Toms River South-Lakewood Thanksgiving Rivalry Restored

TOMS RIVER, NJ — The Toms River South-Lakewood Thanksgiving football game has been restored, Toms River Superintedent David Healy confirmed.

The rivalry game, played on Thanksgiving for 98 years, will be an addition to the eight-game schedule already distributed by the Shore Conference, according to an Asbury Park Press report.

Toms River Regional Schools Superintendent David Healy said athletic director Ted Gillen informed the Shore Conference and Lakewood officials that Toms River South wants to play the game.

He said the district was under the mistaken impression that it had to choose between that rivalry and the crosstown Toms River North rivalry when the schedule originally was compiled.

"The district was under the impression it was an either-or," Healy said.

The confusion arose because the Shore Conference has gone to a new division alignment and schedule format for the 2018 football season. The schedule format was designed to accommodate the addition of another round of NJSIAA playoffs.

After the eight scheduled games, the NJSIAA playoffs begin, starting the weekend of Nov. 2, according to the Asbury Park Press. Teams that do not make the playoffs will pick up a regional crossover game. Those teams, along with teams that lose in the first round of the playoffs, can also add one more game to finish with a 10-game schedule, as they have in the past.

Toms River South and Lakewood will play their Thanksgiving game as that designated 10th game, instead of picking up a crossover game, according to the Press report.

The initial announcement that the rivalry game, the longest continuous Thanksgiving rivalry in the Shore Conference, would not continue prompted an outcry from alumni and from the Lakewood community. A petition started by Renee Godino online had garnered more than 1,000 signatures by Wednesday night, when she presented the petition to the Toms River Regional Board of Education at its monthly meeting.

Godino urged district officials to find a way to continue the rivalry game, which has been played every year since 1920; the 100th matchup will be in 2019.

Healy said the district is starting discussions on ways to make the 100th anniversary a celebration that draws in the community, and will be talking with Lakewood officials as well.

"We want to work with Lakewood to make it a historic event," Healy said, noting the game's history as the longest-running Thanksgiving rivalry in the Shore Conference. "We have a responsibility to that history," he said.

After initial reports that the game would not be played, Toms River South Principal James Ricotta sent a letter to parents and guardians detailing some of the issues that led Toms River South to choose Toms River North over Lakewood. Among those issues were concerns about whether Lakewood would field a team in the fall. Severe budget issues in the Lakewood district nearly led to the football program and all other sports being shut down this year. Lakewood school district officials have pledged to ensure that district's football program continues, the Asbury Park Press reported.

On Wednesday night, Toms River Board President Russell Corby said board members supported playing the game and had asked the Shore Conference to take another look at the issue.

"There are generations of Indians in Pine Beach, and several families have traditions around this Thanksgiving game," said Corby, who represents Pine Beach.

"Tradition is very important at North, South and East," board member Chris Raimann said, "and we as a board are listening."

Action from the 2014 Toms River South-Lakewood Thanksgiving game. Photo by Karen Wall, Patch staff