There’s a new No. 1 in 7A as 1st tri-county football championships are fast approaching
The final week of the regular season is here for high school football in South Florida, which means the first ever tri-county championships are fast approaching.
Teams across Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties will make their final cases this weekend to try to make one of the six postseason brackets, and there’s movement at the top of one of the three media-run polls.
Atlantic is the new No. 1 team in Class 7A after the Eagles picked up a second blowout win Friday. Atlantic’s only loss to TRU Prep Academy, so the Eagles vault past Plantation for the top spot for now. Dwyer and South Plantation round out the top four after winning last week.
In Class 8A, Columbus reigns supreme after blowing out North Miami Beach, 35-0, on Friday. Western, meanwhile, sticks at No. 2 and Deerfield Beach sits at No. 3 after finally opening its season Saturday with a 34-0 rout of Blanche Ely. South Dade rounds out the top four after beating Coral Gables, 14-3, on Friday.
The final division rounds up all the schools normally playing in Classes 1A-6A and Killian hangs on to the top spot, followed by Dillard and Glades Central. Undefeated Hallandale joins the top four this week.
In each division, 16 teams will make the playoffs, split across two brackets. The “Gold Championships” will feature the two top-ranked teams from each county plus two at-large teams and the “Silver Championships” will feature the next two teams from each county plus two more at-large berths.
Rankings are updated every Tuesday by a panel of media members from across the Miami metropolitan area, featuring Miami Herald sports reporter David Wilson, Sun-Sentinel high school sports beat writer Adam Lichtenstein, The Palm Beach Post sports content editor Phillip Suitts, longtime Florida high school sports guru Larry Blustein, and Herald contributors Bill Daley and Dave Brousseau. Daley and Brousseau are co-chairmen of the rankings committee.
Rankings update every Tuesday and next week will be the final batch, determining the postseason brackets.
Every public school from across the three counties will be eligible, with the exceptions of Palmetto, Homestead, Miami Central, Northwestern and Edison, all of whom decided to opt into the Florida High School Athletic Association’s state series, and a handful of other independents from Miami-Dade County. Most private-school powerhouses — including reigning state champions St. Thomas Aquinas, Chaminade-Madonna and Champagnat Catholic — will not participate, instead playing for FHSAA state titles.
Here’s the penultimate batch of rankings, which only includes teams eligible for the tri-county tournaments:
Class 8A
- Columbus (4-0)
- Western (1-0)
- Deerfield Beach (1-0)
- South Dade (3-0)
- Park Vista (3-0)
- Monarch (3-0)
- Stoneman Douglas (2-0)
- Jupiter (3-0)
- Palm Beach Gardens (1-2)
- Coral Gables (2-1)
- Boca Raton (2-1)
- Miami (2-1)
- Forest Hill (1-1)
- Coral Glades (2-1)
- Palm Beach Central (0-1)
- West Broward (1-0)
Also considered: Flanagan, Coral Springs, Wellington Piper
Class 7A
- Atlantic (2-1)
- Plantation (1-1)
- Dwyer (3-0)
- South Plantation (1-1_
- Blanche Ely (2-1)
- Miramar (1-1)
- Seminole Ridge (1-1)
- Fort Lauderdale (0-1)
- Royal Palm Beach (1-2)
- American (1-2)
- North Miami (1-1)
- South Broward (1-1)
- Everglades (1-1)
- Olympic Heights (1-1)
- Hialeah (0-3)
- McArthur (0-3)
Also considered: Miami Beach, Palm Beach Lakes
Classes 6A-1A
- Killian (3-1)
- Dillard (2-0)
- Glades Central (3-0)
- Hallandale (1-0)
- North Miami Beach (2-2)
- Carol City (2-2)
- Coconut Creek (2-0)
- South Miami (3-0)
- Booker T. Washington (0-2)
- Norland (1-2)
- Stranahan (1-1)
- Pahokee (1-2)
- Suncoast (2-1)
- Miami Springs (2-1)
- Boynton Beach (2-1)
- Coral Springs (1-1)
Also considered: Southridge, Jackson
Girls’ volleyball
▪ Hialeah Gardens d. Barbara Goleman (25-8, 25-7, 25-3): Led by Yi Kaylin with 17 assist, 8 aces, 3 digs; Sabrina Cabrera 15 kills, 4 aces, 2 blocks; and Caitlyn Ray 2 kills, 2 aces, 3 assists.
Boys’ soccer
▪ Miami Country Day (1-0) 1, LaSalle (0-1) 0: Max Manhire assisted Enzo LaGrasse for the lone goal in the second half. MCDS’s goalkeeper Julian Kahan made 13 saves and recorded his first shutout.
Girls’ basketball
▪ Palmer Trinity School 80, SLAM 47: PTS — Leon 17, Montes 20, Kaplan 11, Lindsay 8, Porto 18, Deleon 6. Halftime: PTS 46; SLAM 29. 3’s: Montes 4, Leon 3, Kaplan 3, Deleon 2. Rebounds: Porto 12. STs: Montes 10. AS: Leon 5. Blk: Porto 2.
▪ Colonial Christian 22, Archbishop Carroll 18: Destiny Sanchez 8 pts, 8 rebounds; Jaida St. Germain 8 pts, 5 rebounds.
Bowling
▪ Krop girls 7, Hialeah-Miami Lakes 0: Lindsey Weingard (K) 190 game, 451 series; Sophia Palmeiro (K) 153, 384. Petric Carelo (HML) 228 game.
▪ Hialeah-Miami Lakes boys: Isiah Marcelin 130, Sean Velarde 128.
This story was originally published November 18, 2020 at 11:28 AM.
