January 12 – It’s been two weeks and we’re back with our second poll of the season! So much has changed in January – which is exactly why we decided to only compile our poll every other week. Things got a little topsy turvy with multiple teams on our prior Top 15 taking losses and many other middle of the pack teams advanced to jump up to top team contention.
Our new top team is Burlington who riding one heck of a hot streak with eight consecutive wins, two of them against Top 15 teams. Our new #2 team is the Spartans of St. Mary’s Lynn who hold the distinction of being the only team remaining in D1 who have not suffered a defeat. They are followed by burly Xaverian who maintains their three spot: they went 3-1 over the last two weeks and took down prior #1 BC High. The Eagles check in at #4 after two tough losses, one to Xaverian and the other to a galvanized Catholic Memorial squad. Down to #5 is Framingham who took BC High to the wire and beat a strong Braintree squad over the past two weeks.
Next up is the Spyponders of Arlington at #6 who have only played six games so far and beat two Top 15 teams already on their schedule. Next up is the giant-slaying St. John’s Prep who had a great two weeks: taking down the likes of Xaverian and Framingham. At #8 is Central Catholic who took down Hingham on January 4 and is one of six 6-win teams in D1. Speaking of 6-win teams, Catholic Memorial enters our poll for the first time at #9 having defeated St. John’s Prep and BC High, going undefeated in their last five games. Rounding out the Top 10 is the young and talented Austin Prep squad who took down Central Catholic and tied a senior-led Bishop Fenwick team.
Our #11 team is the fast and opportunistic squad from Pope Francis, who is undefeated over their last three after playing a tough opening set of games in December. At 12 comes speedy Braintree who went 2-2-0 over the past two weeks and went to the wire against Hingham. Speaking of the hulking Harbormen, they won a gritty game against Braintree and they also went 2-2-0 over the past two weeks. Next comes a new entry to our poll in the Tanners of Woburn who split their games down the middle at 2-2-2 but they tied a very good Arlington team in the process. Finally at 15 is our mainstay in the Reading Rockets who finished the week at .500 but the stacked Middlesex league has not been an easy schedule to play.
Unlike most polls: we like to keep our list to 15, but don’t worry…we also included a section below highlighting The Next Five: teams who just missed the cut. There is a great deal of season left and these are teams you will likely see jump up into our poll at some point if they remain on their current trajectory…
Editor’s Note: We took into account strength of schedule, wins against fellow Top 15 teams and recent record (i.e. games over the last two weeks). We have personally scouted all but one of these Top 15 teams but we plan to cross the final squad off our list shortly…
- Burlington 8-1-0 def Hingham & Reading [5-0-0]🔺
- St. Mary’s Lynn 8-0-1 def Austin Prep [4-0-0]🔺
- Xaverian 6-1-2 def BC High & Duxbury, tie Austin Prep & Framingham [3-1-0]
- BC High 5-2-1 def Framingham & Central Catholic, tie St. John’s Prep [2-2-0]🔻
- Framingham 6-2-2 def Braintree & Pope Francis, tie Xaverian [2-2-0]🔻
- Arlington 4-1-1 def Reading, tie Woburn [2-0-1]🔻
- St. John’s Prep 4-2-2 def Xaverian, Framingham, Pope Francis, tie BC High [2-1-1]🔺
- Central Catholic 6-3-1 def Hingham & Pope Francis [2-2-0]🔻
- Catholic Memorial 6-3-2 def St. John’s Prep & BC High [4-0-1] NR
- Austin Prep 4-3-2 def Central Catholic & Hingham, tie Xaverian & B. Fenwick [2-1-1] 🔻
- Pope Francis 5-5-1 def Austin Prep & Arlington [2-0-1]🔻
- Braintree 5-2-1 [2-2-0]🔻
- Hingham 5-4-0 def Braintree, def St. John’s Prep [2-2-0] 🔻
- Woburn 4-2-2 def Burlington, tie Arlington [2-2-2] NR
- Reading 3-3-0 def Woburn [1-2-0]
The Next Five:
- Duxbury 4-2-2 [1-1-1]
- Bishop Fenwick 4-4-1 tie Austin Prep [1-2-1]
- Falmouth 6-3-0 [2-1-0]
- King Philip 6-3-0 [2-2-0]
- Barnstable 5-2-1 [3-0-1]
