HS: Boca Raton surges to No. 1 in Florida

by Sheldon Shealer

February 24, 2020

Perfection is within view for two highly ranked boys teams -- St. Paul's (La.) and Boca Raton (Fla.).

For St. Paul's, this isn't much of a surprise. The program basically rolls through its instate competition, leaving its national ranking hinging on results at out-of-state events. A 3-0 run at the Tampa Invitational set up St. Paul's for a perfect season as the team enters this week's state final with a 28-0 record.

A bit more on the surprising side, Boca Raton has delivered a masterful 27-0 season to arrive in this week's state final against [Boone flm] (Fla.). Boca Raton was a fixture in the SIMA FAB 50 rankings during the early and mid-2010s, but recently took a backseat to other South Florida programs. One more win will secure a perfect season and surely set up the team for a Top 5 final ranking as the Texas schools play out their season.

All 14 regional No. 1 teams held their ranking this week, and the only state No. 1 changes included Boca Raton moving to the top of the Florida boys rankings and Flower Mound (Texas) inheriting the Texas girls top spot.

This week, Arizona, Florida and Louisiana crown state champions, leaving only the California regionals and Texas to close out the 2019-2020 winter season.

The state No. 1s this week are Sunnyside (Ariz.), Montgomery (Calif.), Boca Raton (Fla.), Punahou (Hawaii), St. Paul's (La.), Ocean Springs (Miss.) and San Antonio LEE (Texas) for boys and Chaparral (Ariz.), Upland (Calif.), Montverde Academy (Fla.), Kamehameha-Kapalama (Hawaii), Northshore (La.), Gulfport (Miss.) and Flower Mound (Texas) for girls.