Time heals everything, including the national high school football rivalry between St. Frances Academy (Md.) and IMG Academy (Fla.). Rivals spoke to St. Frances Academy head football coach Messay Hailemariam, who confirmed on Monday evening that the Panthers will in fact play the Ascenders in the fall of 2026. Hailemariam told Rivals that the game […]
Time heals everything, including the national high school football rivalry between St. Frances Academy (Md.) and IMG Academy (Fla.).
Rivals spoke to St. Frances Academy head football coach Messay Hailemariam, who confirmed on Monday evening that the Panthers will in fact play the Ascenders in the fall of 2026. Hailemariam told Rivals that the game against IMG Academy is slated for Nov. 13 (Friday).
“I don’t ever think about what is good for me, but more what is what is good for the kids,” Hailemariam said to Rivals. “The kids always want to play the best in the country. (Myself and IMG) have talked since then and we think that we should play each other every year. It wasn’t good for us (at the time), but we ended up getting another opponent.”
Hailemariam confirming the matchup will happen is a turnaround from back in November when IMG Academy announced that they would not be playing in what was shaping up to be a national championship game.
At the time, Hailemariam voiced his opinion and was displeased with the Ascenders backing out of the contest with the Ascenders. The Panthers would instead play Corner Canyon (UT) for the Overtime Nationals Championship Game, beating the Chargers 37-20 in December.
The series between IMG Academy-St. Frances Academy is currently tied at 3-all between the two nationally ranked programs as they first started playing each other back in 2016. Since then, the longest a team has won consecutively is twice, with the Panthers winning in 2019 & 2021 and the Ascenders in 2022 and 2023.
“From an emotional stand point, I thought it was extremely disrespectful (at the time),” Hailemariam added. “So by grace and mercy, being a Christian, I don’t hold grudges. Time does heal all wounds. It’s always a very competitive matchup and always a great opportunity for St. Frances Academy (to play IMG Academy). It would be a disservice to both programs to not play each other every year.”
The 2024 meeting between the two teams was played in Baltimore, with St. Frances Academy handing IMG Academy its second loss of the season, a crushing 30-3 defeat.
The Panthers ended up finishing this past season with a 9-1 record and as the No. 2 ranked team in the country, according to the final Rivals National 2025 High School Football Composite Rankings.
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Category: General Sports
