November December 2014

Thanksgiving football rivalries on Cape Cod and the Islands

Cape Cod Life  /  November/December 2014 / ,

Writer: Matthew J. Gill

Thanksgiving football rivalries on Cape Cod and the Islands

November December 2014

Cape Cod Life  /  November/December 2014 / ,

Writer: Matthew J. Gill

Sandwich vs. Mashpee Rivalry

In the years before Mashpee High School opened its doors in 1996, students living in Mashpee attended Falmouth High. Early on, a Thanksgiving football rivalry was established with nearby Sandwich High, which also had a fledgling football program at the time. This rivalry was held each Turkey Day morning from 1998 to 2003, when the game was disbanded as the teams found new holiday competition.

As of 2010, however, the rivalry known as the Cranberry Friendship Thanksgiving Game between the Sandwich Blue Knights and the Mashpee Falcons has been reignited. Even the old trophy—given to the game’s winner—was dusted off and used again. “Last year was particularly special,” longtime Sandwich High football coach Bill Luette says of the 2013 contest, “because we got the trophy back—and that meant a lot.” In the game, Sandwich more than covered the holiday spread; the final was 41 to 6.

Luette says he loves seeing the former students and athletes returning from college, filling the stands to watch the Thanksgiving game. “It brings them back to their time in high school,” he says. “It’s like a family reunion.”

When Luette—who just left Sandwich this past summer to take on an assistant principal’s position in his hometown of Scituate—took on the coaching job at Sandwich in 2005, the team played Thanksgiving games against Bishop Connolly High of Fall River or Bishop Feehan of Attleboro (In the meantime, Mashpee squared off against the Cape Tech/Harwich squad). As those schools were far afield and no geographic rivalry existed, Luette says those matchups were “just another game” for Sandwich. “Now that we’re playing Mashpee again, it means something,” he says. “It’s just the town right next door so it definitely means a lot more.”

Matt Triveri, Mashpee’s football coach and athletic director, says the game has developed over the years into “a good little rivalry” and that the opposing teams and coaches have had a good relationship. “We have a very loyal fan following in Mashpee,” Triveri says. “No matter how cold it is or what the weather is like, we usually get a good crowd.”

“Our kids might play with a chip on their shoulder,” the coach adds, referencing the sizeable disparity in the schools’ enrollment: Sandwich has about twice the number of Mashpee’s students. As a result, the schools’ athletic teams don’t face each other often—other than on the gridiron.

A former Barnstable High football player himself, Triveri says “there is nothing like playing at 10 a.m. on Thanksgiving. It means a lot.” Having said that, Triveri adds that one of his favorite games between the teams came in 2009—and not on Thanksgiving. It was September and Mashpee’s second game of the season, and the Falcons won on a 50-yard, “Hail Mary” touchdown pass from QB Devin Andrade to wide receiver Robbie Raymond as time expired. Though not on Thanksgiving, for Mashpee, it was truly a moment to be thankful for!

Matthew J. Gill

Matthew Gill is the former editor of Cape Cod LIFE and Cape Cod ART magazines. A graduate of U-Mass Dartmouth, Matthew has worked as a journalist since 2003 and has written on topics ranging from the sinking of Nantucket’s whale ship Essex and the history of the Barnstable-Falmouth Thanksgiving football rivalry, to the Cotuit Rowing Club, Provincetown’s Art’s Dune Tours, and more! A relative newcomer when it comes to the Cape, Matt and his wife Melissa just celebrated a Cape Cod-themed wedding.