Jacksonville) (3A) (2) (5-0) – 206
3. Buchholz (Gainesville) (6A) (1) (6-1) – 199
4. Bolles (Jacksonville) (2A) (5-1) – 183
5. DeLand (7A) (6-0) – 161
6. Spruce Creek (Port Orange) (7A) (5-0) – 159
7. Nease (Ponte Vedra) (6A) (4-2) – 141
8. Mandarin (Jacksonville) (6A) (6-1) – 139
9. Oakleaf (Orange Park) (6A) (5-1) – 126
10. Columbia (Lake City) (4A) (6-1) – 125
11. Vanguard (Ocala) (4A) (6-1) – 123
12. Bradford (Starke) (2A) (6-1) – 111
13. Hawthorne (Rural) (4-1) – 88
14. The Villages (2A) (7-0) – 64
15. South Sumter (Bushnell) (3A) (5-1) – 46
16. Mainland (Daytona Beach) (5A) (4-2) – 41
17. Beachside (St. Johns) (5A) (5-1) – 40
18. East Ridge (Clermont) (7A) (6-0) – 33
19T. Ed White (Jacksonville) (4A) (5-1) – 20
19T. University Christian (Jacksonville) (1A) (5-2) – 20
Also receiving votes: Middleburg (5A) (6-0) – 14; Ponte Vedra (5A) (4-2) – 14; Taylor County (Perry) (Rural) (6-0) – 14; Chiefland (Rural) (6-1) – 11; Madison County (Rural) (2-4) – 8; Lafayette (Mayo) (Rural) (6-1) – 7; Bishop Kenny (Jacksonville) (3A) (4-2) – 6; Yulee (3A) (6-0) – 6; Tavares (3A) (4-2) -1; Trinity Christian (Jacksonville) (1A) (2-4) – 1.