By Michael Letendre 

The trek through the history of the Bristol Central/Bristol Eastern Thanksgiving football battles continues today in The Bristol Edition, focusing on the squad’s confrontations in Colonial Conference play. 

After the 1973-1974 scholastic campaign, four local programs – including Central and Eastern – took their talents from the Central Connecticut Interscholastic League to the Colonial Conference for a 10-year period. 

The league was extremely local as the Bristol schools, Maloney, Platt, Pulaski of New Britain, Wolcott, Southington, and Plainville made a strong eight-pack of teams that commenced conference play in the fall of 1974. 

And in terms of football, Central loved playing in the Colonial Conference. 

The Rams competed in 60 Colonial Conference games, winning 49 of those battles while settling for four ties. 

That means Central lost only seven league games over that 10-year span. 

In fact, Central won Colonial Conference titles from 1975 through 1980, but the league would be dismantled three short years later. 

Eastern was also successful in the Colonial Conference play, scooping up the league’s first title in 1974. 

Overall, the Lancers won 35 Colonial Conference games from 1974-1983. 

However, Eastern claimed victory over Central just once on Thanksgiving Day during Colonial Conference encounters. 

Here’s the league breakdown between Bristol Central and Bristol Eastern on Thanksgiving over that stretch of games: 

BC wins: 9 

BE wins: 1 

Ties: 0 

Year/Victor/Score 

1974 — Bristol Eastern, 7-6 – The Rams tallied over 250 yards in offense while Eastern barely had 100 but in the end, the Lancers pulled out the victory. Eastern’s Dan Jenkins caught a punt, handed it off to Francis Richardson and his 55 yard touchdown dash was the ultimate difference in the showdown, leading the Lancers to the Colonial Conference championship in an amazing one-point triumph. 

1975 — Bristol Central, 19-0 – Central, putting together a remarkable stretch of Thanksgiving Day success, won the first of 10 straight games against Eastern that carried into Central Connecticut Conference play. In this one, Brian Godbout rushed in two touchdowns (Nine and two-yard touchdown rushes) to propel Central to its first Colonial Conference Championship and a shutout victory over the Lancers. 

1976 — Bristol Central, 20-6 – Central’s Jeff Thomas ran in a two-yard touchdown while also punching in a 30-yard TD interception for six points as the Rams defeated Eastern once again. Garry Pearson scored on a two-yard rush for Eastern in the fourth quarter of play. Central’s Ralph Milano led the offense with 114 yards on 29 carries. 

1977 — Bristol Central, 24-21 – Gaining its third consecutive Colonial Conference championship, the Rams took the Turkey Day game as quarterback Joe DeFillippi scooped in the winning touchdown for Central. His one yard score opened the final period of play to propel the Rams to victory. Garry Pearson, who transferred over to Bristol Central (how did he do that?), made a 95 yard kickoff return – a Thanksgiving Day record. He also collected 230 yards on 36 carries to lead the Rams over his old school. 

1978 — Bristol Central, 22-6 – Pearson scored all three of Central’s touchdowns (17, 12 and five yards) in the Thanksgiving Day game, taking advantage of eight Eastern turnovers. Pearson collected 185 yards on 42 rushes to secure the win. After attending both public high schools in the city, Pearson tallied over 2,000 rushing yards on the season and 5,054 for his career – then a city record before Eastern’s Reinaldo Soto and Central’s Timmy Washington broke his Mum city standard. 

1979 — Bristol Central, 8-6 – Billy Parks’ one yard touchdown jaunt, along with a two-point conversion on a Karl Hall offering to Dean Varano with 3:04 remaining in the contest, propelled the Rams to another hard-fought victory over Eastern. The Lancers gave up just 42 points all season long, the second-best defense in the state that year in terms of points allowed per game. 

1980 — Bristol Central, 12-0 – Once again, Parks was involved in the scoring, making a 10-yard touchdown rush, while Vin Jennetta picked off a pass by Eastern’s fill-in QB Mike Tucker (9-of-20, 143 yards) for a 48-yard touchdown as Central won it again – picking up its final Colonial Conference title. The Lancers’ 8-2 record was the best in school history to that point but the program was knocked out of playoff contention over the losing effort to the Rams. 

1981 — Bristol Central, 13-8 – Eastern, again, is forced out of the playoff picture due to Central as Parks made touchdown rushes of five and 55 yards to propel the Rams to the victory. The Lancers would have played Newtown in the state tournament with a Thanksgiving Day win but instead, lost against the Rams by just five points. Central’s Gene Mitchell made a 60 yard punt, still a Thanksgiving Day record, while Parks nabbed 133 yards on 23 carries. 

1982 — Bristol Central, 18-13 – Eastern netted the first points in the game as Brian Rooney scored off a 57-yard run while the team scooped up more than 400 total yards of offense but still lost by five points in the end for the second consecutive year. Central’s Gregg Vontell made scoring runs of 87, 80 and 24 yards – gaining 235 yards on 20 carries. Vontell’s 87 yard TD was the longest run from scrimmage ever on Thanksgiving between the teams. Rooney roped up 128 yards on 20 carries to pace the Lancers. Central won its eighth consecutive game over the Eastern program. 

1983 — Bristol Central, 6-0 – Once again, the Rams defeated the Lancers by a touchdown. Central quarterback Mike Carlson scored 6:48 into the contest on a one-yard plunge into the end zone. The squads combined for six interceptions while the six points scored in the game was also a series record for fewest points scored on T-Day. It was the final Colonial Conference showdown between the schools as both programs joined up with the Central Connecticut Conference the following year. 

On tap for Wednesday: Thanksgiving Day football in the CCC.