By Brian Hradsky
Updated Nov. 12, 2026. Reporting reflects results available before the evening’s games.
Archbishop Spalding enters the MIAA A Conference football semifinals with an unbeaten league record and the clearest claim to the favorite’s position. McDonogh, Calvert Hall and St. Mary’s complete the four-team field, with the semifinal games scheduled for Friday, Nov. 13. Spalding faces St. Mary’s, while McDonogh meets Calvert Hall in the other matchup. The 2026 regular season has produced a strong leader, several revealing head-to-head results and enough uneven performances among the challengers to make the postseason more interesting than the overall records suggest.
This update covers the eight varsity A Conference teams listed in the 2026–27 MIAA handbook. Mount St. Joseph, Loyola Blakefield, Gilman and Concordia Prep remain part of the season story despite missing the semifinal field. The association’s football structure differs from its arrangements in sports that have an additional C Conference. Its varsity football championships are decided in A and B conference playoff tournaments.
Spalding sets the standard
Spalding is listed at 8–2 overall and 7–0 in conference play on its current team page. The Cavaliers finished their league schedule with a 34–13 victory over Loyola Blakefield. Before that, they defeated St. Mary’s 34–27 and Calvert Hall 37–7. Those results demonstrate both the size of Spalding’s advantage in some games and the danger of assuming every conference opponent has been comfortably behind it.
The seven-point St. Mary’s game is particularly relevant because the Saints are the semifinal opponent. Spalding won that meeting, but the margin gives the challenger a more encouraging reference point than the Cavaliers’ wider victories elsewhere. A rematch can turn on whether the trailing team improves the small number of situations that separated the first game. That is the central competitive question here, even though a final score by itself cannot identify every adjustment either staff will consider.
Spalding’s reported player leaders include receiver Keith “Kam” Miller and running back Gabe Denius. Its page lists Miller at 57.1 receiving yards per game and Denius at 71.7 rushing yards per game. Nomue Duncan appears among the defensive leaders with six sacks. These submitted figures identify players to follow, without establishing a complete ranking of the conference’s talent or a prediction about semifinal performance.
St. Mary’s has a recent test against the favorite
St. Mary’s enters at a reported 5–5 overall after defeating Severn 33–6 in its regular-season finale. Its published results include the 34–27 loss to Spalding and a 23–13 loss to Calvert Hall. The Saints’ overall record therefore does not tell the whole story of their position in the semifinal field. The more useful comparison for Friday is their recent, competitive meeting with the team they must now defeat.
Dylin Jackson is a notable offensive name in St. Mary’s submitted statistics. The Saints’ page lists him at 89.3 receiving yards per game, with eight receiving touchdowns. Penn Cochran also appears among the rushing leaders, while Speedy Pack is listed with two interceptions. Those contributions give readers several individual performances to watch as the Saints attempt to turn a close regular-season defeat into a different postseason result.
St. Mary’s does not need to prove it can remain within reach of Spalding; the earlier score already provides that evidence. The next challenge is converting competitive stretches into a winning final margin. Finishing possessions and preventing the Cavaliers from extending drives are reasonable matchup priorities, although neither is presented here as a statement from the Saints’ coaching staff. The difference between staying close and advancing will define how this season is remembered.
McDonogh reaches the bracket with nine wins
McDonogh carries a reported 9–2 overall record into its semifinal. The Eagles finished with a 28–13 victory over Gilman after beating Concordia Prep 45–7. Their team results also include a 56–19 win over Loyola Blakefield. Those scores help explain why McDonogh remains a serious contender even with losses elsewhere on its schedule.
Carlos Ferguson and Basil Oshegbo appear among McDonogh’s offensive statistical leaders. The published listing gives Ferguson 72.2 receiving yards per game and Oshegbo 75.5 rushing yards per game. Caden Cashman appears at 8.2 tackles per game. As with other team submissions, those numbers describe the available reported sample and should not be mistaken for independently audited statewide standings.
The Eagles’ challenge is to match their productive finishes with a complete semifinal against Calvert Hall. A convincing win in one week does not remove the possibility of a different matchup problem the next. McDonogh has shown it can create substantial separation on the scoreboard, but postseason advancement requires doing that work again against a team arriving from its own decisive victory. The semifinal should provide a sharper measure of the Eagles than a comparison of recent winning margins alone.
