BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Union County High School, which had a bye week, maintained its spot atop the Florida High School Athletic Association/MaxPreps Rural Class power rankings, while Bradford fell from first to third in Class 2A after its 21-7 loss to Newberry on Oct. 11.
Rankings, which take into account results and strength of schedule, are updated weekly and will be used to determine playoff qualifiers and seeding.
Union (6-0) was second in the inaugural Rural Class rankings that were released Sept. 24, but the Tigers have been number one in each of the updated rankings since then.
The Top 16 Rural Class teams at the end of the season qualify for the playoffs. Ranking behind Union in descending order are Hawthorne (5-1), Madison County (4-2), Jay (7-1), Chiefland (6-1), Cottondale (7-0), Chipley (6-1), Aucilla Christian (7-0), Pahokee (4-2), Fort White (4-2), Williston (4-2), Jefferson County (6-1), Holmes County (5-2), Franklin County (6-1), Blountstown (4-2) and Baker (6-2).
The biggest changes in the top 16 from the previous rankings were Cottondale dropping from second to sixth and Madison County moving up from seventh to third.
Though Bradford (6-1) fell in Class 2A overall, it still maintained its number-one ranking in Region 2. The top eight teams in each of the class’ four regions (including automatic-qualifying district champions) will advance to the playoffs.
Ranking behind Bradford in Region 2 are Newberry (5-2), Cocoa (3-3), Palatka (4-3), Clearwater Calvary Christian (3-2), Tampa Berkeley Prep (3-3), The Villages (4-2) and Titusville Astronaut (5-2).
In looking at Class 2A as a whole, the Tornadoes are now third behind Gadsden County (6-1) and Sarasota Cardinal Mooney (6-0). The rest of the top 10 behind Bradford are Pensacola Catholic (6-1), Bolles (6-1), Fort Myers Bishop Verot (4-2), Newberry, Taylor County (6-1), West Palm Beach King’s Academy (7-0) and Marianna (8-0).
Bradford was ranked fourth in the previous poll when combining all classifications (Rural-7A), but has since dropped to 21st.
