Portsmouth Football Remains in Second Place Heading into Tonight's Playoffs

While the rest of the Top 10 shuffled, the Patriots remain entrenched behind the Bishop Hendricken Hawks atop the Rhode Island Sports Media football poll in its tenth week.

The Hawks are undefeated on the season, and earned all 11 first place votes. The Patriots (10-2, 6-2 Division I) turned away No. 19 Middletown to maintain their No. 2 ranking.

Portsmouth hosts No. 3 La Salle tonight at 6 p.m. in the semifinals of the Division I playoffs. The team jumped up six spots in the polls after a against East Providence on Thanksgiving. La Salle is also responsible for one of the Patriots' two losses, beating them 16-9 at Portsmouth on Sept. 24.

Barring an upset by No. 5 East Providence, the winner will face off against Hendricken in the Division I Super Bowl at Cranston Stadium on noon Saturday.

Sports staffers at Southern Rhode Island Newspapers run the RISM football poll. Voting publications are The Chariho Times, Coventry Courier, The Cranston Herald, East Greenwich Pendulum, The Narragansett Times, The Newport Daily News, The North-East Independent, The South County Independent, The Standard-Times, The Warwick Beacon and The Westerly Sun.

The season's final poll will be released Monday, following each division's Super Bowl. The full standings:

Team

Points

Last week

1. Hendricken (11)

220

1

2. Portsmouth

209

2

3. La Salle

189

9

4. Barrington

183

4

5. East Providence

177

3

6. Woonsocket

163

6

7. Tolman

149

5

8. Rogers

146

7

9. Cranston East

122

8

10. St. Raphael

115

10

11. Chariho

114

11

12. Moses Brown

86

t-12

13. Cranston West

70

14

14. Johnston

68

16

15. Central

60

15

16. Mount Pleasant

55

t-12

17. Lincoln

49

19

18. Westerly

37

18

19. Middletown

36

20

20. Exeter-West Greenwich

33

17

Dropped from poll: none.

Also receiving votes: South Kingstown 10, Shea 8, North Smithfield 7, Mount Hope 3, Burrillville 1.