Loyola leaving MIAA temporarily

Dons to play independent schedule that includes Turkey Bowl, MIAA foes

After going winless in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference the past two years, the Loyola Blakefield football program will leave the MIAA next fall to play an independent schedule in what Loyola officials expect to be a temporary move.

The Dons’ schedule will include some MIAA teams, and they will continue to play the Turkey Bowl game on Thanksgiving Day against A Conference archrival Calvert Hall.

As the talent level has risen in the A Conference, the Dons have not kept up, although they have had some players move on to play in college at the Football Bowl Subdivision level, including senior All-Metro defensive lineman Evan Boozer, who is headed to Temple.

In a letter sent before the Christmas break to parents of Dons football players, Anthony Day Anthony Day, president and head of school at Loyola Blakefield, said the level of play in the AConference has become a concern.

“The landscape of the MIAA ‘A’ Conference has changed over the last decade, and our results have not been consistent with our goal to strive for excellence in all of our co-curricular programs. As the talent pool continues to rapidly expand within the MIAA ‘A’ Conference, we have carefully considered how this affects our studentathletes in a variety of ways — most importantly, their safety,” Day said in the letter.

This fall, the Dons lost their six A Conference games by an average of 32