Share Your Fondest Memories of Thanksgiving High School Football

HARTFORD/TOLLAND COUNTIES, CT — The cancellation of high school football this fall in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic means for the first time in memory, there will be no traditional Thanksgiving morning games played between rival high schools in northern and central Connecticut.

Patch editors in Hartford and Tolland counties would like readers to share their memories of Turkey Day matchups in the area. I'll kick it off with the photo above, taken during the 1975 Thanksgiving clash between crosstown rivals Enfield and Fermi.

In this shot, Raider running back Paul Rodgers was gang-tackled by a quintet of Falcons: Jim Rager, Dave Jensen, Steve Testoni, Tom Rumore and Eric Tarnowicz. Despite the tenacious defense exhibited on this play, however, it was actually the Enfield defenders who stood out, limiting a Fermi offense which had averaged better than 32 points per game to a lone touchdown in posting a 19-8 victory.

Another memory of that game is the fact a downpour on Thanksgiving Day forced postponement of the contest until Saturday, and nearly 10,000 spectators encircled the field.

The Fermi-Enfield rivalry, which began upon Fermi's opening in 1971, lasted 37 years before Enfield's league, the Nutmeg Football Conference, disbanded following the 2008 season. The Raiders joined a 21-team football-only league, the Pequot Conference, which did not allow members to play any out-of-conference games.

Email your Thanksgiving Day game memories and photos to tim.jensen@patch.com. Non-copyrighted photos are welcomed; in other words, ones which were not taken by or published in a newspaper or yearbook.

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