JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The News4JAX Super 6 boys high school basketball rankings will be published each Wednesday — except during Christmas week — through the regular season. Records are through Dec. 12,
News4JAX Super 6 boys basketball
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Rank, Previous, School, Record, Classification
1. (6) Providence (5-3, Class 3A)
Notable win: Episcopal, Mater Lakes Academy, Oakleaf, Paxon, Villages Charter.
Glance: The Stallions have been a monster against local teams. We saw it in the Fortegra last week when Providence beat three Super 6 teams handily (Paxon, 63-40, Oakleaf, 61-47 and Episcopal, 54-36). Those were our previous No. 4, 2 and 3 teams. Chris Arias (14.5 ppg), David Fonville (12.3 ppg) Caleb McAbee (11.6 ppg) and Brady Patterson (9.6 ppg) are leading the way. Providence takes losses but they’ve only dropped area games against three teams since the 2020-21 season (Palatka, Bishop Snyder twice) in that season and Ponte Vedra in the following year.
2. (3) Episcopal (8-1, Class 3A)
Notable wins: Fletcher, Impact Christian, Lowndes (Ga.), NFEI, Munroe.
Glance: I really thought this was the season Episcopal could supplant Providence. I leaned on the Eagles at No. 1 last week. But Providence KO’d Episcopal in the Fortegra final. They’ll have a shot at Providence again come district tournament time. Episcopal beat Fletcher (53-37) since the Fortegra.
3. (4) Paxon (7-1, Class 4A)
Notable wins: Beachside, Keenan (SC), Nease, Ponte Vedra, Ribault, University Christian.
Glance: Good week for the Golden Eagles. They beat previous No. 1 Ribault (57-55) in the Fortegra and then knocked off Ponte Vedra (56-51) in that event. They lost to No. 1 Providence in there, too. Paxon returned to play on Tuesday and hammered Beachside (61-41). They’re back in action Friday against Jackson.
4. (2) Oakleaf (5-2, Class 6A)
Notable win: Bishop Kenny, NFEI
Glance: The Knights went 2-1 in the Fortegra, beating previous No. 1 Ribault in a 2 OT, 80-75 classic, and then beating NFEI (78-51). They were handled by Providence (61-47) and then got clocked by Menendez (65-48) this week, a surprising loss. My knock on Oakleaf the last two seasons has been its schedule. The Knights haven’t stepped up into that higher tier of more challenging competition quite yet.
5. (1) Ribault (5-2, Class 4A)
Notable wins: Jackson, Riverside.
Glance: Not the best week for the previous No. 1 Trojans. They lost to Oakleaf in double OT of the Fortegra, then lost to Paxon there as well. They salvaged a win over Georgia program Southwest (77-69) there and then came out of tournament week and edged Jackson (48-45). G Caleb Williams had a ridiculous scoring tournament and is up to a 26.3 ppg average this season. The Trojans were a state semifinalist last season, but need to play better against the competition that they saw last week.
6. (NR) Bartram Trail (4-1, Class 7A)
Notable wins: Clay, Creekside, St. Augustine.
Glance: Struggled with this spot this week, and was leaning Creekside to replace Ponte Vedra. But the previously unbeaten Knights lost to rival Bartram Trail. The Bears have won three straight, with Landon Geren (17.4 ppg, 5.8 rpg) and David Souza (11 ppg, 5.4 rpg) leading the way. Beachside and Menendez, two quality St. Johns County teams, are up next for Bartram.
Dropped out
Ponte Vedra (5-3, Class 6A)
On the bubble
Beachside (5-4, Class 6A); Bolles (3-1, Class 4A); Clay (6-1, Class 5A) Creekside (6-1, Class 7A); First Coast (5-2, Class 6A); Fleming Island (3-2, Class 6A); Fletcher (3-4, Class 6A); Harvest Community (5-4, Class 2A); Jackson (5-3, Class 4A); Mandarin (4-1, Class 7A); Menendez (3-3, Class 5A); Nease (4-3, Class 6A); Ponte Vedra (5-3, Class 6A); NFEI (4-5, Class 2A); Orange Park (3-2, Class 6A); Raines (4-2, Class 5A); Tocoi Creek (3-3, Class 7A); Wolfson (6-2, Class 4A).