Inside Maryland High School Football: Oakdale Makes a Statement, St. Frances Faces a Setback

MSD is averaging more than 50 points an outing; Towson is 6-0 for the first time since 1969, and other news and notes from the Old Line State.

It's been 57 years since Towson was last 6-0, and the Generals are now bidding for a high playoff seed. | Towson HS Football

The last time Oakdale defeated Linganore, the Bears claimed the 2023 Maryland Class 3A state championship.

Friday night, Oakdale made another statement, handling the Lancers 35-7 in a rivalry that is becoming one of Maryland’s premier public-school football clashes. The victory could push the Bears into the state poll’s Top 10, a spot recently occupied by reigning 3A champion Linganore.

The schools have met 18 times since Oakdale began varsity competition in 2011, with Linganore holding an 11-7 advantage. The Lancers won the first five meetings, but the series has since developed an unusual pattern of three-game winning streaks by each team. Oakdale won the 2023 Class 3A state final, but Linganore answered with victories in 2024 and twice in 2025, including the 3A state championship game.

When Oakdale opened in 2010 on property previously within Linganore’s attendance area, it reshaped the local school landscape and created new neighborhood rivalries. Oakdale also drew students from Thomas Johnson and Urbana. Its location made Linganore and Urbana natural rivals, but Oakdale-Linganore quickly became known as “The Game.”

This rivalry’s roots run deep, long before these players ever reached high school.

Youth athletes from the Linganore, Oakdale, and Urbana communities have competed in the Linganore-Oakdale-Urbana Youth Association, known as LOUYAA. Before Oakdale opened, the organization was formally known as LUYAA, reflecting the two-school landscape that existed at the time. Players who once competed within the same youth-football organization now find themselves on opposite sidelines, representing neighboring high schools.

Before Oakdale emerged as a varsity program, the Urbana-Linganore matchup was a staple of Frederick County football in the late 1990s and early 2000s. As Oakdale established itself, the Bears-Lancers meeting developed an identity of its own, fueled by the schools’ proximity and increasingly significant results on the field.

Both programs have become consistent state tournament contenders. Linganore has reached the playoffs every year since 2013, with eight state championship-game appearances. Oakdale has qualified every year since 2014, with four championship-game appearances. The schools have met in two state championship finals, 2023 and 2025, each claiming a state title.

Oakdale claimed bragging rights Friday, but both teams remain among the favorites in Class 3A, leaving open the possibility of another championship showdown in December.

The Difficult Road

Since its ouster from the MIAA before the 2018 season, St. Frances Academy has embraced a national schedule, seeking competition that could put the Panthers in the national championship conversation.

Playing so many high-profile games comes with some risks, as the Panthers learned Saturday.

While St. Frances Academy’s 28-20 loss to St. James Performance (Va.) has been well-documented, the Panthers have not posted an undefeated season since 2018. That year, after MIAA opponents withdrew from scheduled games, then-coach Biff Poggi cobbled together a late national schedule.

Since then, St. Frances is 8-1 against Maryland programs, with the lone loss coming to Good Counsel in its only game of the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. In the absence of in-state opponents, the Panthers have faced schools from 16 states and Canada since 2018. 

Competitive Balance

The Upper Chesapeake Bay Athletic Conference - Hatem Division is making a bid as the state’s most balanced conference. Four of the five members are 3-3 overall, and the other member is 2-4. C. Milton Wright and Harford Tech lead the league standings with 2-1 records. 

Entering Week 7, all five teams remain in contention for the division title, making the Hatem Division the only Maryland-based conference in which every member is still in the championship hunt.

Turning Back the Clock

Behind the running of Omari Rowell, Towson is off to a 6-0 start, with the Generals leading Baltimore County’s Division III.

The hot start raises an obvious question: When was the last time Towson opened a season 6-0?

The answer: 1969.

In the early years of Baltimore County football, Towson went 8-0 in the regular season before defeating Woodlawn 28-18 to claim the county championship and finish 9-0. That perfect season came five years before Maryland introduced its state football playoff system.

Crofton Keeps Rolling

Crofton’s 41-20 victory over South River pushed the Cardinals’ record to 6-0. It also set a record for victories in a season, surpassing last year’s 5-5 showing.

Crofton has now won 10 of its last 12 regular-season games, a far stretch from the program’s rocky start where it went 6-37 before defeating Meade last year to start the current run.

Scoring Frenzy

Maryland School for the Deaf became the first school to top 300 points this year, courtesy of its 70-0 thrashing of Timber Ridge (Va.). 

MSD is 7-0 but picked up a forfeit win to start the year when its scheduled opponent disbanded just days before the contest.

In the six actual games since, the Orioles have scored 302 points.

Point-of-Reference Game

In one of the many big-time matchups last week, SEED School established itself among the Class 1A state title contenders with a 35-32 win over Perryville.

Both teams entered the game with 5-0 records.

SEED, Fort Hill, and Smithsburg are the last remaining Class 1A undefeated teams in the state. 

Smithsburg should cruise this week as it faces winless Catoctin. Fort Hill, meanwhile, will be favored against North Hagerstown. SEED School, however, faces a different kind of challenge as it is taking on state-ranked Mount St. Joseph on Friday. The SEED-MSJ result will go a long way in sizing up the level of competition between competitive 1A programs and the MIAA. Last year, SEED faced Loyola Blakefield of the MIAA and lost 42-0.   

The Stretch Run

It’s been a long wait, but the Interstate Athletic Conference finally opens league play this week.

The IAC is the last conference with Maryland high schools to begin league competition. With no postseason to navigate, its five member schools can afford a later finish to the regular season.

Landon, a charter member of the league founded in 1938, opens against county rival Bullis School. Meanwhile, Episcopal (Va.) takes on St. Albans (D.C.).

The IAC is the oldest continually operating league that features Maryland programs.