Easton-P’burg game will be played Saturday

Annual Thanksgiving showdown gets moved up due to COVID-19 worries

The 114th edition of the annual Red Rovers-Stateliners Thanksgiving game was moved to Saturday over concerns a team could discover a coronavirus infection between now and its traditional date.

Nothing in 2020 is the same as it used to be, and that goes for the Easton-Phillipsburg football rivalry.

The Red Rovers and Stateliners had previously announced the 114th edition of their Delaware River rivalry game would be moved this year from its usual home at Lafayette College’s Fisher Stadium to Phillipsburg’s Maloney Field due to COVID-19 concerns.

On Tuesday morning, officials announced the game has been moved from Thanksgiving to this Saturday, with a 1 p.m. kickoff at Phillipsburg.

“Wewere supposed to have a game this weekend with Somerville, but they had an issue with the coronavirus and that game was canceled,” said Stateliners athletic director Tom Fisher. “That opened up this weekend and we explored the idea of moving this game up. Wewere concerned about getting 116 players and coaches through to Thanksgiving morning. So we moved the game up and we’ll keep our fingers crossed we can get to Saturday.”

Easton is 3-4 coming off a 37-7 loss to Freedom in the District 11 6A semifinals. Phillipsburg is 6-1.

The Stateliners are in a New Jersey playoff pod, where they were going to play two postseason games.

“The way this virus is moving around, who knows?” Fisher said. “We worked together with Easton on this. We don’t do anything unless they’re on board. It’s a team effort.”

Fisher said New Jersey will have new restrictions on outdoor gatherings effective Monday, with crowd maximums being reduced from 500 to 150.

That will allow more people to attend this weekend’s game, although Fisher said neither school will have 250 as “tickets” are being limited to parents of participants and won’t be available to the general public.

“They’re really not tickets,” Fisher said. “People pay for admission and they get put on a list and when they come through the gate, they get checked off. We’re not allowed to handle money or tickets.”

The Red Rovers lead the all-time series 66-45-2 and have wonfive in a row, including 16-13 last year.