No. 1 IMG Academy Faces Bitter Rival St. Frances With National Title Hopes on Line

A year ago, IMG Academy and St. Frances Academy were supposed to settle the debate over which high school football program was the best in America.

The two national powerhouses were ranked No. 1 and No. 2 by High School On SI, setting the stage for what amounted to a de facto national championship game.

But the highly anticipated showdown never happened.

IMG Academy withdrew from the scheduled meeting, after an attempt to reschedule the contest for a national broadcast, leaving both programs without the opportunity to strengthen their claims to a national championship by defeating their biggest competition.

Now, a year later, the bitter rivals are finally getting another opportunity to settle matters on the football field.

And the stakes could hardly be more different.

IMG Academy (9-0) enters Saturday night's showdown at Bowie State University in Maryland ranked No. 1 in the nation by High School On SI. The Ascenders have won 19 consecutive games and can make a powerful case for the national championship by completing an unbeaten season with a victory over St. Frances.

For the Panthers (6-2), the opportunity is about something else entirely.

St. Frances opened the season ranked No. 2 nationally but has since fallen out of the rankings following two losses. A national championship is no longer a realistic objective.

But beating the nation's top-ranked team — particularly a rival with whom the Panthers have developed considerable bad blood — would provide a memorable conclusion to an otherwise disappointing season.

"This is the type of game you get up for as coaches and players," St. Frances head coach Messay Hailemariam told High School On SI in an exclusive interview.

Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. Saturday.

IMG Academy's National Championship Hopes Are on the Line

IMG Academy has spent the season building a résumé worthy of the nation's No. 1 ranking.

The Ascenders enter Saturday unbeaten, with their last defeat coming against the very team standing between them and a perfect season.

St. Frances handed IMG a 30-3 loss in 2024. Since then, the Ascenders have reeled off 19 consecutive victories.

A win Saturday would extend that streak to 20 and give IMG another significant result to support its national championship case.

A loss, however, would open the door for other undefeated national contenders and potentially undo the Ascenders' season-long pursuit of the top spot.

The opportunity is particularly meaningful given what happened last year.

With IMG and St. Frances occupying the top two positions in the High School On SI national rankings, their scheduled meeting offered the possibility of a rare head-to-head showdown between the nation's two highest-ranked teams.

Instead, the cancellation left the question unanswered on the field.

Saturday's matchup cannot recreate the circumstances of 2025, but it gives IMG an opportunity to finish what it started this season.

St. Frances Has a Chance to Make Its Season

For St. Frances, the stakes are more personal.

The Panthers entered 2026 with national championship aspirations of their own, beginning the season ranked No. 2.

Two losses changed that outlook.

Now 6-2 and outside the national rankings, St. Frances has one final opportunity to demonstrate that it still belongs among the country's elite.

A victory over unbeaten, top-ranked IMG would certainly make that argument.

It would also extend the Panthers' recent success against a program few high school teams have managed to beat consistently.

"We're the only high school in America that's beaten them more than once," Hailemariam said.

The St. Frances coach believes the Ascenders can be beaten, although he acknowledges how difficult that has become.

"No one has really found a way to beat them," he said.

His Panthers have been the exception.

A Rivalry Deadlocked at 3-3

IMG Academy and St. Frances have developed one of the nation's most compelling high school football rivalries.

The programs first met in 2016, when IMG rolled to a 38-0 victory.

St. Frances responded in 2019 with a 35-7 win, handing the Ascenders their only defeat that season.

The Panthers won again in 2021, defeating IMG 34-24.

IMG answered with a 27-16 victory in 2022 and followed with a narrow 17-14 win in 2023.

St. Frances delivered perhaps its most emphatic statement in the series in 2024, dominating IMG 30-3.

That victory remains IMG Academy's most recent loss.

The all-time series stands at 3-3, adding another layer of intrigue to Saturday's seventh meeting.

With the canceled 2025 matchup still part of the rivalry's history, both programs have plenty of motivation.

For IMG, it's about an unbeaten season and a national championship.

For St. Frances, it's about pride, redemption and another chance to knock off the Ascenders.

Common Opponent Offers an Intriguing Comparison

The teams share a common opponent this season in The St. James Performance Academy of Springfield, Virginia.

St. Frances suffered a 28-20 loss to the Strivers.

IMG Academy also struggled against The St. James but escaped with a 44-42 victory.

Those results suggest Saturday's matchup could be more competitive than the teams' records and national rankings might indicate.

Of course, common-opponent comparisons offer only a limited picture, particularly when two programs with this much talent and history meet.

Talented Young Quarterbacks Lead Both Teams

Saturday's matchup features two highly regarded quarterbacks at different stages of their high school careers.

IMG Academy is led by junior Jayden Wade, a five-star prospect committed to Georgia.

Wade directs an Ascenders offense featuring several of the nation's most talented skill-position players.

Among them are senior wide receiver Osani Gayles, a five-star Alabama commit, and junior running back Elijah Newman-Hall, a four-star prospect committed to Ohio State.

St. Frances counters with freshman quarterback Justin Merriman, a four-star prospect already attracting significant college attention.

Merriman is the son of former NFL All-Pro linebacker Shawne Merriman, who played college football at Maryland before becoming the 12th overall selection in the 2005 NFL Draft.

Shawne Merriman earned NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year honors that season.

His son is now establishing his own reputation.

Justin Merriman has received scholarship offers from numerous Division I programs, including Maryland, Alabama, Auburn, Michigan, Colorado, Syracuse and UNLV.

The young quarterback will face one of the biggest challenges of his early high school career against IMG's nationally prominent defense.

St. Frances Continues Producing Major College Talent

The rivalry also showcases two programs with extraordinary histories of developing college and professional football talent.

Together, IMG Academy and St. Frances have produced more than four dozen NFL players and numerous Division I college athletes.

St. Frances continues to build that reputation, with two Class of 2028 defensive standouts recently announcing commitments to Maryland.

Defensive lineman Tyrone Elee, a four-star prospect and the younger brother of Maryland freshman edge rusher Zion Elee, announced his commitment to the Terrapins on Thursday, Nov. 12.

Elee chose Maryland after considering Georgia Tech, LSU, Michigan and Tennessee.

Safety Christopher Griffin, a three-star prospect in the same class, also committed to Maryland.

Griffin selected the Terrapins over a group of schools that included Auburn, Texas A&M and South Florida.

Their decisions provide another example of the talent flowing through the St. Frances program.

How to Watch IMG Academy vs. St. Frances Academy

The nationally anticipated showdown is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 14, at Bowie State University in Prince George's County, Maryland.

Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.

The game has been selected as the MaxPreps Game of the Week and is scheduled to stream live on the MaxPreps YouTube channel.

For IMG Academy, the night represents an opportunity to complete an undefeated season, extend its winning streak to 20 games and strengthen its claim to the national championship.

For St. Frances, it represents something equally compelling: the chance to defeat its bitter rival, end the nation's longest-running storyline surrounding IMG's unbeaten streak and finish the season with a victory that could overshadow everything that came before it.

Last year's showdown never happened.

This time, the rivals finally get to settle things on the field.

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