Seeking a way to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Partners In Excellence scholarship program, Roxanne Fiddler, director of the program, and her fellow PIE board of advisors brainstormed an idea especially fitting for the fall season.
The inaugural PIE Homecoming Classic will feature football teams from Archbishop Curley High School in Baltimore and Our Lady of Mount Carmel School in Essex squaring off on the gridiron Oct. 24, at 3 p.m., at Under Armour Stadium in the Baltimore Peninsula. Under Armour is a longtime PIE partner, Fiddler said.
Although the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association B Conference foes were already scheduled to play a league game, the nature of a “first-ever” meeting at a sparkling new and neutral facility should ramp up the rivalry aspect of the battle.
And that, in turn, might make the competitive aspect of the contest more intense for teams beginning the season in seemingly opposite trajectories.
Mount Carmel outscored its first three opponents by a whopping 132-22 before edging defending conference champion St. Paul’s, 14-7. Junior fullback Jamauri Miller scored both touchdowns for the Cougars, who suffered their first loss of the season to John Carroll, 28-21, Oct. 2.
Curley, on the other hand, opened its fall slate with a 20-10 victory over Fallston High School prior to suffering three straight non-league setbacks. Yet the Friars showed resilience against their first conference foe by shutting down St. Vincent Pallotti, 41-0, with a superior ground game spearheaded by senior running back Mike Cutchember (21 carries, 249 yards). They followed that with a 52-0 triumph over Annapolis Area Christian School.
Since its inception in 1996, PIE has awarded more than 30,000 scholarships totaling more than $40 million. Overall, PIE scholarships cover about 30 percent of tuition, so parents must contribute, and some schools find additional support as well.
Fiddler, whose husband, Bernie Fiddler, coaches Mount Carmel’s tight ends, said PIE scholarships are made possible through corporate sponsorships, grants and individual contributions.
One Mount Carmel scholarship recipient is Cougar freshman football player Ximri Monroe. Curley coach Rich Stichel, an assistant to Mount Carmel coach Josh Ward last season, said that he doesn’t believe any of his players are PIE recipients, although there are several non-athlete recipients attending the school.
“The game will be a great way to help support and grow Partners In Excellence,” Stichel said. “And it will be great for our team to play at Under Armour Stadium.”
Fiddler emphasized that the Homecoming Classic is not a fundraiser, but rather a celebration of PIE’s 30th anniversary and the Catholic school community it has supported for three decades. Admission will be free for students and fans. The event is also sponsored by Natural Concerns Landscape Contractors, Janda Florist and First Federal Credit Union.
Fiddler said that both schools receive PIE funding, and were already scheduled to play each other, “So we thought, why not make it a celebration of PIE’s 30th anniversary?”
She added that the organization would love for the game to become an annual event.
“We want the students and families to come out, have fun and celebrate their schools, but we also want people to see that PIE is about so much more than scholarships,” she said. “It’s about giving families access to a Catholic education and supporting the schools and students we serve. If this game brings our community together, introduces more people to PIE, and maybe even helps us fund another scholarship or two, I’d call that a success.”
Ward said that two schools promoting a Catholic education identity are well suited to square off in the PIE Football Classic.
“We’re very supportive of Partners in Excellence here at Mount Carmel,” he said. “And we’re very involved in it.”
Ward, who played and coached Calvert Hall College High School against Loyola Blakefield in what has become known locally as the Turkey Bowl, isn’t expecting the PIE Homecoming Classic to match that heated rivalry. After all, that tussle between two all-boys Towson-area Catholic schools has been played every year since 1920 — except for a pandemic cancellation in 2020.
Still, Ward said, “We’re hoping to get a rivalry going between schools with a similar demographic.”
Mount Carmel senior quarterback Blake Caccamo said that although the game is a few weeks away, he and his teammates are excited to play in Under Armour Stadium and to “show that this year’s team is the real deal.”
Having missed the entire season last year in a freak accident that caused a collapsed lung which was treated at The John Hopkins Hospital, Caccamo added that he’s happy to be back on the field leading a team “with a different culture” from last year’s Cougars. He threw for 153 yards and two touchdowns in the John Carroll loss.
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