“Play together. Cherish every moment. Don’t take anything for granted.”
Thanksgiving Day football is a tale as old as time, with the oldest high school rivalry — Needham vs. Wellesley — dating back to 1882. More than a century later, the holiday still gives teams a chance to come together one last time, to play for something bigger than the scoreboard, and hold onto the moments they won’t get back. This Thanksgiving, WA gets a chance to face their rival of three decades, Acton-Boxborough Regional High School, and either extend their winning streak to five years or lose their dominant run.
This year’s Thanksgiving Day game will take place at Acton-Boxborough Regional High School at 10 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 27.
WA started playing AB back in 1993, marking the beginning of a rivalry that many high school teams have with their opponents on Thanksgiving. Although more than 190 high school football games took place on Thanksgiving Day in Massachusetts last year, the tradition has weakened in other parts of the country. This is a result of states shortening their regular seasons in favor of playoff tournaments and athletes having time to compete in their winter sports, making Thanksgiving Day matchups less common.
“Playing on Thanksgiving is what makes high school football in Massachusetts so special,” head coach Bruce Rich said. “It means a lot to our community; alumni come back every year to see the team play.”
AB leads the overall series 22-10 since they started playing WA in 1993, but WA has been on a four year win streak.
“One of our goals every season is to beat AB on Thanksgiving,” Rich said. “We talk about that from day one.”
Now that the team’s season is over, they can allocate all of their attention towards AB and prepare by watching film, evaluating AB’s gameplay, and creating a detailed game plan.
“Our focus will be on identifying [AB’s] best plays and key players, and making sure we’re prepared for them,” Rich said. “[And] as always, we’ll continue to work hard all week and focus on doing all the little things right — especially blocking and tackling.”
Practices have also looked different now that the team is preparing for their final game.
“We’re working just as hard, if not harder,” sophomore Alex Luhrs said. “Everybody, from the coaches to the players, has been feeling a bit more drive than we have throughout the rest of the season to come out of this game with a win.”
This year, one challenge for the team has been the number of injuries they’ve had, forcing younger players to step up to fill vacant roles and making the team a younger group overall, according to Rich. Luhrs is one of the team’s younger varsity players.
“I was blessed with the opportunity to play on varsity as a sophomore and be a big part of the team,” Luhrs said. “This game means a lot to me, and it means even more that my coaches have enough trust in me to put me on the field.”
Senior captain Teddy Hirbour is one of 13 seniors who will be suiting up as a Ghost for the last time in their high school career, and he summed up what a Thanksgiving Day win would mean for all of the players on the team, especially seniors.
“It means a lot, it’s a game everyone looks forward to,” Hirbour said. “But we just need to focus on preparing and our coaches will put us in a place to be successful.”
This game being the last of the season, upperclassmen will have to hang up their helmets and put down their gear for the next generation of talent to take the field.
“I’ve made a lot of memories playing beside these guys, [and] I’m gonna miss playing with them,” Luhrs said. “But I can’t wait to help them get a win in their last game here at WA.”
Leading up to the game, there are many traditions that take place, such as the senior dinner, full-team luncheon, and the Rotary Club lunch with WA and AB captains, coaches, and administrators. There is also one very special tradition that retiring coach Mike Towers does every year, his Thanksgiving Day speech.
“Coach Towers’ Thanksgiving Day speech gets everyone pumped up and ready to go,” Hirbour said.
With both teams having ample time to prepare for this year’s matchup, the margin for error is slim, and the focus turns to how each side executes under pressure.
“The team that limits mistakes will win the football game,” Rich said.
