Football: LaSalle Remains No. 1, NK Still Winless

Unsurprisingly, La Salle remains at the top of Rhode Island Sports Media football poll following a 38-21 victory against No. 5 Portsmouth.

The Rams received all 12 first place votes. Rounding out the top five are Cranston West, East Providence and Hendricken. The Falcons beat the Townies, causing a flip-flop in the poll, and Hendricken moved up a spot thanks to a tough 21-20 win against No. 11 South Kingstown.

Barrington stayed at No. 6, with an easy victory against North Kingstown. South Kingstown dropped two spots, to No. 11, following the loss to Hendricken.

Rogers remains the highest ranked Division III team, at No. 12. The Vikings destroyed Lincoln 41-6. Division III Narragansett also made it into the poll, at No. 15, thanks to a 7-0 shutout of Middletown. The Islanders dropped from receiving 25 points in Week Two to none this week.

Although their records are nearly opposite, Johnston and Mt. Hope are bunched up at No. 13 and No. 14. Johnston has won all three of its games, but against bad competition. Mt. Hope has won just a single game, but played all three of its games against ranked teams.

FULL RESULTS

Rank

Team

Points

Last Week

1

La Salle

240

1

2

Cranston West

228

3

3

East Providence

208

2

4

Hendricken

195

5

5

Portsmouth

179

4

6

Barrington

173

6

7

Central

161

8

8

West Warwick

157

7

9

Tolman

142

11

10

Westerly

131

t-9

11

South Kingstown

119

t-9

12

Rogers

98

t-13

13

Johnston

88

15

14

Mount Hope

76

16

15

Narragansett

48

NR

16

St. Raphael

47

NR

17

Chariho

44

t-18

18

Exeter-West Greenwich

42

t-18

19

Ponaganset

41

12

20

Moses Brown

15

20

Dropped out: Cranston East (t-13), Cumberland (17).

Also receiving votes: Cumberland (10), Central Falls (9), Classical (9), Cranston East (9), East Greenwich (9), Tiverton (8), Mount Pleasant (7), Woonsocket (3) and Lincoln (1).

PATCH BALLOT

Rank

Team

Last Week

Media Rank

1

La Salle

2

1

2

Cranston West

3

2

3

East Providence

1

3

4

Barrington

10

6

5

Hendricken

7

4

6

Portsmouth

8

5

7

Westerly

4

10

8

West Warwick

5

8

9

South Kingstown

6

11

10

Central

11

7

11

Rogers

18

12

12

Johnston

12

13

13

Tolman

14

9

14

Mt. Hope

15

14

15

Chariho

17

17

16

Ponaganset

9

19

17

Narragansett

NR

15

18

Classical

NR

NR

19

EWG

NR

18

20

Tiverton

NR

NR

Voting for Patch is done by Narragansett Local Editor Stephen Greenwell. Some notes on my ballot:

The top six were pretty easy calls. La Salle and Cranston West are undefeated in Division I, but the Rams have played a slightly tougher schedule. From there, East Providence and Barrington are paired together to me, with Hendricken and Portsmouth on the third tier.

If South Kingstown had beat Hendricken, I would have flip-flopped them with the Hawks in the rankings.

Although they’re Division II teams, Westerly and West Warwick have been dominant in early season play. Central has as well, but against weaker competition.

Rogers comes in at No. 11 on my ballot, and the top-ranked Division III team. The Vikings have had a weaker schedule overall, but their only loss is to No. 1 La Salle.

Johnston has the same problem as Central, but worse. Central hasn’t allowed a point yet this year, but against teams that are 1-7 overall. Johnston is winning games by an average of 22 points, but against teams that are 0-8 overall. It’s hard to rank both teams without seeing how they fare against a quality opponent.

Mt. Hope is 1-2 overall, but they’ve arguably played the toughest schedule outside of Division I. They lost to Portsmouth and West Warwick by a combined five points, and then pasted Ponaganset this past weekend.

Narragansett cracks my ballot at No. 17, mostly because the competition they’ve faced has done well in other games. The Mariners’ lone loss came at Chariho, a higher division team that plays a similar style better. I can’t rank the Mariners below Classical, a team that Middletown beat, or Tiverton, who the Mariners beat.

The two teams missing my Top 20 narrowly are St. Raphael (tougher schedule, but only win is against a weak Pilgrim team) and Middletown. The Islanders beat Classical, but only by a single point, and Division IV Central Falls. They lost to the Mariners.

Next week won’t tell us much either, since East Greenwich is undefeated only thanks to an ineligible Lincoln player and a very weak Burrillville squad. (However, if the Avengers beat Middletown, I’ll have to start taking them seriously.)

GAMES THIS WEEK IN PATCH REGIONS

• 7 p.m. Friday: Cranston East at Bishop Hendricken; Johnston at Central; Middletown at East Greenwich; Portsmouth at East Providence; Toll Gate at Mt. Hope; North Kingstown at Cranston West.
• 2:30 p.m. Saturday: Moses Brown at Narragansett.
• 3 p.m. Saturday: South Kingstown at La Salle; Barrington at Bishop Feehan.
• 4 p.m. Saturday: Warwick Vets at Coventry; Woonsocket at St. Raphael.
• 7 p.m. Saturday: Classical at Tiverton.

The Rhode Island Sports Media Football Poll consists of 12 voting members from local newspapers, television stations and Patch. It is compiled by Eric Rueb of South Rhode Island Newspapers and offered free of charge to all media outlets in the state.