Traditions old and new: Gardner-area football teams gear up for Thanksgiving games

For the vast majority of high school teams in Massachusetts, Thanksgiving is the grand finale of the football season, a chance to suit up for one last time in the annual showcase of community and tradition.

While the two best teams in each division may be squaring off in the state championship Super Bowl later in the month, for everyone else, Thanksgiving is the ultimate game – a sacred football ritual.

Thanksgiving Day game traditions can date back generations. Today’s teams play for those who came before them, often family, neighbors or friends who spanned the decades leading up to their own time to step on the field. Members of the team become a part of the continuing culture of the program and for many small towns in Massachusetts, it's considered an honor to experience it.

The Gardner area is no exception to this world of small-town traditions. However, some have opted to explore new traditions that pave the way for generations to come.

Creating new traditions

Gardner and Oakmont ended their long-standing Thanksgiving game after 38 years back in 2019.

In an era of struggle for the Wildcats football team, the schools agreed that it would be best moving forward for all involved to switch up the games. Oakmont pivoted to facing Lunenburg, and Gardner now competes against Quabbin.

Now, in the fifth year since the change, Garder and Quabbin have been able to create their own tradition surrounding the young Thanksgiving rivalry.

Before they face off in the final game of the season, the players on both teams join forces to complete a community service project, honoring the spirit of the holiday season and the camaraderie that can come from football.

Gardner and Quabbin have already met once this season, but results could be different this time around. The teams played in the opening game of the year in September, where Gardner set the tone for its successful season, winning 31-0.

The Wildcats then went on to remain undefeated through the regular season before a tough 53-27 Division 7 first-round playoff loss at Tyngsborough followed by a 13-6, non-playoff setback against Oakmont. The team was also without standout wide receiver Doherian Wells due to an injury. Gardner may be 8-2 and Quabbin 5-5 but, as the well-trodden Thanksgiving football cliché goes, you can throw the records out the window for this one.

Reestablishing the past

The Oakmont-Lunenburg game, although new to this era, is not a completely unique matchup.

“Oakmont and Lunenburg played on Thanksgiving from 1970 through 1979 and there are a lot of folks still in this area and in our community that look at Lunenburg as a natural rival for our school,” Oakmont athletic director Eric Dawley said in an article announcing the new pairings in 2019.

Oakmont will look to defend the trophy this year after the Spartans earned a 41-35 win last season at home. The teams have had a similar mixed bag of results this season, with Oakmont coming in at 5-5 and Lunenburg just below at 4-6, so it could be quite an even matchup for Thanksgiving eve.

Continuing history

Monty Tech partakes in a tech school rivalry against Nashoba Valley Tech, playing the night before the holiday as opposed to Thanksgiving morning.

Bulldogs coach Anthony Secino explained that in his 15 years coaching in the program, the rivalry has been very even. For years before that, though, it looked different.

Monty Tech had often been on the losing side. "It was kind of a one-sided rivalry," Secino said.

As of late, the rivalry became much truer to what they hoped it would look like and Monty Tech has now won its fair share of holiday games in recent years.

Secino’s father, Dave Secino, coached at Monty Tech in the early 1990s when the Thanksgiving rivalry with Nashoba Valley Tech first began. Dave coached for only a couple years at Monty Tech after coaching at Fitchburg State for several seasons before.

Along with the Thanksgiving game, Monty Tech hosts a senior dinner the Friday before the week of Thanksgiving to celebrate the players that will be graduating in the spring.

As a technical school, both Monty Tech and Nashoba Valley Tech have a population of students from many different towns in the area, so it can be difficult to create a bond. This Thanksgiving football game gives the school communities an opportunity to form connections and have something to celebrate together.

Narragansett and Murdock hold the longest-standing rivalry in the Gardner area for Thanksgiving Day football.

Narragansett leads Murdock 38-11 in Thanksgiving games and is the only area matchup to play a true Turkey Day game – on the morning of the holiday.

This year’s game will be the 51st meeting between the two teams, although last season was actually the 51st year since they first began the rivalry (COVID canceled the entire 2020 season, including the Thanksgiving slate).

Last season, Murdock squeaked out a 29-28 victory in Baldwinville, giving community members an exciting game to start their day. This season, Narragansett may be expected to come out on top, as they are coming off a 6-4 season while the Blue Devils have still yet to win a game.

Thanksgiving game schedule

Wednesday, November 22

Oakmont at Lunenburg, 6 p.m.

Gardner at Quabbin, 6 p.m.

Monty Tech at Nashoba Valley Tech, 6 p.m.

Thursday, November 23

Narragansett at Murdock, 10 a.m.

This article originally appeared on Gardner News: Greater Gardner football teams prepared for Thanksgiving tradition