Md. Private Schools Decide Not To Play National Football Powerhouse
BALTIMORE (WJZ)-- All-boy private school Mount Saint Joseph in West Baltimore and Calvert Hall College in Towson have decided not to play St. Frances Academy, a local and fast-growing national football powerhouse, next season.
St. Frances is located in East Baltimore across the street from a jail.
The football team went unbeaten last season, capping a 13-0 season with a 41-3 victory over Bingam, Utah in the Geico Champions Bowl in Phoenix.
On Wednesday, according to the Baltimore Sun, St. Joe cited safety concerns and the perceived difference in the goals of the two programs as the reason for not being willing to play St. Frances next football season.
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Thursday, Calvert Hall also announced they will no longer play against the Panthers.
Loyola Blakefield withdrew from the MIAA in football in January.
St. Frances Academy's principal released a statement Thursday.
The Panthers head coach, Henry Russell, responded via Twitter Wednesday.
The Sun says the Gaels head coach Rich Holzer posted a letter on the team's website stating that a large number of transfers St. Frances have been "incongruent with other member schools."
The letter was signed by Holzer and athletic director Kraig Loovis, according to the Sun.
The MIAA, the league the teams play in, reportedly, has been notified.
SFA rose to prominence under head coach Biff Poggi, according to the Archdiocese of Baltimore.
The football program at SFA was established in 2008 after a $60,000-donation from Poggi, who was then a SFA board, the Archdiocese says.
The Archdiocese says in 2016, Poggi left Gilman, also located in Baltimore, to be a part of the staff at the University of Michigan, but then came back to SFA in 2017 to co-head coach the Panthers.
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