St. Frances Academy co-head football coach Henry Russell defended his program on the Fantasy and Reality Football Show with Ken Zalis and The NFL Chick June 3 after other programs in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association "A" conference announced they wouldn't play the Panthers next fall.
Mount St. Joseph, Calvert Hall, and McDonogh will forfeit its contests with St. Frances, which has won the past two MIAA "A" conference titles and was ranked No. 3 nationally by USA Today's experts in 2017. Loyola Blakefield's football team exited the MIAA entirely -- at least for this coming year -- after not winning a game for the second straight season in 2017.
Mount St. Joe, Calvert Hall and McDonogh all stated that safety is a concern for its players when playing St. Frances. Russell disputed that there should be any added concern, pointing out that the Gaels will face off against Good Counsel (Olney, Md.) and DeMatha Catholic High (Hyattsville, Md.), two highly regarded programs nationally that compete in the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference (WCAC).
