As you can see, the controversy begins at the top, where four voters put North first on their ballot while the two other voters went with Londonderry. North was unbeaten after eight games last season when quarterback Curtis Harris-Lopez went down with a knee injury. Harris-Lopez is back and has a strong supporting cast. Londonderry won last year’s Division I title and opened its season by beating rival Pinkerton Academy.

The controversy is ramped up in the middle of the poll, where Winnacunnet is ranked one spot behind Exeter despite beating the Blue Hawks 16-13 in Week 1. Winnacunnet was unranked in the preseason poll and Exeter entered that game at No. 2.

It’s not the first time Winnacunnet fans have scoffed at the poll. In 2012 a one-loss Exeter team finished the season ranked No. 1 after it beat Pinkerton in the Division I championship game. Winnacunnet won the Division II title that year, beat Exeter in the regular season and also had one loss, but finished No. 2.

Clearly the voters rewarded Exeter for playing a tougher schedule than Winnacunnet that season, but the real difference may have been Winnacunnet’s lone loss, which came against a middle-of-the-pack Division II team (Keene). Still, the Warriors had a strong case to be ranked No. 1 that year, and this year’s team undoubtedly feels it’s being slighted by being placed behind a team it beat on the field.

”I had a hard time deciding where to rank Winnacunnet and Exeter this week after what I consider a pretty big upset win by the Warriors over their rival in Week 1,” wrote Union Leader staff writer Alex Hall, one of the six voters. “From contributor Dan Doyon’s story that ran in the Sunday News, it sounds like Winnacunnet had a stellar showing against an Exeter team that opened the season ranked No. 2 in the Power Poll. Because of that, I ranked the Warriors at No. 5 after not ranking them last week and placed Exeter just below them at No. 6. I consider Winnacunnet’s win the most impressive of the Week 1 results in the state and for that, felt like it should be rewarded with a mid-tier ranking. I still consider Exeter one of the best teams in the state, but I could not justify placing the Blue Hawks ahead of Winnacunnet considering the head-to-head result and with no other games to consider.”

Some voters saw things the way Hall did. Some didn’t.

There are usually about 15 teams that deserve Top 10 consideration each week. The toughest decision this voter typically has is choosing between good — but not great — Division I teams, and some of the top teams in Division II. There are Division II coaches who will tell you the best teams in their division can hang with most of the teams in Division I, and there are Division I coaches who insist there is a wide gap between the talent level in Division I and Division II.

Other voters struggle with where to place Division II teams as well.

“It’s a problem I have every week: where to include good Division II teams,” wrote Union Leader chief sports editor Chris Duffy. “We know Plymouth and Souhegan merit attention, but at the expense of one-loss Division I teams like Bedford, Pinkerton, Exeter and Nashua South? Looking forward to seeing how the Bishop Guertin-Souhegan game plays out on Saturday night. Wish we had more division crossover games.”

There are four Division I teams currently in the poll who opened the season with a loss. Plymouth is the lone Division II team in this week’s poll, and Bishop Guertin is the only non-Division I team to finish the season No. 1. The Cardinals were a Division II program when they earned the No. 1 spot in 2009.

“The teams I struggled with the most were the teams that lost (last weekend),” wrote voter Joe Marchilena of nh-highschoolsports.com. “We know Pinkerton, Exeter and Nashua South are good, but where do they fit in the poll? Especially when teams that were below them in the preseason poll won. How much do you knock Pinkerton for losing on the road, which means a lot more this year than ever before, to the defending champs? Does South deserve to drop far because it lost while holding the state’s top returning player (Harris-Lopez) somewhat in check? Does a loss at Winnacunnet mean that Exeter should drop out of the poll? We don’t typically have games like that to open a season, so finding the right spot for those teams that started 0-1 was harder than most years.”

The Power Poll is typically filled with Division I and Division II teams, but there are times when a Division III team deserves consideration. Some recent Campbell and Monadnock teams come to mind. That may be the case this year with Trinity as well.

The Pioneers, last year’s Division III champion, opened their season by beating Division I Concord. Trinity’s schedule includes another Division I team (BG), as well as a Division II team (Manchester West) and two strong Division III teams (Pelham and Campbell). If the Pioneers keep winning it will be hard to keep them out.

Union Leader contributor Tim MacLean is among those who believe Trinity should be in this week’s poll.

“The toughest decision I faced in compiling my Power Poll votes this week was where to slot Trinity,” MacLean wrote. “After personally ranking them sixth for the preseason edition, I was surprised to see them miss the cut that week. (Quarterback) Peter Alisandro is back after helping to lead the Pioneers to the Division III title last year and the threat he poses with both his arm and legs really forces opposing teams to make tough decisions. The loss of senior John Thibault to graduation last year certainly hurts, but younger brother James shows promise and the Pioneers still have solid experience throughout the team. I voted them sixth again this week after their 22-7 win over Division I Concord on Friday.”

Go ahead and nitpick at the poll, as clearly we’ve left you plenty to criticize. Besides, anything that gets people talking about high school football is good for the sport.

The Power Poll is further proof that it’s hard to get six people to agree on much of anything.