Calvert Hall changes the conversation
Calvert Hall arrives at 5–5 after shutting out Mount St. Joseph 39–0. That result stands out in the Cardinals’ recent schedule, especially because the Gaels had been producing major wins of their own. Calvert Hall now faces McDonogh rather than carrying that result into a quiet end to the fall. The semifinal gives the Cardinals a chance to build a championship run from a season that has included both difficult defeats and significant victories.
Atlas Gore is listed with 904 rushing yards and 11 total touchdowns on Calvert Hall’s page. Michael Sarwar appears with 11 sacks, while Zay Bridges is listed with five interceptions. Quarterback Oliver Noll is another player identified in Prep Redzone’s current semifinal coverage. Those names help frame the Cardinals as more than their .500 overall record.
A rushing threat and players who can pressure or take the ball away give Calvert Hall several potential routes to influencing the game. That does not establish how the semifinal will unfold. It does explain why the Cardinals’ season deserves a closer look than a quick glance at wins and losses. Friday offers a direct test against another of the conference’s top-four teams.
Mount St. Joseph’s strong stretches end outside the field
Mount St. Joseph is listed at 7–4 overall, a winning record that still left the Gaels outside the semifinals. Their reported results include a 28–14 win over McDonogh and a 63–27 win over Loyola Blakefield. The 39–0 loss to Calvert Hall then supplied a very different ending to that late run. That sequence is one of the clearest examples of the conference’s week-to-week volatility.
Aidan Bell, Omari Wilder and Jaden Glispy appear prominently in the Gaels’ offensive listings. Bell is listed with 20 touchdown passes, while Wilder appears with 796 rushing yards. Those are useful individual highlights within a season that cannot be reduced to the final defeat. The Gaels produced results against semifinal-level opposition even though they did not secure a place in the championship tournament.
Loyola, Gilman and Concordia complete the picture
Loyola Blakefield stands at a reported 6–4, with the Thanksgiving meeting against Calvert Hall still listed on the Dons’ schedule. Loyola defeated St. Mary’s 33–25 but finished its conference stretch with losses to Mount St. Joseph and Spalding. Carlos Spencer appears among its featured players, alongside Levi Axe and Keegan Wengert in the offensive leader listings. The Dons’ season therefore still has a major rivalry chapter ahead despite the end of their conference title pursuit.
Gilman’s reported 3–7 record includes the closing 28–13 loss to McDonogh. Concordia Prep finished at a reported 5–5 and won its final game against Long Island Lutheran 37–0. Concordia also recorded a 17–14 win over Calvert Hall, according to its published results. Jeffrey “JJ” King and Trayvon Lewis appear among Concordia’s statistical leaders, providing individual highlights alongside that notable conference victory.
A closer look at a key contender matchup
Spalding’s 20–7 win over McDonogh supplies another useful detail in the race. The published box score credits Gabe Denius with 71 rushing yards and two touchdowns on nine carries. Basil Oshegbo ran for 96 yards and McDonogh’s touchdown. Those performances put individual contributions behind a result that could otherwise appear as only another line in the standings.
Spalding led 14–7 at halftime, neither team scored in the third quarter and the Cavaliers added six points in the fourth. That progression illustrates a game that remained within one score for a substantial stretch before the final separation. It also reinforces the distinction between winning a league schedule and winning a rematch in the championship tournament. The contenders have already supplied competitive evidence against one another; the next games determine which evidence carries into the title matchup.
MSB Take
Spalding has earned the strongest position through an unbeaten conference schedule, but the earlier St. Mary’s margin gives the first semifinal a meaningful competitive backdrop. McDonogh’s nine wins and Calvert Hall’s emphatic finish make the other pairing difficult to judge from overall records alone. MSB’s previous MIAA race report provides the context before the final weekend, while Maryland Sports Blog continues following the local football landscape. Readers tracking the separate public-school postseason can also use our MPSSAA schedules and standings guide; those classifications do not determine the MIAA champion.
