As we nestle snug in our beds tonight, visions of candied yams dancing in our heads, as we await the best morning of high school football found anywhere in the country, let’s not forget those who celebrate on Thanksgiving Eve.
With wet weather forecast for Thursday morning, 26 rivalry games were played Wednesday night, and for the most part the theme was blowouts. Let’s dive into three takeaways from a wild Wednesday of high school football.
The 2024 season ended for every team that played Wednesday night except Whittier and Tri-County, who will play in the MVADA championship games next week. But several players went out with a bang.
- East Bridgewater’s Ethan Pohl connected with Logan Williams for a 97-yard touchdown pass in a 36-14 win over West Bridgewater that also featured a 93-yard scoop-and-score from Mark Lee.
- Junior Jason Stokes had an 88-yard kickoff return for a touchdown in the first quarter in Milford’s 42-41 win over Taunton, which got a 94-yard fourth-quarter kickoff return for a TD from Carlos Cruz.
- North Andover senior Ben Iglesias broke off a 71-yard touchdown run in the first quarter, then added an 84-yard run to pay dirt in the second quarter to power a 20-16 win over Andover.
- O’Bryant senior quarterback Keyson Wright threw an 80-yard TD pass to Gementri Wiliams in a 20-14 loss to Latin Academy.
2. Lopsided scores at Fenway
While there were certainly some highlights during the four games at Fenway Park — including yours truly being rescued from an elevator by the fire department — three of the four games were decided in the first half.
Things started promisingly with a thrilling Island Cup that saw Nantucket defeat Martha’s Vineyard in overtime. But the rest of the results from the friendly confines were laughers, with Stoneham’s 42-14 shellacking of Reading on Tuesday and continued with Central Catholic’s 34-12 beatdown of Lawrence (in which the Raiders led 34-0 at halftime before easing off the gas pedal), and concluding with Marblehead’s 42-6 demolition of Swampscott.
The blowout trend extended beyond Lansdowne Street, with TechBoston beating Brighton 50-14 to capture the Boston City League crown, Malden Catholic topping St. John’s (Shrewsbury) 30-7, Greater Lowell crushing Lowell Catholic 40-6, Old Colony thrashing Tri-County 40-0, Bishop Feehan handling Bishop Stang 27-7, and East Bridgewater dispensing with West Bridgewater 36-14 in a rivalry renewed after decades of dormancy.
3. Let’s hope the weather holds out
Bundle up and pull out your galoshes, it’s predicted to be a wet, stormy morning that could see a wintry mix of snow, according to Globe meteorologist Ken Mahan.
The rain is expected to begin between 6-7 a.m., then picking up between 9 a.m. and noon. It could turn to freezing rain east of I-190 and south of Route 2 in Worcester County and winds could gust as high as 20 miles per hour near the coast.
The rain is expected to taper off around 3 p.m., when hundreds of wet, muddy football players will be settling in for a Thanksgiving feast.
Brendan Kurie can be reached at brendan.kurie@globe.com. Follow him on X @BrendanKurie.
