To be perfectly honest, I take great pride in an important and popular aspect of our fall football season here at RCN.<\/p>\n
For quite some time, I was given the responsibility of putting together the District XI\/RCN HS Football Poll, and I have enjoyed building this into what I believe is the most comprehensive scholastic football poll in the region.<\/p>\n
Unlike polls that consist of a couple representatives within the same organization, our poll is much more varied with input from many different people over a wider scope.\u00a0 Our voting panel consists of local media members from different outlets, along with local coaches and athletic directors from across the entire district.\u00a0 The voters are not identified so they can give their honest impressions without any worry of outside pressures or \u201cbulletin board\u201d material, and we rotate different pollsters from different schools each year, including guests from our biggest to our smallest schools.<\/p>\n
As in previous years, we take the 400-male enrollment number as the cutoff for schools within the District XI\/RCN footprint.\u00a0 All schools above that number qualify as \u201cbig schools\u201d in our poll. The \u201cBig Schools\u201d consist of Parkland, Liberty, Allen, Easton, Emmaus, Liberty, Dieruff, Freedom, Stroudsburg, Pleasant Valley, Northampton, Nazareth, E. Stroudsburg-South, Whitehall, Southern Lehigh and Bangor.\u00a0 The \u201cSmall Schools\u201d (below 400-male enrollment) consist of Saucon Valley, Central Catholic, Bethlehem Catholic, Northwestern, Wilson, Palisades, Palmerton, Salisbury, Notre Dame, Pen Argyl, Northern Lehigh and Catasauqua.\u00a0 Each pollster will identify their top five teams in each group\u2014the top school gets five points, the second team gets four points and so on, with an average score determining the order of teams in the poll.<\/p>\n
With the particulars out of the way, here\u2019s a look at how our preseason poll shakes out\u2026<\/p>\n
BIG SCHOOL FB Poll<\/strong> (10 pollsters) Other schools receiving more than one vote:\u00a0 Emmaus, Stroudsburg<\/p>\n SMALL SCHOOLS FB Poll<\/strong> (9 pollsters) Other schools receiving more than one vote: Notre Dame, Pen Argyl, Salisbury<\/p>\n I have a few initial thoughts on this poll, which we\u2019ll be addressing in much more detail on this week\u2019s \u201cRCN SportsTalk.\u201d\u00a0 One thought is that Emmaus looks to be flying under the radar so far this preseason.\u00a0 They did not have a great 2014 season and graduated a number of skilled position players, including one of the top all-around football stars (Andrew Davidson) in the area.\u00a0 However, they have added a new quarterback (who has shown great ability in the preseason workouts), they have their entire offensive line returning, and their JV team from a year ago had a TON of speed that should be showcased at the varsity level this fall.\u00a0 Don\u2019t be surprised if the Hornets move up into one of the \u201ctop five\u201d positions at some point this season.<\/p>\n Some may be surprised to see Central Catholic ranked lower than they usually are in previous years.\u00a0 Without asking any of the pollsters, I believe a major reason for this is the Vikings schedule.\u00a0 For the second year in a row, they really get hammered out of the gate, playing several of the top five teams (all large school programs) in the first half of the season.\u00a0 Central Catholic has its work cut out for them to stay even this year, and will probably have to pull off an upset or two in order to make a run at the playoffs this season.\u00a0 That being said, the Vikings have some nice pieces returning from last year and still could have a better record this fall than they did a year ago.<\/p>\n Another team to watch out for is Salisbury.\u00a0 After several years of finishing at or near the bottom of the Colonial League standings, they very quietly put together a nice 2014 campaign and bring back many talented players this fall.\u00a0 They were one of the schools we interviewed over the last week and the Falcons coaches and players seem determined to continue improving, both on the field in and in our poll.<\/p>\n
\n1) Parkland \u2013 50 total votes ( 10 -1st<\/sup> place votes)
\n2\u2014tied) Easton — 28
\n2\u2014tied) Freedom — 28
\n4)\u00a0 Liberty — 16
\n5)\u00a0 Whitehall \u2013 11<\/p>\n
\n1) \u00a0Bethlehem Catholic \u2013 43 total votes (8\u00a0 -1st<\/sup> place votes)
\n2) \u00a0Saucon Valley \u2013 36 (1 \u2013 1st<\/sup> place vote)
\n3) \u00a0Northern Lehigh — 20
\n4) \u00a0Central Catholic — 11
\n5) \u00a0Northwestern \u2013 10<\/p>\n