The Day’s first Top 10 state coaches poll of the 2022 high school football season has been completed and is already ripe for debate.

Greenwich is No. 1 followed by Shelton. Both are 2-0.

Greenwich received seven of 13 first-place votes. Shelton received five. Fifth-ranked St. Joseph received the other first-place vote.

Here’s where the (hopefully) friendly debate begins — Greenwich rallied from a 21-point deficit last Friday to beat Ridgefield, 49-42. The Cardinals, after trailing 21-0 in the second quarter, outscored the Tigers 42-7.

Shelton mangled Ridgefield in Week 1 55-14. The Gaels led 35-7 at the half.

Comparing scores isn’t a foolproof way to determine the state’s best team, but the fact that Shelton thrashed Ridgefield and Greenwich played from behind caught some voters’ attention.

Unfortunately, any debate regarding the two won’t be settled on the field because Greenwich is in the CIAC’s Class LL division and Shelton is Class L.

New Canaan (2-0) is third in The Day’s poll followed by defending Class M champion Killingly (2-0).

St. Joseph (2-0) is fifth and immediately got everyone’s attention when it knocked off defending LL champion Darien, 14-0, in Week 1.

West Haven (2-0), defending Class L champion Maloney (2-0), Southington (2-0), Fairfield Prep (1-1) and Ansonia (2-0) round out the Top 10. Note that Prep’s loss was in its season opener to Belen Prep of Tamiami, Fla., 15-14.

Fitch (2-0) is the only other Eastern Connecticut Conference team that received votes.

What has made choosing a No. 1 team more difficult to start this year is that no one stands out as in some previous seasons. The GameTimeCT media poll proves that point because its top five teams all received number one votes — No. 1 Greenwich (15 first-place votes), No. 2 New Canaan (one), No. 3 Shelton (five), No. 4 Killingly (one) and No. 5 Maloney (one).

No. 7 St. Joseph lost its first place vote this week after beating Staples, 42-21.

Both the coaches and media Top 10 polls will be shaken up immediately because Week 3 features some compelling non-conference games via the Connecticut High School Football Alliance.

The weekend’s biggest game is Saturday afternoon when Southington plays at Greenwich in a possible preview of a Class LL playoff matchup.

Other top games involving teams that received votes are No. 9 Fairfield Prep at No. 3 New Canaan, No. 2 Shelton at Windsor (1-1), perennial Class S power Bloomfield (2-0) at No. 4 Killingly, No. 7 Maloney at Darien (1-1), Barlow (2-0) at Wethersfield (2-0), Berlin (2-0) at Fitch, Newtown (1-1) at Hand (1-1) and Masuk (1-1) at No. 5 St. Joseph. All games, with the exception of Masuk-St. Joseph, are Friday night.

n.griffen@theday.com