Thanksgiving High School Football

Starting in 2024, Gateway moved their annual Thanksgiving game against Woodbury to a random Thursday in October, ending the 46-year-old tradition. Now this may seem odd, but many other high schools had ended their own Thanksgiving Day games and traditions due to playoffs and state titles.

Two years ago, the New Jersey Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) added a state title game to their playoff bracket, which resulted in a total of five rounds of playoffs. To fit this in before the start of winter sports, the last week of the regular season was moved to the last week of October. 

Now if a team wanted to play on Thanksgiving they would either have to play a regular season game in the middle of their playoff run or wait almost a month after their last regular season game. For example, our Gators last year didn’t make the playoffs and had to sit and wait 26 days before their Thanksgiving game. Twenty-six days!

After their usual long wait, the Gators would play Woodbury the morning of Thanksgiving day. Usually, Woodbury would emerge victorious, with a lifetime record of Woodbury 34 – Gateway 12, and would take home the trophy for the game.

When senior Danny Leone was asked what the games were like, he said:

Another senior, Andrew Archer, shared a very similar sentiment by saying,

This tradition of playing Thanksgiving football however isn’t only a Gateway matter, but a New Jersey matter. Many high schools over the past century have played their big rivals on Thanksgiving Day or the day prior. This only ended in recent years.

Some of the few games that still exist are Millville – Vineland, Haddonfield – Haddon Heights, and Pitman – Clayton, with the former two being over a century old. Due to the long-standing traditions, these games often draw large crowds from not just students and alumni, but members of the community as well.

In conclusion, the century-old tradition of New Jersey Thanksgiving high school football is coming to a near-certain end due to the push for state championships. It was a century full of fun, tradition, and many good memories best summed up by current assistant coach and former player of the Gators, Matt Goetz by saying: