Sun Valley, Chi add early twist to holiday
ASTON >> Some traditions associated with high school football on Thanksgiving Day date back as far as the games themselves.
Others, like the breakfast players, coaches and administrators from Sun Valley and Chichester took part in Tuesday morning in the library at Sun Valley, are relatively new.
It’s only the third year of the gathering, which serves as a springboard for Thursday’s Turkey Bowl meeting between the Vanguards and Eagles at Chichester’s Apichella Memorial Field, the 51st in the 50-year-old series.
Sun Valley has won three of the last four meetings, including a 32-30 victory at home last year to raise its lead in the series to 28-22 on Thanksgiving Day, and 30-26 overall. The Thanksgiving rivalry began in 1968. The teams played six times prior to that, starting in 1961.
The breakfast was the brainchild of Pat Crater and Joe Thomas when they were the athletic directors at Sun Valley and Chi, respectively, along with Chi coach and Sun Valley grad Ryan Smith. Part of the tradition is that the visiting team serves as the host, which gives players from each school a chance to see how the other half lives.
It also gives the players from each side a chance to meet outside of the football field.
“What these kids don’t know is that they’re going to make friends from across the train tracks,” Smith said. “They’re going to have these friendships, these relationships. They’ll compete their tails off, but it’s something that translates more than just that day. You may leave the community as an adult or you may stick around, but you’ll always be a part of this. You’ll come back as an alum to see the game that you once played in.”
Haverford and Upper Darby have a similar function. They have a luncheon every year, co-sponsored by the Haverford and Upper Darby Rotary Clubs the Wednesday before their Thanksgiving showdown.
“To me, the luncheon is the best part of the Thanksgiving Day game,” Upper Darby coach Rich Gentile said. “It’s a chance for our players to get to know their players and vice-versa. It’s really neat to see how they interact.”
Defensive backs/wide receivers Calvin Church and Jarnese Lundy-Byrd, twoway linemen Adham Fahy and Dace Bell and quarterback Nate Decenzi represented Chichester. Decenzi, a junior, was the only underclassman in the group.
Fullback-linebacker Rocky Albano, two-way linemen Dathan Poole and Dom Ellis, quarterback Anthony Ellis, wide receiver-defensive back Dayon Belgrave, running back-defensive back Lance Stone and two-way standout Julz Kelly were on hand for Sun Valley, along with head coach Greg “Bubba” Bernhardt.
Administrators from both school districts were there, too. Penn-Delco School District Superintendent George Steinhoff announced that he made a bet with his counterpart at Chi, Dan Nerelli. The loser has to wear the other school’s jersey to work next Monday. Guess that would be referred to as “Casual Monday.”
“I did it with Barb DiMarino when she was the superintendent about eight years ago,” Steinhoff said. “We kind of lost track of it and Dan and I were meeting on business a couple of weeks ago and I said that we had to bring this back, particularly him being new to the district, and starting out and doing a great job. And he was all in.”
Nerelli is in his first year as the superintendent at Chi, but he is no stranger to Thanksgiving football. He came to Chi after 16 years in the Upper Darby school district, where the annual game with Haverford will enter its 97th year Thursday.
“I can tell you from experience that when we would lose that game, it makes that Thanksgiving Day meal not taste as good,” Nerelli said.
The players and administrators mingled, and Stenhoff and Nerelli make brief statements before the breakfast commenced. The event lasted a little more than an hour, but showed that Thanksgiving Day rivalries go far beyond the game.
Unfortunately, Thanksgiving Day games are becoming a thing of the past. There are only three left in Delaware County, Sun ValleyChichester, Upper Darby-Haverford and Ridley-Interboro. There are only 15 remaining in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and none west of Southwestern Pa. Of those 15 games,
CHICHESTER VS. SUN VALLEY
13 are in Districts 1 and 12 (Delaware, Chester, Bucks, Montgomery counties and Philadelphia). The two other games, Easton and Phillipsburg (NJ) and Catasaqua and Northampton Area, involve teams from District 11.
It’s getting tougher and tougher to play the games, especially since the PIAA went to six classifications for football two years ago, and with the rule that went into effect this season, as stipulated on Page 38 of the PIAA’s By-Laws under note eight:
“A maximum of ten (10) Regular Season football Contests may be played at the same level (varsity, junior varsity, or otherwise) of competition.
“With District Committee approval, member senior high schools may play one (1) additional Regular Season varsity football contest.”
In years past, teams could schedule what was commonly referred to as a contingency game in the event that a team did not make the playoffs. It was a defacto 11th game for a lot of schools, but essential for those teams that play on Thanksgiving but did not make the playoffs. They didn’t have to sit around for four weeks, as Chi and Sun Valley have done.
That is no more because of the focus on playoffs. And what gets lost in that quest for a state title is the sense of community and tradition that is the bedrock of high school athletics.
With its pep rallies, bonfires, breakfasts, luncheons and powderpuff games, nothing epitomizes that sense of community and tradition more than Thanksgiving football.
“It means a lot, in school and out of school,” Chi’s Church said. “You walk around anywhere and everyone asks you about this game.”
“People I know that don’t have a Thanksgiving Day game wish they had one,” added Sun Valley’s Kelly. “It’s one of my favorite games all year, the most exciting, definitely. It’s such a great rivalry because we’re such close towns and everyone shows up. It’s a lot of fun.”