City football coach George Petrides says he is a firm believer that "to be the best you have to play the best."
That's what members of City and Poly's football programs believe they will be doing when they rekindle old rivalries and play a Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference schedule next season.
The two city public schools had developed long-standing rivalries with the Maryland Scholastic Association teams before the MSA disbanded last year and City and Poly joined the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association.
City and Poly announced yesterday that they will play five of the six teams that make up the MIAA's A Conference.
But neither will be eligible to win the league championship because of a law in the MIAA constitution.
The conference's members are Calvert Hall, Gilman, Loyola, McDonogh, Mount St. Joseph and St. Mary's.
MIAA executive director Rick Diggs said the timing was right for all parties involved and he is excited about the 1995 football season.
"We welcomed them [City and Poly] with open arms," said Diggs. "We only have six schools in our conference right now, and this solves a lot of our scheduling problems. Plus, both City and Poly were just reclassified to Class 2A [down from 3A], so they will still be able to get the points they need to qualify for the state public school playoffs."
This season, City missed the playoffs with an 8-2 record, and the Engineers went 9-1 before losing to Wheaton, 17-16, in the Class 3A state quarterfinals.
"We had built up some real good relationships with schools in the old MSA, and to me, that was top-level football. It's hard-hitting football and we missed some of that this year." said Petrides, adding that his team gained nothing by defeating Douglass (40-0), Northern (36-8) and Southern-B (32-0).
"If we're fortunate enough to do well enough to qualify for state playoffs next year, we'll be heading into the states with a better chance of competing because of the competition we're playing."
Poly coach Augie Waibel shared Petrides' enthusiasm about next year's revised schedule.
"Our program wasn't getting anything out of playing some of the schools we were playing this year," he said.
"The kids knew before the game started that the other team didn't have a chance of winning and that makes it even harder for a coach because they think they are better than they are and you have to deflate your kids before they run into a hornet's nest. At least now, we know we'll have to be ready every week."
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FINAL FOOTBALL POLL
Top 15
1. Dunbar 12-0
2. North County 11-2
3. Patterson 11-1
4. Mount St. Joseph 8-1
5. Poly 9-2
6. Gilman 6-2
7. City 8-2
8. McDonogh 6-3
9. Loyola 6-3
10. C.M. Wright 10-2
11. Severn 8-1
12. Aberdeen 9-2
13. Severna Park 8-3
14. Oakland Mills 8-3
15. Franklin 10-1
(tie) Howard 8-2