Patriot Prep takes first steps to begin program
Since Patriot Preparatory Academy opened in 2010-11, the K-12 charter school has aimed to be what superintendent Sean Smith calls a “public school with a private-school feel.”
More than 700 students are enrolled in the school, including nearly 150 in high school. It has been competing in OHSAA postseasons since 201314.
Eagles teams include boys and girls volleyball, boys soccer, boys basketball and boys and girls track and field, but that number is expected to grow.
Now, the plan is for the school on Columbus’ east side, just west of Reynoldsburg, to have a high school football program.
“Honestly, I think it’s something our students have been hoping for for some time,” Smith said. “Football is a program you can really build some excitement around, so a lot of athletes had some interest in it. For us, it’s a matter of time to take that step.”
Smith and Curt Caffey, who is in his fifth year as athletic director, began talking about adding a football program in 2020 before delaying the idea because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Willie Washington has been named the first coach of the program. The plan is to have students in grades 6-8 compete on a middle school team in 2022 and then add a freshman team in 2023 and either a junior varsity or varsity team the next year.
So far, about 30 students have shown interest in playing.
“We had a decent turnout (at a May
24 meeting) and all our coaches were there, so there was some dialogue between the coaches and parents,” said Caffey, who was an assistant boys basketball coach in 2015 when Harvest Prep was the Division IV state runner-up. “I’m overly excited because Mr. Smith and I started chatting about this the year COVID hit. When we reactivated the conversation, it became more and more exciting.”
The newest Ohsaa-sanctioned football teams in central Ohio are Worthington Christian, a Division VI program that held its first full season in 2014, and KIPP Columbus, which played its first full season in 2019.
KIPP, which is part of a nationwide network of public charter schools and launched in central Ohio in 2008, went 7-5 and won a Division VI playoff game last fall. It has grown enough in enrollment to move up to Division IV beginning in 2022.
Smith expects Patriot Prep to see exponential growth over the coming years, particularly after adding football.