The Raiders also added a No. 1 vote — worth 40 points — by taking the top spot in the Scout.com Top 50 which was not released when the preseason media poll was announced prior to the season.

The six major polls considered are the NationalHSFootball.com HSFB100; Scout.com Top 50; USAToday Super 25; MaxPreps Xcellent25; PrepNation Top 25; and Freeman Computer Top 25.

For a mathematically sound compilation each team is given points from 40 to 16 for being inside the Top 25 of each of those six polls with no points awarded for any additional rankings due to the differing size of each poll. Points are assigned in decreasing value starting with 40 being awarded for No. 1 and on down to 16 for No. 25.

The Media Compilation Top 25 will be updated each Tuesday of the season.

Allen (Texas) had claimed the top spot in the preseason poll and it moved down to No. 2 this week by a narrow margin of just four points.

Of the multiple movers the most curious was Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas, NV) sliding down from No. 5 to No. 8 despite a 44-0 victory over Brophy (Phoenix, AZ). The Gaels maintained or imporoved in all polls — including staying at No. 1 by the USAToday — but as other teams gained points with the inclusion of the Scout poll, the Gaels sat outside its Top 25 and slid backwards.

Here is the complete poll:

Join the HSFB100 discussion: Get a free user name | Post on The Varsity Board

OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES: Ben Davis (59); Don Bosco (59); Bingham (57); Moeller (55); Chandler (52); Serra (52); Punahou (42); Lee’s Summit West (39); Mountain Pointe (39); Gonzaga (37); Mallad Creek (30); Rummel (27); Miramar (25); Apopka (24); Male (23); Franklin (21); Ensworth (20); Acadiana (19), and Mainland (16).

DROPPED OUT: Previous No. 13 McEachern (Powder Springs, GA) and No. 23t Trinity Christian (Jacksonville, FL).

STOPPED RECEIVING VOTES: Aledo (Texas); Armwood (Seffner, FL); Blue Springs (MO); Oak Grove (Hattiesburg, MS), and Oscar Smith (Chesapeake, VA).

LINKS TO SITES: NationalHSFootball.com HSFB100; StudentSports Fab50; Scout.com Top 50; USAToday Super 25; MaxPreps Xcellent25; PrepNation Top 25; and Freeman Computer Top 25.

Join the HSFB100 discussion: Get a free user name | Post on The Varsity Board

The move making the greatest impact was the drop of Hoover (AL) from No. 4 to No. 19 as the Bucs suffered a defeat at the hands of Miami Central, 24-21.

Hoover led the game 7-6 into the fourth quarter before the Rockets broke free for two scores and a 21-7 lead. Hoover fought back to tie the game before allowing a winning drive in the final minutes.

A greater concern for Hoover is the offensive production.

After watching the game multiple times the play calling was exceedingly conservative — even for a program that keeps lesser opponents in the game with a normally conservative offensive gameplan.

There are several option for why this happened — and only the coaches know for sure — but the three most viable are as follows:

First the team was leading and playing solid, bend-don’t-break defense, and winning the game 7-6 was deemed plausible and as such it didn’t want to tip its hand for future opponents.

In that mindset, keeping everything close to the vest would be strategic as the Bucs are set to go on the road to take on No. 29 Colquitt County and even though Rush Propst has not been the coach at Hoover for seven years his shadow reaches across state lines. It could have been a reason for the team to be happy with punting and playing defense on a regular basis.

Our second option is the sporadic play at the quarterback position.

Hoover pro-style quarterback Jack Hutcheson was streaky during the game and that makes it difficult for any offense to get in the groove. He missed a pass down the seam by four yards which would have resulted in a touchdown but followed it with a well placed pass on a wheel route for a score two plays later. He missed open targets and took sacks when throwing the ball away was available to him but then made great passes in the fourth quarter to bring his team back. If the coaches didn’t know which version of Hutcheson was going to be on the field for each drive it could have impacted playcalling.

The final option is simple, Miami Central was just too good.

It was known that the front seven for Miami Central was going to be the best that the Bucs would face all year and it lived up to the billing. While it is easy to question what the Hoover offense was trying to do it may be more accurate to credit the Rockets for making it tough on them to do anything. If the players do not have the time to make the plays it could make the play calls look questionable.

With it just being the first week of the season there are still three months questions but after one week the answer to which team will win a HSFB100 National Title has eliminated one possibility with a preseason Top 5 team falling.

Join the HSFB100 discussion: Get a free user name | Post on The Varsity Board

Play high school football Pick ‘Em: Registration is open | Check your picks

NationalHSFootball.com enters the 2014 by compiling the seven most respected polls in the industry to provide the most comprehensive Media Compilation Top 25.

