Poggi, officials deny St. Frances coach’s interest in Concordia

A rumor began circulating on a local high school message board over the weekend that St. Frances coach Biff Poggi would take over the Concordia Prep football program, but Poggi and Concordia officials denied the rumor Monday. “No way,” Poggi said in an email response. Poggi has built St. Frances (6-0) into a national powerhouse ranked No. 6 this week in USA Today’s Super 25. The Panthers are trying to schedule some of the other top teams in the country for next fall. Josh Ward, in his second season at Concordia, has built a Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association C Conference front-runner at the Towson school, formerly Baltimore Lutheran. The Saints (8-2) intend to move up to the B Conference next season. Ward said he has gotten many calls in the past few days from coaches, parents and recruits. “It bothers me that people think I would try to build something to just give it up,” Ward said. Concordia Prep headmaster Brent Johnson said: “I have a lot of respect for Biff Poggi, but we have a good football coach already. Josh is doing a great job.” Ward took over a Saints program that did not field a team in 2016 because of a lack of participants. This season, with a young squad of 46 players, the Saints are 6-0 in the C Conference and headed to the title game Nov. 10. Flaa, Tanner Chleborad and Tyler Erwin — were left off it. McKenna was announced as part of a three-man ballot for the final two spots on the West Division team, along with New York Yankees outfielder Thairo Estrada and Texas Rangers outfielder Julio Pablo Martinez. Fans can vote at MLBFallBall.com until 2 p.m. Thursday, and the top two vote-getters will participate in the game. McKenna, who broke out at High-A Frederick this year before struggling to adjust at Double-A Bowie after a midseason promotion, is the Orioles’ standout performer there so far. Wilkerson is batting .270 with a .774 OPS in 11 games, and Cervenka is 5-for-27 (.188) in seven games. Lee, who is working as a starter after finding success late in the year as a reliever, has allowed three earned runs on seven hits in 71⁄ innings over three starts. Chleborad has seven strikeouts and a 1.63 WHIP while allowing three runs in eight innings, Flaa has walked nine against three strikeouts while allowing five earned runs in 51⁄ innings, and Erwin has nine strikeouts and seven walks in six innings, allowing three runs.