Turkey Day marks some of the greatest high school football rivalries in Pennsylvania. Below is a quick summary of the games that were played before Thanksgiving meals.
The granddaddy of them all is the game between Philadelphia’s Northeast and Central High Schools. The series began in 1892.
Northeast won the 123rd game Thursday by a score of 37-7 to take a 61-52-10 lead in the all-time series.
Phillipsburg (New Jersey) won the Forks of the Delaware Trophy with a 35-14 win over Easton in the 115th game between the two. P’burg won for the first time since 2014, which cuts into Easton’s all-time series lead.
Easton has won 67 times. Phillipsburg has won 43 game with five ties.
Haverford and Upper Darby played their 100th game Thursday. The Fords won 20-14, giving Haverford a 50-44-6 lead in the series that began in 1921. The game wasn’t played in 1925 and in 2020.
Catasauqua and Northampton will play their 100th game in 2023. Thursday, Northampton won the 99th game 42-12. The Konkrete Kids now lead the 62-33-4.
The 93rd game between Pennridge and Quakertown went to Q-town. The Panthers beat the Rams 22-6 for their second straight win in the series. Pennridge leads the all-time series 58-30-5.
Archbishop Ryan beat George Washington 17-6 in their Turkey Day series that started in 1975. They played non-holiday games in ’73 and ’74.
Bristol defeated Morrisville 28-6 in the 95th game between the two. Bristol has now won 21 straight in the series.
Ridley beat Interboro 47-7 in the 54th game between the schools. Ridley leads the all-time series 41-13 and the Thanksgiving series 40-13. The Turkey Day tradition wasn’t played in 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2012, because one of the teams made the playoffs.
Chichester and Sun Valley also played for the 54th time. SV took the Turkey Bowl 26-7, snapping a three-game losing streak against its rivals.
Father Judge won their 33rd straight against Abraham Lincoln after a 28-12 win Thursday morning. Judge now leads the all-time series 43-3-1.
Neumann-Goretti and Philadelphia South renewed their Thanksgiving tradition in 2021. The rivalry game began in 1934, but was suspended in 2015.
Thursday, N-G won 26-20 in the 81st Turkey Day between the two to take a 58-20-3 lead in the series.
Four Philadelphia schools – Frankford, Martin Luther King, Olney and Roman Catholic — began new traditions on Thursday.
Roman Catholic played Frankford for the first time in 75 years. RC won 34-8. Frankford used to play now-closed North Catholic from 1930 through 2009.
Martin Luther King and Olney also started a new Turkey Day tradition. The two met in their first-ever Thanksgiving Day game with MLK picking-up a 6-0 victory.
In the 70’s MLK used to play now-closed Germantown High.
Pennsylvania High School Football Scores
Thanksgiving Scores
November 24
Archbishop Ryan 17, George Washington 6
Belmont Charter School 22, School of the Future 14
Bristol 28, Morrisville 6
Dobbins Randolph Vo-Tech 16, Benjamin Franklin 14
Father Judge 28, Abraham Lincoln 12
Haverford High 20, Upper Darby 14
Martin Luther King 6, Olney Charter 0
Neumann-Goretti 26, South Philadelphia 20
Northampton 42, Catasauqua 12
Northeast 37, Philadelphia Central 7
Phillipsburg (New Jersey) 35, Easton 14
Quakertown 22, Pennridge 6
Ridley 47, Interboro 7
Roman Catholic 34, Frankford 8
Sun Valley 26, Chichester 7
November 23
Marple-Newtown 32, Penncrest 28
