Oxbridge Academy football program to kick off again in 2022

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Oxbridge Academy is bringing back football.

The private college preparatory school in West Palm Beach announced Wednesday that its football program will kick off again in the fall of 2022.

ESPN 106.3 FM first reported that the program would resume beginning with the 2022-23 school year.

Oxbridge Academy soon thereafter made it official with a post on its athletic Twitter account.

The school shuttered its football program in June 2018 after a mass player exodus that then-athletic director Patrick Hollern said made it impossible for the school "to sustain a safe football program."

That decision left those players who remained at the school disappointed.

"When we began planning for our 10-year anniversary and identified ways to build on our strong foundation, adding a middle school and bringing back our football program were a big part of the conversation," head of school Ralph Maurer said in a statement.

The statement went on to say that the timing is right to resume the program.

Jupiter Christian School was quick to show its support, offering encouraging words in a reply to Oxbridge Academy's tweet.

"Let's schedule a game," the tweet said.

ESPN 106.3 FM reported that the school will begin by reinstating its junior varsity program.

Oxbridge Academy fielded a football team from 2013-17. The ThunderWolves went 49-10 during that span, losing in the state championship game of their final season.