SFDS Football Program - Important Announcement
/Date: September 5, 2014
Chicago, IL | St. Francis de Sales High School, 10155 S. Ewing Avenue
St. Francis de Sales High School announced this morning that they will suspend their football program for the 2014-2015 season.
Playing an independent schedule since 2001, St. Francis moved into the Red Division to fill a scheduling void left when Marian Central announced it would move to the East Suburban Catholic Conference for all sports for the 2014-15 academic year, and Leo and De La Salle High Schools shifted Catholic League divisions.
Following great excitement around the reappointment of Coach John Terry in the spring, de Sales reached a roster of 20 athletes, with the hopes of fulfilling the commitment to return to the Chicago Catholic League.
“We are very proud of our young men who have worked hard and demonstrated a great deal of commitment and drive,” Mary Reid-Kujawa, Director of Student Services, explained. “We have our share of early injuries and a few students unable to make a full commitment to the season. Starting with a smaller pool of athletes makes these inevitabilities more critical to our overall program.”
After canceling the first two games, de Sales has decided to officially release all opponents from the scheduling commitment with the hopes that they might reschedule. Three scheduled crossover teams were provided the rescheduling opportunity before February 1 and several other teams have already been in discussion to play a JV schedule or find alternative opponents. St. Francis has worked to be frank and honest with their scheduled opponents and the league throughout the summer.
“We understand, and apologize for, the difficulty that this late decision may cause to our scheduled opponents,” explained Janet Cobb, Executive Director. “For the sake of our students, our alumni, and the larger east side community who have supported our Pioneer football program throughout the years, we wanted to be certain that we gave it our best Pioneer effort before making this difficult decision.”
“Director Reid-Kujawa and I remain committed to the program,” Terry stated. “We are already planning for next season, working to build from the bottom up, determined to spend this year rebuilding with the currently interested freshman and sophomore students, and eager to bring back the excitement of Pioneer Football under the Friday night lights on Chicago’s east side.”
About St. Francis de Sales
Founded in 1937 as the first co-educational Catholic high school in Chicago, St. Francis de Sales High School stands as an anchor to the city's East Side, Hegewisch and South Chicago, and draws students from numerous Chicago neighborhoods, as well as the South Suburbs and Northwest Indiana. True to the symbol of the phoenix on the school seal, and now celebrating 75 years in education, St. Francis de Sales rises from the industrial model of education to offer personalized learning plans, a 1:10 faculty mentoring program, and an education rooted in the Salesian virtues. St. Francis is committed to providing students with numerous opportunities for social, cultural, athletic, and spiritual growth to complement their academic achievement. Graduates of St. Francis are accepting, appreciative, collaborative, compassionate, confident, generous, hardworking, independent and intellectually inquisitive readers, writers and thinkers.
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Contact: Janet Cobb, Executive Director
Phone: 773-731-7272 ext 237
E-mail: jcobb@sfdshs.org
