Narragansett shifts Thanksgiving football plans after concerns about future of rival program

Close the book on another longstanding Thanksgiving high school football rivalry in Central Mass.

Narragansett Regional announced Monday it was ending its annual holiday game with Murdock after 50 meetings.

The Warriors will now face North Middlesex on Thanksgiving with the first game scheduled for Nov. 28 at Arthur L. Stuart Memorial Field in Baldwinville.

“The decision to change our long-time Thanksgiving opponent was not easy,” Narragansett superintendent of schools Christopher D. Casavant wrote in a letter addressed to Warrior Community and posted on Facebook.

“Although Murdock prevailed 29-28 in one of the most thrilling games in this storied rivalry only two years ago, concerns that they will have an adequate number of varsity players moving forward have made this difficult decision necessary.”

Murdock and Narragansett, which are situated in the neighboring towns of Winchendon and Templeton, respectively, and separated by nine miles, first met in 1969.

The series shifted to Thanksgiving in 1972 and was played every year since then with the exception of 2020 and ’21 due to COVID.

The Warriors won 13 of the last 14 meetings to finish with a 39-11 advantage on Thanksgiving. They lead the overall series, which began with four straight wins by the Blue Devils, 39-14.

While Narragansett and North Middlesex are both North County schools, that’s where the similarity ends.

North Middlesex competes in the Mid-Wach C, is slotted in Division 5 for state tournament play and has a male enrollment of 389. Narragansett is in Mid-Wach E, Division 8 and has 262 male students.

Consider this a marriage of convenience, if you will, for two schools located a 45-minute drive apart.

“While Murdock has been a formidable opponent and a respected rival, we believe that playing North Middlesex on Thanksgiving will inject a new perspective and energy into our football tradition,” Casavant wrote.

Narragansett will be North Middlesex’s fifth Thanksgiving opponent in the past 10 years.

The Patriots played Nashoba Regional in 2015 before ending the 21-year-old series. Then came St. Bernard’s from 2016 to ’19, Assabet Valley in 2022 and Manchester Essex last fall.

There were no Thanksgiving games in 2020 due to COVID, and the Patriots didn’t have an opponent in 2021. (For you history buffs, the Patriots also have played Ayer, Cambridge and Lunenburg on Thanksgiving.)

Assuming Murdock fields a team this fall, it would have to look outside Central Mass. for a Thanksgiving opponent as the other 49 teams in the area all currently have a playing partner.

And it would still play Narragansett as they’re in the same league, along with Ayer-Shirley, Gardner, Littleton, and Quabbin.

If the Blue Devils don’t have enough players to safely field a team — the roster was in the upper-teens to low-20s the last two seasons — it’s going to leave their league opponents scrambling to fill an open date.

One also has to wonder whether they’d reach out to, say, Gardner or Narragansett to form a co-op team.

Murdock co-athletic director Anthony Findley was unavailable for comment Tuesday due to a previous commitment, while Narragansett AD Brad Bond didn’t immediately respond to an interview request.

In addition to Murdock-Narragansett and Nashoba-North Middlesex, Central Mass. also has seen the lengthy Thanksgiving rivalries of Millbury-Northbridge end in 1997 after 67 years, Gardner-Oakmont conclude in 2018 after 39 years and David Prouty-Leicester call it quits in 2019 after 50 years.

—Contact Rich Garven at rgarven@telegram.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @RichGarvenTG.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: This North County Thanksgiving football rivalry will end after 50 meetings