Fitchburg vs. Leominster rivalry moved to March 26
Leominster to host Fitchburg on March 26
The 139th gridiron meeting of Fitchburg and Leominster, originally scheduled for May Day weekend, has been rescheduled and pushed up to Week 2 of the Fall 2 football season with kickoff slated for 7 p.m. on March 26 at Doyle Field.
In addition, the Chicken Bowl subvarsity game will be played at Doyle on March 25 at 7 p.m.
Leominster athletic director David Palazzi didn’t mince any words in announcing the contest.
“The two cities have waited long enough,” Palazzi said
Wednesday.
“We’re excited that we’re able to put the game together, and we’re excited to carry on this tradition for both communities and both schools,” Fitchburg athletic director Craig Antocci said.
The move comes as a shock to the system: instead of a long wait for the contest, which began in 1894 and has been traditionally played on Thanksgiving Day every year since 1910 with one exception, the game will be played earlier in this makeshift, shortened season.
It also means a hasty rearranging of the schedules: while
Fitchburg was slated to play at Marlboro for Week 2, Leominster was supposed to play Algonquin Regional at Doyle the same weekend.
Those two games are now eliminated from the schedule and will not be made up.
“That was the only week where we could do it,” Palazzi said. “Craig and I spoke, and we both understand missing Thanksgiving and not having that game and how much it means to both cities, we had to have the game. Some of the language in the pods was we could possibly extend the season if need be. We had originally scheduled the game into the spring season, and we did that to buy us some time and try to figure out a
different way.
“The way the pods were constructed was to include everyone and try to do the right thing. Originally we were in the same pod with Fitchburg, but we had to switch things up. We tried to make it work. We didn’t want to extend into the spring season, and other athletic directors were fantastic in understanding.”
Having the game on May Day weekend would cut into the spring season by a week, and with football players on both sides playing multiple sports — baseball, lacrosse, track — it would mean less time for them to prepare for their spring seasons.
And with the spring season already sacrificed in 2020 due to the start of the pandemic, Palazzi and Antocci did not want to add unnecessary harm to those sports.
“Those coaches haven’t seen their kids since 2019,”
Palazzi said. “They haven’t been on a field in two years. They’re champing at the bit just to get going. It’s not the ideal situation for anyone, and everyone is making sacrifices to make it work.”
Palazzi noted that two people per student-athlete for both Leominster and Fitchburg will be allowed to attend the game in person.
“People will be able to see the game via livestreams,” Palazzi said.
Fitchburg Access Television executive director Nathan Glenny noted that the non-profit will broadcast the game, and said FATV and Leominster Access will pool their resources to share the production.
Todd Robbins said Wednesday he and his wife Kate will call the game on WPKZ (105.3 FM, AM 1280).
Leominster leads the series, 68- 60-10.