The polls considered are the NationalHSFootball.com HSFB100; StudentSports Fab50; Scout.com Top 50; USAToday Super 25; MaxPreps Xcellent25; PrepNation Top 25; and Freeman Computer Top 25.

For a mathematically sound compilation each team is given points from 40 to 16 for being inside the Top 25 of each of those seven polls with no points awarded for any additional rankings due to the differing size of each poll. Points are assigned in decreasing value starting with 40 being awarded for No. 1 and on down to 16 for No. 25.

The Media Compilation Top 25 will be updated each week of the regular season.

Allen (Texas) begins the year at the No. 1 spot in the poll with a sizable lead over a Cedar Hill (Texas) program that is could have played if not for re-districting in 2014 that pushed Allen into a larger district and eliminated one out-of-district game.

Student Sports has not annonced when their initial poll will release nor has Scout and as such each poll is listed as NA, and teams awarded no points.

Here is the complete poll:

OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES: Serra (50), Chandler (46), Archbishop Wood (45), Don Bosco (37), Bingham (35), Mallard Creek (32), Moeller (30), Punahou (27), Guyer (26), Aledo (25), Rummel (25), Miramar (24), Lee’s Summit West (21), Apopka (21), Ensworth (20), Mountain Pointe (20), Oak Grove (19), Ben Davis (19), Blue Springs (17), Oscar Smith (17), Armwood (16), Gonzaga (16).

DROPPED OUT: None.

LINKS TO SITES: NationalHSFootball.com HSFB100; StudentSports Fab50; Scout.com Top 50; USAToday Super 25; MaxPreps Xcellent25; PrepNation Top 25; and Freeman Computer Top 25.

That is the history staring St. Thomas Aquinas (Forth Lauderdale, FL) in the face. (Read more on Aquinas, here)

Not since the 2007 Miami Northwestern (Miami, FL) program went wire-to-wire has a team duplicated the effort; only two teams in that same time span would go on to win its sate title.

Odds are that a team inside the Top 25 will claim the title and an even more narrowed scope places the safe bets at teams No. 4 through No. 9.

In 2008, St. Thomas Aquinas won the HSFB100 after starting the year at No.8.

2010 and 2012 produced winners that moved up from the No. 5 spot when South Panola (Batesville, MS) and John Curtis (River Ridge, LA) hoisted the trophy.

Trinity (Louisville, KY) won the 2011 championshiop after starting the season at No. 9 in the poll.

2013 winner, Booker T. Washington (Miami, FL) moved up from No. 4.

Only in 2009 did a team make a move from further back in the pack when Don Bosco (Ramsey, NJ) claimed its lone national title after staring the season No. 22.

Entering the season the power states are well represented in the HSFB100 as ‘The Big Three’ of Florida (15), Texas (14), California (11) make up 40 teams of the HSFB100.

The Raiders will enter the 2014 football season as the No. 1 team in the country.

“Don’t rank us there,” Casullo said. “Not too many teams do well with it and we don’t need it.”

Can Casullo point the Raiders in the right direction?

Only once in the last seven years has the team that started atop the HSFB rankings finished there when Miami Northwestern (Miami, FL) went wire-to-wire in 2007.

Since then the top team has been a series of missteps:

• In 2008, Trinity (Euless, Texas) held the No. 1 spot until late December when it fell to Allen (Texas) in the playoffs and finished the year ranked No. 10.

• St. Thomas Aquinas started 2009 in the pole position after claiming the 2008 National Championship and held the spot until the first weekend in December when it lost to Manatee (Bradenton, FL) and finished No. 24 in the rankings.

• Plant (Tampa, FL) had the shortest stay as the No. 1 team in 2010 when the Panthers did not make it to the first regular season game atop the poll. The team was bullied in a kickoff classic game against Manatee and moved to No. 78 before the first game was played. Plant remained in the rankings until December when it lost its third game of the year and ended the season unranked.

• In 2011 a loaded Prattville (AL) started the season at No. 1 but it only lasted one week. The Lions fell to St. Thomas Aquinas in a Top 10 showdown to open the season, 34-31. Prattville would go on to win its state title and finish the year No. 14.

• Santa Margarita (Rancho Santa Margarita, CA) was the victim of an injury costing it a real chance to hold its placement. The team was No. 1 in 2012 but suffered an injury to star quarterback Johnny Stanton during the Sept. 17 weekend. Santa Margarita was immediately dropped to No. 35 in the rankings and lasted only a few more weeks as it would lose multiple games without the quarterback and ended the season unranked.

