After being upset by Central in the opening round of Division II playoffs, the Johnston Panthers have dropped from No. 5 to No. 11 in the Rhode Island Sports Media High School Football Poll.
No. 10 West Warwick and No. 13 Central took advantage of the loss, moving up four and five sports, respectively. The highest ranked Division II team is now Cumberland, at No. 5.
La Salle remains in the top spot of the poll, collecting all 14 first place votes, followed by fellow Division I playoff teams Hendricken, Portsmouth and Cranston East. Portsmouth and East flip-flopped in the polls after the Thunderbolts barely beat South Kingstown 23-17.
Thanksgiving games for most teams take place either Wednesday or Thursday of this week. The Division II playoff bracket is available here.
The full media poll:
| Rank | Team | Points | Last Poll | Patch # |
| 1 | La Salle (14) | 280 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | Hendricken | 254 | 2 | 2 |
| 3 | Portsmouth | 253 | 4 | 3 |
| 4 | Cranston East | 247 | 3 | 4 |
| 5 | Cumberland | 226 | 6 | 5 |
| 6 | Middletown | 189 | 7 | 7 |
| 7 | Woonsocket | 165 | 9 | 9 |
| 8 | Tolman | 163 | 10 | 6 |
| 9 | Barrington | 143 | 8 | 11 |
| 10 | West Warwick | 142 | 14 | 12 |
| 11 | Johnston | 139 | 5 | 8 |
| 12 | East Greenwich | 127 | 12 | 13 |
| 13 | Central | 126 | 18 | 15 |
| 14 | Cranston West | 123 | 13 | 10 |
| 15 | Mount Pleasant | 96 | 16 | 14 |
| 16 | St. Raphael | 68 | 11 | 16 |
| 17 | Moses Brown | 42 | NR | NR |
| 18 | Mount Hope | 40 | 15 | 18 |
| 19 | East Providence | 31 | 19 | 19 |
| 20 | Rogers | 23 | 20 | NR |
Dropped from the poll: No. 17 Westerly.
Also receiving votes: Westerly (22), Hope (13), North Providence (11), South Kingstown (11), Narragansett (6) and North Smithfield (6).
The Rhode Island Sports Media football poll is voted on by 14 local media members who regularly cover Rhode Island high school football. The poll is administrated and compiled by Eric Rueb of Southern Rhode Island Newspapers. Patch’s ballot is cast by Stephen Greenwell, the local editor of the South Kingstown and Narragansett site.
PATCH BALLOT
| Rank | Team | Media | Last Poll |
| 1 | La Salle | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | Hendricken | 2 | 2 |
| 3 | Portsmouth | 3 | 4 |
| 4 | Cranston East | 4 | 3 |
| 5 | Cumberland | 5 | 6 |
| 6 | Tolman | 8 | 7 |
| 7 | Middletown | 6 | 10 |
| 8 | Johnston | 11 | 5 |
| 9 | Woonsocket | 7 | 11 |
| 10 | Cranston West | 14 | 8 |
| 11 | Barrington | 9 | 9 |
| 12 | West Warwick | 10 | 12 |
| 13 | East Greenwich | 12 | 13 |
| 14 | Mt. Pleasant | 15 | 16 |
| 15 | Central | 13 | 17 |
| 16 | St. Ray's | 16 | 14 |
| 17 | Westerly | NR | 15 |
| 18 | Mt. Hope | 18 | NR |
| 19 | East Providence | 19 | 19 |
| 20 | South Kingstown | NR | 20 |
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TAMORI
1:15 pm on Tuesday, November 20, 2012
This is an article about Rhode Island high school football. Can anyone explain what the heck that associated picture is? It ain’t football. Best I can tell is it’s the Boston Celtics gone nautical-lacrosse. Stuff like this seems to happen frequently. How/who chooses the photos to accompany articles?