ON THIS DAY IN 1984, THE END OF A TRADITION - Twenty-five years ago today Plainville High School breathed a sigh of relief. Three weeks after SHS beat the Blue Devils 47-6 at the annual Thanksgiving Day football game, the schools announced on this day in 1984 that the 55-year rivalry would come to an end. It had become more obvious as the years passed that the two schools had been unfairly matched on the gridiron, according to the statement released by SHS principal John Gasecki and Plainville High principal Anthony Mosa. Indeed. The scores hadn’t been pretty for Plainville in the years leading up to 1984. The football team hadn’t beaten Southington High since Thanksgiving 1971. The annual Thanksgiving contest between Lewis High and Plainville began in 1929. In the 55 years the two teams met, Southington won 48 games, lost eight and tied five. Some years more than one game was played; in 1952 Plainville’s inability to organize a team found Southington without a place to go on Thanksgiving Day. - While the tradition spanned generations, head coach Dom D’Angelo told the Record-Journal on Dec. 13, 1984 that the end of the annual game was hardly a shock. “It really isn’t a surprise,” he said. “In all fairness to Plainville, with their small enrollment, they were having problems.” In football rankings, schools are placed in a certain class based on the male population. In 1984, Southington was in Division LL , the largest of the six divisions based on a total of 801 male students. Plainville was in Division SS, the second-smallest, with 323 male students.
“It’s sad in a way, considering that it’s always been a great relationship,” said D’Angelo. “We’ve always enjoyed playing Plainville. The players, the towns and the fans have been super.”
The following Thanksgiving, Southington played the first of 10 annual games against New Britain High School. The Blue Knights won eight of those games and went on to beat Bulkeley High School 20-14 in 1995. The next year we began playing Cheshire High School in what would become the Apple Classic.
1 comment:
Thanks for the memories. I saw the 1958 game when PHS was not only undefeated but did not allow a touchdown prior to playing Southington. We won 12-0 with Gil Varjas making a great one-handed catch..Our defense stopped the PHS offense cold...then the 1970 52-50 win led by Harry Fager (QB)..the previous year SHS won 12-8..PHS was getting closer and finally won in 1971 I believe. SHS could never replace Plainville as a major rival since we played them in all major sports. I played against Earl Jackson, Bill Lasher, Rusty Camp and others on the hardcourt--they were great and helped to make PHS a basketball power in the 60s.
Post a Comment