• Miami Central (Miami, FL) was knocked from its perch early in 2013 as it fell in a No. 1 versus No. 2 game with Booker T. Washington (Miami, FL) on Sept. 16. The Rockets would close out the season with a state title and the No. 4 placement in the final rankings.

Casullo said that his team needs to prove themselves as the best team in its county before concerning itself with being the best team in the entire country.

“I don’t know if we will be No. 1 in Broward come October so I can’t worry about what happens outside of those borders,” he said. “With American Heritage (Plantation, FL) having what they do it will be tough and Miramar (FL) has the most talent of any school in the area. They are loaded. Loaded.

“If we can come out of September and our opening stretch of games then we can talk about No. 1 rankings in the state but until then I have to get the kids to buy in to what we are doing and what he have to get done to be successful.”

The Raiders open with No. 10 American Heritage Aug. 29 at Sun Life Stadium to open the season for the top two teams in the state rankings.

Jordan Scarlett is ranked No. 75 in the Top247 by 247Sports. View his profile.

St. Thomas Aquinas then plays a Miramar team that is ranked No. 17 in the preseason poll and has defeated the Raiders each of the last three seasons.

“It isn’t going to be easy,” Casullo said. “All of those games will test us in September and then we will have to stay focused in October just to get to November when the playoffs start.

“In Florida you know we will see some more teams that are as good as any in the country to win a championship.”

Being in the mix for a National Title is nothing new for the staff at St. Thomas Aquinas as many have rings from the 2008 season, others were there as the program looked to repeat in 2009, and still more came aboard prior to the Raiders finishing No. 2 in 2010.

The pressure will be new for the senior class as it has been a combined 33-8 over the last three years and has been ranked No. 67, 26, and 48, respectively, in that time.

On paper this could be one of the best teams put on the field.

The offensive line returns four starters — including a pair of Syracuse commits in Colin Byrne and Samuel Clausman.

Four-star running back and Miami commitment Jordan Scarlett transferred from University School (Ft. Lauderdale) to add to three-star Maryland commit, Deltron Sands, and junior Devontae Henry-Cole in the backfield.

Class of 2016 receiver Sam Bruce — also committed to Miami — also came over from University School to join four-star Devante Peete as well as Florida Atlantic pledge Jawaun Harris as a trio of talented playmakers.

Defensively the program has a strong front seven with Nick Bosa, Duke pledge Brandon Boyce, Julian McCleod, Chris Hart, and Boston College-bound Wyatt Ray all returning.

The secondary features South Carolina commitment Damon Arnett, Tyson Cisrow as well as transfer Rashard Causey.

Junior DE Nick Bosa will lead the defensive charge. He is ranked No. 3 at his position by 247Sports. View his profile.

“When people see Jake they immediately go to compare him to Ryan Becker,” the coach said. “They are the same height, they are both really smart and under recruited, neither wants to run but both can move the ball with their legs.

“With all of the playmakers around him all we need to do is make sure Jake is comfortable and let those guys do all the work.”

If the Raiders are able to complete an unblemished season it could prove the team as the best in the country.

It is a task that FloridaHSFootball.com publisher Josh Wilson thinks the Raiders are up to.

“It is not at all surprising that St. Thomas Aquinas is the top overall team in the preseason,” he said. “The Raiders have a lot of talent and don’t be surprised if we are talking possible national champions come mid-December.”

Casullo said that the national rankings are great to discuss but the final placement is out of his hands.

“That stuff is for you to decide but I think this is a group that has that it-factor,” Casullo said. “We have tremendous talent and if we can stay healthy and stay tight then it can work.

“Our schedule will test us and a lot of things can happen but we are looking forward to it.”

The Toros come in at No. 39 and as one of four teams from Alabama to make the HSFB100. Within the third grouping to be released Spanish Fort sticks out among six programs from Florida, four from California as well as Texas, and three from Louisiana. It looks the part of prior Top 25 programs like Bentonville (AR), Mountain Pointe (Phoenix, AZ), and Maryville (TN) as well as 2009 HSFB100 National Champions, Don Bosco (Ramsey, NJ).

Will the Spanish Fort defense be up to the test?

Head coach Mark Freeman said that this team is ready for taking on the toughest classification in the state.

“We have a lot of key pieces coming back and that should help us,” he said. “We are really young in the secondary and we will have to see what those kids can do but otherwise we are excited.

