Week 1 Friday Night Drive coaches poll

It didn’t take long to see some movement in the Friday Night Drive coaches poll.

New top teams were declared in three of the eight classes. Batavia passed Mount Carmel for the top spot in the Class 7A poll, while Rochester surpassed St. Rita for the No. 1 spot in Class 5A and Annawan-Wethersfield took over the top spot in the Class 1A poll.

The poll featured several schools that made substantial leaps based on their performances in the first week.

In Class 8A, Marist made the biggest overall jump moving up four spots after its season-opening win over Niles Notre Dame. Naperville Central and Hinsdale Central also made their first appearances in the class’ Top 10 teams.

Hersey’s win over Rolling Meadows impressed the pollsters in the Class 7A ranks as it moved into the Top 10.

The top four teams in Class 6A showed no movement, meanwhile, Lemont made the largest surge, cracking the Top 10 at No. 8.

In Class 5A, there’s a real division of thought. Four different teams amassed between 80 and 89 voting points, with the first-place votes almost split evenly among those teams as well.

The 4A poll found the two frontrunners, Richmond-Burton and St. Francis, well ahead of the rest of the pack, while Coal City and Marengo each jumped up three positions in the rankings.

There was almost no movement at all in Class 3A. The top six teams remained exactly in the same positions they were a week ago.

Fieldcrest’s win over Gibson City-Melvin Sibley made the biggest impression in Class 2A as the Knights jumped from eighth to fifth in the poll.

In the Class 1A poll, Lena-Winslow’s perch at the top was usurped after a loss to Princeton, but it still received the majority of the first place votes from the pollsters.

Here is the Coaches Poll following the first week of games: