MIAA lands 11 on Team Maryland Big 33 football roster

When the 67th Big 33 Classic kicks off at Cumberland Valley High School's Chapman Field, in Mechanicsburg Pennsylvania on May 26th, 11 players from the MIAA will be on the Team Maryland roster which was announced this weekend.

Concordia Prep, which won the MIAA B Conference last fall and which is moving up to the A Conference for the 2024 season, leads the way with four selections, while Calvert Hall and Archbishop Curley have two each. In addition, defending MIAA A Conference champion Archbishop Spalding placed one player on the squad and St. Frances, an MIAA member school which plays as an independent in football has two players on the team.

The Big 33 started in 1957 as an in-state all-star game to showcase some of the best players in Pennsylvania. Eventually, Team Pennsylvania began playing other states, holding lengthy series against teams from Ohio, Texas and Maryland. The game is known as the "Super Bowl of High School Football" because their has never been a NFL Super Bowl played without at least one former Big 33 player. That's how top notch the talent has been in this game.

Despite winning just two of 10 meetings with Pennsylvania since returning to the series in 2013, Maryland has been competitive with its much larger neighbor to the North. Last year's contest was a barn burner with PA earning a narrow 32-27 victory.

For the players involved it is an amazing experience. After going through two weeks of practice in Maryland, leading up to the contest, the team will travel to Pennsylvania and the players will stay with host families. They will also take part in several activities and be paired with a Big 33 Buddy, a child with special needs for whom they become role models and often form lifetime bonds. Each player will be introduced at the game with their Big 33 buddy.

The MIAA players currently slated to play in the 2024 Big 33 Classic are as follows:

Keyshawn Mister - Concordia Prep - WR (Old Dominion)

Daniel Cousler - Concordia Prep - OL  (Frostburg)

Camerin Gross - Concordia Prep - LB (East Stroudsburg)

Darian Hill - Concordia Prep - DB (Uncommitted)

Jackson Gisler - Calvert Hall - TE (Rutgers)

Caiden Newsome - Calvert Hall - DB (Holy Cross)

Liam Lynch - Archbishop Spalding - OL (Holy Cross)

Maliki Nichols - Archbishop Curley - DB (St. Francis)

Chris Pond - Archbishop Curley - K (Maryland

Santana Williams - St. Frances - DL (Uncommitted)

Kevyn Humes - St. Frances - DB (Maryland)