The Fitchburg–Leominster football rivalry is old, very old – 125 years this year. While it is not the oldest schoolboy rivalry in the country, it hardly lacks in drama, tradition and unusual moments. As a student of this amazing tradition, I wanted to share some of the games and events that stand out most.
1894 — This was the very first year the two high schools faced each other on the gridiron — at least that’s the currently accepted notion. The teams met, after some wrangling over scheduling, at the Leominster Trotting Park (the upper portion of today’s Doyle Field) and Leominster won 40-0. Fitchburg disputed this meeting as the first game until 1969! The Red Raiders challenge was not wholly without merit given many of the Leominster players may not have been “officially” enrolled in high school. Interestingly, my research has revealed that Leominster’s junior varsity team met Fitchburg’s freshmen squad in Fitchburg a year earlier, on Nov. 18, 1893. The Fitchburg frosh won 36-6.
1898 — As in many of the early years, the teams played twice in 1898. Leominster prevailed 5-0 at the Trotting Park on Nov. 4. Twelve days later Fitchburg reversed the score and won 5-0 at the Circle Street grounds, the future site of Crocker Field. In 2010, I convinced the editor of the Sentinel and Enterprise to change the newspapers official entry to a 0-0 tie. In 1898 the newspaper reported the referee ended the games as a scoreless tie when he called back Fitchburg’s touchdown-scoring punt return for “fan interference.” The whole Fitchburg crowd infiltrated the playing field and the Leominster punt team couldn’t even find the returner never mind tackle him. Despite the game report published in the newspaper, the headline proclaimed Fitchburg wins 5-0 for 112 years.
1899 — On Nov. 30 the teams played their very first Thanksgiving contest at Leominster’s Trotting Park. Nine hundred fans watched Fitchburg dominate and at one point came as close as two feet from the goal line. The game ended in a scoreless tie.
1900 — Leominster canceled the Thanksgiving game with Fitchburg when the Comb-City 11 learned that Fitchburg suspended its entire football team for “low academic standings.” Ultimately each team played different opponents on Thanksgiving Day. Leominster defeated Worcester High School 15-0 and Fitchburg lost to Keene, N.H., 6-0.
1902 — The teams again failed to play football this year. The schools wrangled over who was at fault for the inability to schedule a game. Leominster finished its season 7-1-1. Fitchburg lost five of its first six games.
1904 — Fitchburg showed signs of its early domination of the series this year, beating Leominster twice in October 46-0 and 48-0. The teams did not play on Thanksgiving Day.
1910 — Led by football legend Lou Little, who captained the LHS squad, Leominster won on Oct. 8, 1910 by a score of 6-0 and on Thanksgiving Day, 23-0. Little went on to play college and professional football and became a legendary college football coach. In 1934 he led Columbia to one of college football’s greatest upsets when his Loins defeated Stanford in the Rose Bowl 7-0. In 1935, Little helped design the Heisman Trophy.
1913 — Only two years out of high school, Coach Clarence Amiott took over the reigns as Fitchburg’s head football coach. He coached Fitchburg to a 13-0 victory at the Circle Street grounds on Thanksgiving Day. Amiott would go on to coach Fitchburg until 1938 when a heart condition forced him to retire early. The well-respected coach compiled a remarkable record of 173 wins and 79 losses.
1918 Crocker Field opened. All of the Leominster-Fitchburg football games played between 1918 and 1930 were played in Fitchburg’s state-of-the-art stadium.
1921 — In an era of great dominance by Fitchburg, Leominster ekes out a 7-7 tie. Legend has it that Henry Simard’s tying point-after kick dusted the snow off the goal post cross-bar.
1923 — The teams didn’t meet when Fitchburg High School suspended athletic relations with Leominster. Leominster complained that a Fitchburg basketball player participated in a tournament after slugging a Leominster basketball player earlier that year. Apparently, the Leominster school officials didn’t understand the “one free slug per season” scholastic rule and the Fitchburg school officials were peeved. Fitchburg was named the unofficial national champion in 1923 when they beat Proviso High School in Maywood, Illinois 26-0.
1924 — The teams returned to competition and Fitchburg crushed Leominster on Thanksgiving Day 48-0.
1925 — Leominster’s fortune changed when the team managed a Thanksgiving win by a score of 9-0 at Crocker Field. It is the first Leominster win against Fitchburg in 15 games played over 13 years (the teams played twice in 1913-1916). During those 15 games, FHS outscored LHS a remarkable 400-20.
1927 — Leominster hired its first professional coach to answer Fitchburg’s dominance. Ray Comerford loses his first Thanksgiving contest at the Leominster helm 64-0 – still the greatest disparity in the 136 game series through 2018.
1930 — The teams met on Thanksgiving at Crocker Field before a record crowd of 8,000. LHS had scored back-to-back wins (1928; 6-3 and 1929; 6-0) for the first time since 1911. It would be the last time the teams would play exclusively at Crocker Field. Fitchburg prevailed in a dramatic contest 6-0.
1931 — The teams played at the newly dedicated Doyle Field. FHS won the first Thanksgiving game played at the new stadium 24-7. Before the season began, Coach Comerford drowned on a South Shore beach trying to save a young boy caught in the undertow. The boy was saved when additional help arrived but the coach was lost. Coach Charles Broderick took over as the LHS coach and started a career that would last until 1964.
