9781422283035

aside Thanksgiving as a day on which to play their football rivals. In 1875, Norwich Free Academy in Norwich, Connecticut, met New London (Conn.) High School on Thanksgiving, although the two schools had played earlier that spring. More than 140 years later, the Wildcats and Whalers still take part in what is the nation’s oldest high school Thanksgiving Day rivalry. There are about 100 Thanksgiving Day high school football rivalry games, also known as Turkey Bowls, that date back more than a century. Most of them take place in the northeast United States. The oldest continuous public high school rivalry, dating to 1882, is between Needham High and Wellesley High in Massachusetts—fitting since the first Thanksgiving took place in what would later be Massachusetts. Most Turkey Bowls kick off at 10 a . m . so that spectators will have time to celebrate the holiday with family and a sumptuous feast later. In Connecticut, where Turkey Bowls and wild turkey proliferate , annual games such as Ansonia-Shelton draw more than 10,000 spectators.

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