HS: JSerra, Montverde start No. 1

by Sheldon Shealer

November 29, 2017

One team hasn't lost in seven years. The other team has 18 elite club players with six early verbals to national title-contending college programs.

That combination makes Montverde Academy (Montverde, Fla.) boys and JSerra (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) girls easy calls as TopDrawerSoccer.com Preseason No. 1 teams.

Although the TopDrawerSoccer FAB 50 Winter rankings have been published now for a few weeks, this is the first real push on the expanded information, including state and regional rankings for the winter season and capsules on the Top 25 teams. The preseason rankings were published before matches were played, and no results from the early part of the seasons in Florida, Mississippi or Louisiana have been factored into the rankings.

Starting next week, the state, region and FAB 50 will be released every week, with the state and region rankings on Mondays and the FAB 50 on Tuesdays.

Montverde Academy has an undefeated streak that stands at 157 matches entering the season, and is now well above 160 with the team's early undefeated start. Sam Houston (Arlington, Texas) and Brophy Prep (Phoenix, Ariz.) start in the No. 2 and 3 positions for the boys. Among the key boys events this winter will be the Lotto Western Showcase in San Clemente, Calif., Dec. 14-16 and the North Texas Showcase between Jan. 4-6. Both events feature nationally ranked teams from from multiple states. Not to be slighted, there are several quality winter men's events, including the AZ Showcase in Arizona and Oceanside College Showcase in San Diego, Calif.

The girls usher in a new era as the Girls Development Academy will pull hundreds of players out of the high school ranks. No where will this be more impactful than Southern California, which has 13 GDA programs -- many of them in or pulling from Orange County. By contrast, there are only five in all of Texas, six in the northern part of California and six in all of Florida.

CLICK BELOW FOR THE COMPLETE WINTER HIGH SCHOOL RANKINGS

WINTER FAB 50 RANKINGS: BOYS (Nov. 1-PRESEASON) | GIRLS (Nov. 1-PRESEASON)

WINTER REGION RANKINGS: BOYS (Nov. 1-PRESEASON) | GIRLS (Nov. 1-PRESEASON)

WINTER STATE RANKINGS: BOYS (Nov. 1-PRESEASON) | GIRLS (Nov. 1-PRESEASON)