One of Niele Ivey’s first acts after succeeding Muffet McGraw last spring was landing two prized recruits: Olivia Miles and Sonia Citron.
One of Niele Ivey’s first acts after succeeding Muffet McGraw last spring was landing two prized recruits: Olivia Miles and Sonia Citron. Notre Dame will see what it has in Miles soon, one of the top point guards in the country. That’s because she’s enrolling at the university early. After completing a quarantine and COVID-19 protocols, she can begin practicing with the team Jan. 25 and will play in her first game as early as Jan. 31 against Syracuse.
Miles, a Phillipsburg, New Jersey, native who won a state championship with Blair Academy last season, joins an Irish team in which three of the four leading scorers are guards. She’ll also find herself in a happy atmosphere as the Irish have won four of their past five games to improve to 5-3 in the ACC and fifth in the conference. The Irish can better their positions further over the next week with wins against struggling programs in Virginia Tech and North Carolina. Those are must-win games because that Syracuse game in which Miles could make her collegiate debut kicks off a trio a contests that also consists of top-ranked Louisville and undefeated NC State.
As rivalry games unfolded on Thanksgiving Day across the country, we rounded up the results and highlights. See what happened in the State Line game, Maryland’s Holy War, New London-NFA, Winchester-Woburn and Xavier Prep-Fordham Prep.
As Thanksgiving Day football unfolds across the country, we’ll round up the results from the biggest games right here, starting with the one that determines pride across two Northeastern states.
STATE LINE GAME: Easton (Penn.) 16, Phillipsburg (N.J.) 13
Make it three straight for Easton, which scraped out another narrow victory in the annual Turkey Day grudge match to end all Turkey Day grudge matches. This one may end up being best known for the brawl that erupted in the final minute, with the game decided after a final Easton defensive stand. With Easton taking kneel downs Phillipsburg defensive players rushed the line and a melee ensued, with the referees running off the final minute once order was restored.
After taking a 9-6 lead into halftime, Easton scored on a one-yard touchdown run from running back Nahjee Adams with 10 minutes remaining to stretch the lead to 16-6. Phillipsburg answered, cutting the lead back to a field goal on a touchdown pass from Ben Ries to Robert Martin, but that was as close as the Stateliners could get.
The win pushes Easton’s final 2019 mark to 8-5 while Phillipsburg’s loss leaves the Stateliners at 8-3.
MARYLAND’S HOLY WAR: Calvert Hall 33, Loyola Blakefield 10
The 100th edition of Maryland’s Holy War ended just as the previous five did … with Calvert Hall celebrating a decisive victory in the game played at Towson University.
Cole Herbert led Calvert Hall with three rushing touchdowns and a fumble recovery on defense as the Cardinals built up a 27-3 lead and never looked back. The victory marked the sixth straight for Calvert Hall in the historic series and narrowed Loyola’s overall advantage to 49-43-8.
YE OLDE BALL GAME (CONN.): Norwich Free Academy 49, New London 12
NFA dominated the 158th meeting between the two schools from neighboring Connecticut seaport towns, cruising to a 37-point victory against the Whalers that clinched a Connecticut Class LL state playoff berth in the process.
Wide receiver Damien Bleau led NFA with three touchdown catches in a game that was moved to NFA’s turf field on Wednesday. NFA’s victory pushes the Wildcats to 7-3 entering the playoffs while New London dropped to 5-7.
OLD FIRM FRIENDS (MASS.): Winchester 14, Woburn 7
Winchester proved too tough for their archrivals in a game that was tight and then devolved into a mess as the rain picked up in the fourth quarter.
Perhaps driven by the weather, much of the game was contested on the ground, with players from stars from both teams breaking through landmark moments during the contest: Winchester quarterback Tommy Degnan crossed the 1,000-yard rushing threshold on a 58-yard carry, pushing him above 1,000 yards passing and rushing on the season; Sachems running back Symon Sathler countered by crossing the 1,000-yard rushing mark himself in the third quarter.
The win improved Winchester to 9-2 on the season, the program’s first nine-win season since 2009 per the Daily Times Chronicle. Woburn wrapped up the campaign at 5-6.
TURKEY WHERE DREAMS ARE MADE (N.Y.): Xavier Prep 40, Fordham Prep 14
After a tight first half, the 97th Turkey Bowl in New York City was one-way traffic in the third quarter, with the Knights racing out to a 34-7 lead and then playing out the string.
Running back Andrew Scariano led Xavier with three touchdown runs, including two shortly after the Knights recovered Rams fumbles as Xavier made the most of Fordham’s mistakes.
The game played at Aviator Field in Brooklyn wrapped up a 4-5 campaign for Xavier and 3-7 season for Fordham.
For more than a hundred years, high school football teams have played on Thanksgiving Day. Here are the nine best rivalries that stand a century since the beginning.
1. The State Line Game
Easton (Pa.) and Phillipsburg (N.J.) have played against each other on Thanksgiving nearly every year since 1916. (Photo: Easton Area Athletics)
Easton (Pa.) vs. Phillipsburg (N.J.) — It’s impossible to reference high school football on Thanksgiving Day without discussing Easton and Phillipsburg. The schools sit on opposite sides of the New Jersey-Pennsylvania border, and the game is played at a neutral site at Lafayette College in Easton, Pa. The game often has been a sellout or near sellout and has even received national TV coverage from ESPN in years past. Given that the contest has been played since 1905, and on Thanksgiving since 1916, there’s plenty of heritage and history here (and some fantastic snowy highlights to boot), not to mention heated passions fighting for the Forks of Delaware Trophy, named in honor of the Delaware River, which separates the towns.
After a one-year miss, when the game was moved to the Saturday following Thanksgiving in 2014 due to a freak snowstorm (Phillipsburg won that contest, 19-14), Easton blanked Phillipsburg, 26-0, in the 109th iteration in 2015 and also captured the 2016 game, 24-14, to cap a winning season … while keeping Phillipsburg from achieving precisely that. The 2017 iteration finished as a 21-14 Easton win, helping the Rovers finish 8-5, while sending the Stateliners to their first loss.
The Stateliners fell short again to Easton again in 2018, 31-26, in another thriller.
