Powerhouse St. Frances visits Dutch Fork. Why it’s one of the country’s top matchups

It hasn’t happened often recently under coach Tom Knotts that Dutch Fork football is an underdog going into a game.

But that will be the case Friday night when the Silver Foxes host No. 3 St. Frances Academy in their home opener.

“They have a bunch of impressive players,” Knotts said before practice on Tuesday. “We are the underdogs, but I think we are going to find a way to pull it out. That is what I believe and how I do it. That is what I believe in my heart and soul. We will approach it that way. It is our field, our home opener and I think we will play well.”

The matchup has garnered national attention and it is No. 1 of the MaxPreps Top 10 games of the week.

Dutch Fork, which won five straight Class 5A championships from 2016-21, has a 43-game unbeaten regular season winning streak going into the matchup. The Panthers are 3-0 and have outscored opponents 103-37.

“I love this,” MaxPreps national editor Zack Poff said. “It is good for any team that schedules St. Frances. Because if they do win, it is a marquee win. That would be a win that these kids would remember for the rest of their lives.

“Dutch Fork is used to winning state titles almost every year, but a win over St. Frances might even pull more weight than that.”

Who is St. Frances Academy?

St. Frances Academy has been around for more than 100 years and is located in Baltimore, Maryland. It is the first and oldest Black Catholic school in the country.

The school opened in 1828 and was just for girls. It didn’t start letting boys in until the 1970s. According to Private School Review, St. Frances has an enrollment of 208 students from grades 9-12 with about 95 playing football. Tuition costs $11,300, according to the school’s website. About 70% of students receive some sort of financial aid and about 65% of football players receive full scholarships, according to the Baltimore Sun.

St. Frances offers eight sports, but football didn’t begin until 2009. The Panthers rose to national prominence in 2018 when HBO featured them in a four-part series called “The Cost of Winning.” The documentary was produced by Hall of Famer Michael Strahan and featured how coach Biff Poggi, who took over in 2017 and was known for coaching in a cut-off T-shirt on the sideline, began creating a national power.

Poggi helped fund the program and donated $60,000 of his own money. St. Frances doesn’t have a permanent home stadium and practices at a variety of places across the city. St. Frances will play its final home against IMG Academy, another national powerhouse program, at the University of Maryland on Nov. 18.

“When Biff went over there, that is when they started to be a premier program,” Poff said. “They do recruit like IMG Academy, but most of their players come from DMV (District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia) area so they are a little different in that way.”

Poggi and St. Frances started to rack up the wins and criticism started to add up. St. Frances won a Maryland state championship in 2017 and defeated Bingham (Utah) 41-3 in the GEICO State Champions Bowl Series.

In 2018, many Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association schools refused to play St. Frances because of safety concerns and blowout games. This forced St. Frances to become more of a national program that plays teams out of state.

St. Frances didn’t play a full season in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Poggi left the program in the summer of 2021 to take a position on Jim Harbaugh’s staff at Michigan, where he was in 2016.

Messay Hailemariam replaced Poggi and began his second stint as school’s head coach with another coming from 2011-15. He was an assistant coach on staff under Poggi. St. Frances went 8-1 last season and was No. 4 in MaxPreps’ final Top 25 poll.

This year’s roster features 12 Division I junior and senior prospects, according to 247Sports. The Panthers’ entire defensive line is committed to Division I schools, including Dashawn Womack (LSU), Isaiah Neal (Pittsburgh) and Sam Greene (Southern Cal). Womack is a four-star prospect and ranked 52nd nationally by 247Sports Composite.

Running back Durrell Robinson is a Boston College commit and leads the team with 417 yards rushing. Junior quarterback Michael Van Buren is a four-star prospect and has offers from Alabama, Boston College, Georgia Tech and Maryland.

Last year, 10 players signed with Division I schools during the early signing period.

“It is the best collection of athletes in one group that I have ever seen,” Knotts said. “Lot of guys going to Power Five schools, but we think we are a pretty good team.”

The school will travel more than 8,000 miles in road games and play teams in Texas, Illinois, South Carolina, Florida, Connecticut and Hawaii. After Friday’s game at Dutch Fork, the team will leave a few days later for Hawaii to play Kahuku High School on Sept. 30. The team will spend a week in Hawaii to get used to the five-hour time difference.

Different start to Dutch Fork season

The game against St. Frances ends probably the toughest scheduling stretch in Dutch Fork history. The Silver Foxes’ first six games have featured matchups from three out-of-state teams Hough (North Carolina), Creekside (Georgia) and St. Frances, as well as in-state powerhouse Spartanburg.

Dutch Fork is 5-0 with all five games away from home, but things have been anything but normal, especially on the offensive side of the ball.

Jarvis Green, the team’s top running back, has missed the last two games with a hamstring injury but should be back this week. Aliam Appler, the team’s starting quarterback, has been out since Week 2 with a shoulder injury but has practiced this week. Jon Hunt has started the past two weeks.

As a result, the Silver Foxes have relied on a strong running game and Knotts said more creativity on offense. There have been a lot of two and three tight-end sets to help with that. Dutch Fork is averaging just 103 yards a game passing, its lowest total since averaging 182.7 yards a game in 2017. Over the past six seasons, the Silver Foxes average 235.5 yards passing per game.

“Probably the lowest I have ever had,” Knotts said of the passing numbers. “... It has been fun, probably a little more drawing and doodling than I normally do. Trying to come up with a new formation or something.

“But we are just finding a way to win. I think their coach described us as not having an identity on offense and he is probably right. But we are finding a way, we are making some big plays and getting first downs.”

Marquee Matchup

What: St. Frances (Md.) at Dutch Fork

When: Friday, 7:30 p.m.

TV/Online: Game will be streamed on www.flofootball.com and subscription is required