Baltimore City College football
The Baltimore City College football team, known as the "Black Knights", or formerly "Castlemen", and "Alamedans", has represented Baltimore City College, popularly referred to as "City", the flagship public college preparatory school in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, for nearly 150 years in the sport of gridiron football. Until 1953, the school's athletic teams were primarily referred to as the "Collegians", a moniker that is still used alternatively today. The team is the oldest high school football program in Maryland and is among the oldest high school football programs in the United States. The program was among the nation's best in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, finishing ranked in national high school football polls on multiple occasions.
| Baltimore City College football | |
|---|---|
| Nickname | City College Black Knights |
| Conference | MPSSAA 3A North Region |
| Division | Baltimore City (Division 1) |
| League | Maryland Scholastic Association (MSA) [1919-1993] Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association (MPSSAA) [1993-present] |
| Stadium | George Petrides Stadium at Alumni Field |
| Capacity | 2,000 |
| Location | Baltimore, MD, US |
| Team colors | Orange and Black |
| Head coach | Rodney Joyner (4th season); 22-12 (.647) |
| Championships | (18) MSA Conference Championships 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1961, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1991, 1992 |
| Conference titles | (4) MPSSAA Regional Championships 1996, 2001, 2005, 2023 |
| Division titles | (2) Baltimore City League Division Championships 2005, 2006 |
| Website | bccathletics.com |
In the late-1890s, City College competed as a member of the Maryland Intercollegiate Football Association (MIFA) against colleges in Maryland and Washington, D.C. The school joined the Maryland Scholastic Association (MSA) in 1919 as a founding member and remained a member until 1992 when it withdrew to join the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association (MPSSAA) in 1993. The school left the MSA to compete for state championships with Maryland's other public high schools.
The program has a history of producing NFL talent, with 14 alumni reaching the professional ranks of the National Football League. City College also has a legacy of successful head football coaches. This list includes George Young, former General Manager of the New York Jets and George Petrides, whose 257 career wins ranks eighth all-time among Maryland high school football coaches.
Baltimore Polytechnic Institute (Poly) has been the team's primary rival since the two schools first met in 1889. The rivalry is believed to be the second-oldest high school football rivalry in the United States between public high schools, predated only by the English High School of Boston-Boston Latin School football rivalry. The rivalry began in 1889 and the teams have met 134 times in history. City College leads the series 66-62-6.