St. Thomas Aquinas (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) is ranked No. 1 in the season's first National Prep Football Poll, which is distributed in part by the Associated Press. There are no Illinois programs featured in the organization's national rankings.
Mount Carmel and Wheaton Warrenville South are slotted seventh and eighth, respectively, in the Midwest regional poll.
Mount Carmel's Frank Lenti will be part of the coaching staff for an American junior national team. It will compete this summer in the 2009 International Federation of American Football Junior World Championship in Canton, Ohio, according to a press release.
The team will be made up of 45 players from the 2009 graduating high school class. The 10-man coaching staff will meet next week in Nashville, Tenn., during the American Football Coaches Association's annual convention to discuss the potential roster and training camp schedule.
Lenti will coach the offensive line, and his Chicago teams certainly know the ground game. Last season Mount Carmel ran for 347 yards in a 42-21 first-round playoff victory over Naperville Central.