1932 — LHS caps an undefeated season — its second (1910) with a 25-0 win over Fitchburg before a crowd of 11,000 at Crocker Field.
1933 — Each team brought an undefeated record to the Thanksgiving Day game. It is the only time that has happened before or after. FHS won the game played at Doyle Field 20-12.
1940 — A foot of snow fell on Crocker Field Thanksgiving morning. The field was prepared by plows, dump trucks and 200 shovelers. More than 7,500 fans braved bone-chilling cold and witnessed Leominster win 6-0. The newspaper reported, that for the very first time, fans were observed selling their tickets at the gate before the game.
1947 — Fitchburg won 13-0 at Doyle Field. The game featured two Leominster players who went on to coach in the rivalry Leon Huck Hannigan, LHS coach 1965-1975 and Marco Landon, FHS coach 1965-1976.
1952 — LHS won 20-7 and completed an undefeated season, the school’s third (1910, 1932).
1959 — LHS was a decided underdog but the teams play to a scoreless tie. It is the first time the teams tied since 1945.
1960 — The teams tie for the last time – it is the 10th tie in the series (when the Sentinel and Enterprise converted the 1898 game from an FHS 5-0 win to a 0-0 tie in 2010).
1965 — Marco Landon, Fitchburg and Leon “Huck” Hannigan, Leominster make their head coaching debuts. LHS won 27-0.
1969 — The teams celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the series when the Fitchburg Sentinel finally acknowledged that 1894 tilt was the first game between the ancient foes. LHS scored a 40-18 win in one of the greatest upsets of the series.
1971 — Ten inches of snow postpones the Thanksgiving game for the first time in the long series. FHS won at Doyle Field on Saturday, November 27th by a score of 12-7.
1972 — FHS won on the frozen turf at Crocker Field before 11,000 fans 27-19. As a result, FHS wins a spot in the inaugural Central-Western Massachusetts Super Bowl and wins the league’s first Super Bowl Championship.
1973 — LHS won 15-0 on a mild Thanksgiving Day before 11,000 fans at Doyle Field. LHS went on to win its first Central-Western Massachusetts Super Bowl.
1974 — LHS won 36-13 and goes undefeated for the fourth time in school history (1910, 1932, & 1952).
1978 — LHS wins 3-0 in overtime and preserves an undefeated season. It is the first time the teams employ the MIAA tie breaker rules. Fitchburg missed winning the game by inches when its fullback failed to score on 4th down try in the tie breaker.
1982 — LHS wins 41-6 and completed its sixth undefeated season in school history (1910, 1932, 1952, 1974 & 1978).
1983 — The teams met at Doyle Field for the 100th game. A record 13,000 fans jam the stadium. LHS won 28-12.
1989 — The game is postponed for weather for only the second time (1971) when 5-7 inches of snow fell Thanksgiving morning. LHS won on Saturday, Nov. 25 by a score of 29-6.
1993 — The 7,000 fans were attendance to witness the largest point total tallied in the history of the series. FHS prevailed 44-40 when the dramatic “shoot-out” was over.
2000 — FHS wins the first game of the rivalry’s third century 28-6 and in the process preserves an undefeated season — the school’s third, (1933, 1964 and 2000).
2010 — The long series record is even, 58 wins each and 10 ties when the Sentinel and Enterprise changes the 1898 game to a tie earlier that year. Astonishingly regulation play ends in a 12-12 tie, and another tie at the end of its first overtime period 18-18. It took two overtime periods to decide the game, the first time that has ever happened. LHS finally prevailed 24-18.
2011 — As a result of the new MIAA playoff rules the team played twice in one year for the first time since 1916. LHS won the Thanksgiving game on Nov. 24 by a score of 21-14. Five days later, LHS inched by their rival in a playoff game at Doyle Field 26-25.
2014 — The teams met before Thanksgiving for the first time since 1916, under the new MIAA rules. Fitchburg shut out Leominster 7-0 on Nov. 14. Leominster recovered and won the Thanksgiving contest 15 days later 23-8. For only the third time in the series the game was postponed for weather and was played on Saturday. I won a national essay contest sponsored by Sports Illustrated Magazine as to why they should cover the writer’s Thanksgiving rivalry game. When the postponement occurred we lost the national coverage to the Needham – Wellesley series which started in 1882, (they did not postpone their Thanksgiving game).
Who knows what the future holds, but this much is certain, the Thanksgiving Rivalry between the schools will create lots more drama and unusual events over the next 125 years. The teams will each establish periods of dominance only to find that position shift as the years go by.
The durable football tradition will continue to be a source of great pride for each city and the region. Those young football warriors who clashed on the afternoon of Oct. 20, 1894 had little idea what they have left in their wake.
We are all grateful they took up the new sport. Stay tuned for much more to come. Happy Thanksgiving to all and best wishes to each team on Thursday morning.
“Mark Bodanza is a local attorney, author and historian who has written three books on the Fitchburg-Leominster football rivalry: A Game That Forged Rivals; 1933 Football at the Depth of the Great Depression & Rivals.”