“I think that the new Class 6A will be the most competitive in the state and we are ready for it. When you break it down, all of the teams that have given Hoover (AL) their best games are still in Class 6A and some really good teams moved up. If you win this one, I’d say, you’d have earned it.”

Spanish Fort brings back one of the better quarterbacks in the state with Class of 2016 passer Tyler Johnson returning.

He also has a trio of playmakers alongside.

LaDarrell Pettway, Kristian Cotton, and Kevin Marion will work in at receiver.

“Tyler is a natural leader,” Freeman said. “He is a quiet kid but he speaks with his actions and he is a winner. There is no question he is going to set the tone for us.

“He is going to get some help this year from those other guys, too. We are really banking on Kevin Marion to do some big things for us.”

Defensively the group will work from the middle to the edges. Its two linebackers may represent the best duo in the state — outside of Hoover.

Class of 2016 inside backer Tre Threat already has offers from Clemson, Louisville, Ole Miss, and Mississippi State. Class of 2017 inside linebacker Thomas Johnston already boasts offers from Clemson and N.C. State with Iowa showing heavy interest.

“They look good,” Freeman said. “We ask them to play hard, to be prepared, and to stay in shape and we have gotten it all from them.

“This stuff is all really exciting but once the whistle blows it is anyone’s game and in our region and in our classification it doesn’t take much for things to go sideways.”

Spanish Fort will have to play Saraland (AL), Blount (Eight Mile), and Daphne (AL). It also has an improving Robertsdale (AL) and Davidson (Mobile) team that could push the Toros for four quarters.

Once the playoffs start nearly two-thirds of the Top 15 for the state will be in Class 6A.

Battling against HSFB100 programs Clay-Chalkville (Pinson) or Shades Valley (Birmingham) may not even happen if the team can not clear Opelika (AL), Florence (AL), Carver (Montgomery), Minor (Adamsville) or Daphne if the two are to meet in the second round of the playoffs.

“It will be a battle,” Freeman said. “More than I think the playoffs have been in the past. This was a really interesting year for re-classification and Class 6A took the brunt of it.

“We will have to be ready to go every week if we want to prove we belong and prove we are champions.”

Ranked at No. 51 is Moeller (Cincinnati) and at No. 75 is Cleveland-area power, Mentor. The pair are ahead of Wayne (Huber Heights), which was ranked No. 96, but both are behind St. Edward (Lakewood) which has not had its placement revealed to-date.

Matt Crable was named a senior captain for Moeller. Follow the Crusaders on Twitter.

Both Moeller and Mentor are breaking in new quarterbacks after the two met in the state finals, combined to go 27-3, and earn the No. 12 and No. 14 rankings, respectively, in the season-ending HSFB100.

Senior Matt Crable will step in to replace Gus Ragland at Moeller. Crable started started one game against St. Xavier (Cincinnati) and saw time against Covington Catholic (Park Hills, KY) and St. Michael’s College (Toronto, Ontario) while Ragland played his way to a scholarship at Miami of Ohio.

Moeller coach John Rodenberg said that going from Gus to Matt would cause minimal impact. The 6-foot-4, 200-pound quarterback will be tested immediately against Pickerington North (Pickerington) on Aug. 29.

The coach told Cincinnati.com that one position change was the least of his concerns.

“The attitude is great,” Rodenberg said. “The big thing is just keeping the players hungry and keeping the players focused. And I think we did that. We have a new defense and what we did on offense – philosophically we are the same – but we changed signals, words, numbers – we changed everything.”

Mentor will turn to transfer quarterback Jake Floriea.

Floreia came to the Cardinals from Lake Catholic (Mentor) and will follow in the footsteps of Mitch Trubisky and Conner Krizancic.

Trubisky won the 2012 Mr. Football award in Ohio and is battling for time at North Carolina. Krizancic signed a National Letter of Intent with Minnesota and is likely going to move to the receiver position.

Floreia told Bill Landis (follow on Twitter) that he was settling in with his new teammates.

His coach told Cleveland.com that he expects the level of play to remain high.

“Jake is pretty good,” Mentor coach Steve Trivisonno said. “He runs well, he’s run well all summer. He’s got a nice arm to him. He’s going to be a very, very good quarterback.”

His development will also be put to the test early as Mentor will play St. Ignatius (Cleveland) in the second game of the season, on Sept. 6.

In what will likely be an interesting shuffling of teams within Ohio this season, the fortunes of both programs will fall on the arms of the new quarterbacks.

“I’m in a nice spot right now,” Floreia told Landis.

“I’m starting to build a relationship with just about everyone on the team. It’s really nice just being relaxed and being able to play.”