Maryland Christian football heads to national tournament
If you have never heard of the Maryland Christian football team, you had plenty of company until the Saints defeated Archbishop Curley, 30-22, on Oct. 30.
That put the six-year-old Saints program for home-schooled students on the local football radar and helped boost them to an 11-0 season that concludes this week at the National Homeschool Football Association's national tournament in Panama City Beach, Fla.
The Saints, who are based in Harford County and play their home games in Kingsville, started as an outlet for home-schooled students to play football and they "had some humble beginnings," said Tony DiPaola, head coach and one of the team founders.
That year, the Saints were 1-10, but they improved over the years to 10-3 last season and 11-0 this season against a schedule of homeschool teams in Maryland and Virginia, as well as a few private or parochial schools such as Friends and Curley.
The transformation has the Saints on a collision course with the NHFA's defending national champion -- Lighthouse Christian from Springfield, Mo. -- in the opening round of the tournament Thursday. The championship game is on Saturday.
"We've been doing better every year," DiPaola, who has 44 players, said. "I attribute it to more home school kids and just the kids that come to our program. Some of them have never played football before, but our coaches work really hard with the boys and they're really buying into it. We've also got some experienced kids coming from the rec leagues. It's just another avenue for the people to be able to get high school sports without sending their kids to high schools."
Last weekend, the Saints won the Mid-Atlantic Christian Conference for the third time in four years, beating a Richmond, Va. homeschool team, 28-20, at Redskins Park.
Senior wide receiver Jed Yousefi had 235 yards receiving and three touchdowns in the game. Quarterback Christian DiPaola was 12-for-20 passing for 366 yards and four touchdowns -- three passing to Yousefi and one rushing.
The Saints also have gotten key performances through the season from fullback/linebacker Evan Chase, lineman Will Carlton and receiver/linebacker Austin Lee.
Tony DiPaola said there is a simple formula for the Saints success this season: "The kids are dedicated. They practice hard and they've really bought into the system.
"We're really trying to put homeschooling sports on the map as far as football goes. Our first team we called the trail blazers, because we knew they were blazing a trail for others to follow and after last year's 10-3 season, we really felt like it was time to step up, so we're trying to play better teams."
