Palm Beach Post Launches Week 9 High School Football Pick’em with Five Key Matchups

The Palm Beach Post opened voting Wednesday for its Week 9 high school football Pick’em contest, giving readers a chance to test their prognosticating skills against the newspaper’s coverage team across five marquee matchups spanning Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast.

Polls close Thursday at noon, with the slate headlined by Glades Central’s road trip to Spanish River — a rematch of sorts for the Raiders, who fell 21-11 to Atlantic Community in a makeup game played Monday night in Delray Beach. That loss snapped a two-game win streak for Glades Central and handed Atlantic its third victory of the season behind a balanced offensive effort from Rashawn Nembhard and Kendrick Hughes.

Spanish River enters the week riding high after a 62-6 dismantling of Boca Raton last Thursday, the most lopsided result of the early season for the Sharks. Jason Mock and the Spanish River defense forced four turnovers in that contest, raising questions about whether Glades Central’s offense — which managed just 11 points against Atlantic — can generate enough pressure to keep pace.

Elsewhere on the ballot: Palm Beach Central travels to Jupiter in a clash of 4-3 teams both fighting for playoff positioning in District 10-4M; Melbourne Central Catholic visits Pahokee in a cross-classification matchup that pits the Hustlers’ Wing-T attack against the Muck Bowl tradition; St. Andrew’s heads to Calvary Christian Academy in a battle of private-school programs; and West Boca Raton makes the trek to The First Academy in Orlando.

Last week, the Post staff correctly forecast Chaminade Madonna’s revenge victory over Cardinal Newman, while also nailing blowout wins for Spanish River, Dwyer, and Royal Palm Beach. The coverage team — led by high school sports reporter Alex Peterman — will publish its Week 9 selections Wednesday afternoon.

Readers can submit their own picks via the online poll or email selections directly to apeterman@usatoday.com and ejwallace@usatoday.com for a chance to be featured in next week’s results column. The newspaper has run the interactive contest since the season opener, tracking cumulative accuracy for both staff and readers across all nine weeks.