Editor’s note- In a series that covers the Thanksgiving Day football battle between Central and Eastern, Mike Letendre will cover the rivalry one decade at a time.
By Michael Letendre
Thanksgiving Day football is almost here!
And we’ve been waiting nearly two years for the Bristol Central and Bristol Eastern football squads to finally throw down on Turkey Day.
This year’s contest won’t disappoint either as the Lancers are trying to put a real wrench in the Rams’ playoff chances.
On the flip side, Central will attempt to prevent Eastern from tallying a .500 ledger.
The stakes are indeed high for all involved.
It should be an exciting game and something you don’t want to miss.
And why not reconnect with some friends and former classmates along the way?
Central leads the all-time series, 36-23-2, and Victor Rosa and company want to add one more victory on the way to the Class L state tournament dance.
However, Alex Marshall and the Lancers have a different idea about that ending.
Let’s jump right into the series, looking at every game – broken down by decade – leading up to Thursday’s showdown.
In this edition, we’ll review all the games from 1959-1969:
Year – Victor, Score
1959 – Bristol Central, 14-0: Rams’ co-captain Jim Nocera scored both touchdowns to lead Central to the victory. The Lancers had a tough day, posting just two first downs along the way. The contest was the first of 17 shutouts by the Rams over the Lancers while the team’s combined for only 162 total yards of total offense.
1960 – Bristol Central, 20-0: Central out-gained Eastern on the ground, 182 to 55, as the Rams shutout the Lancers to win its second straight on Thanksgiving.
1961 – Bristol Central, 20-0: The Rams collected 251 rushing yards as Central, once again, blanked Eastern by the same score from the previous season.
1962 – Tie, 6-6: The showdown, played after Thanksgiving this time around, saw Eastern lead 6-0 going into the final minute of play but Central’s Bill Kelley made a three-yard rush into the end zone to knot it up at 6-6, forcing Thanksgiving’s first ever tie and the Lancers first non-loss of the holiday. Eastern’s Dave Emonds nabbed a 17-yard touchdown pass from Joe Galiette to give the Lancers an early lead.
1963 – Bristol Eastern, 16-0: At long last, the Lancers beat the Rams on Thanksgiving. Eastern’s Gordon Sargent took the opening kickoff for 79 yards and a touchdown to quickly put the game out of reach. Co-captain Mike Morin, a future Eastern assistant football coach, helped the Lancers take the showdown while Sargent had three interceptions – the most ever in the BC/BE series.
1964 – Bristol Eastern, 21-0: Playing in only three games that year, Eastern’s Jon Petke scored two touchdowns on carries of 75 and 80 yards as the Lancers defeated Central for the second straight year. It was Eastern’s only win of the campaign while Lancers’ quarterback Mike Hannon completed 87.5-percent of his passes – still a T-Day record. Jon Petke rushed for over 100 yards in the winning effort.
1965 – Bristol Eastern, 14-0: The season series between the schools was knotted up at 3-3-1 because of the shutout victory by the Lancers. Terry Della Vecchia (10-yard run) and Keith Ronalter (11-yard run) rushed in touchdowns for Eastern. It was the Lancers’ first ever winning season (5-4) as a young Dave Mills was coaching the Eastern program. Eastern punter Dave Cichon averaged a Thanksgiving Day best 50 yards on four punt attempts.
1966 – Bristol Eastern, 20-13: In a rare feat on Thanksgiving Day play, Eastern took the series lead away from Central over a seven-point victory. It was all “done” by Mark Dunn (three touchdowns on rushes of 76, 7 and 11 yards) as the Lancers won by a touchdown.
1967 – Bristol Central, 8-0: Central defeated Eastern behind Walt Kozikowski’s six-yard pass to Hal Herold with 59 seconds remaining in the contest. It was Central’s first victory over Eastern since 1961 and the program wouldn’t go that long between victories again until the mid-2000s.
1968 – Bristol Eastern, 20-13: Eastern won the first of three consecutive Thanksgiving Day contests, this one by seven points. Kevin Byrnes scored the go-ahead points on a 19-yard touchdown run to lead the Lancers to victory.
1969 – Bristol Eastern, 27-6: The Lancers totaled 350 total yards of offense, 227 of it from the air, as Eastern quarterback Dennis Schermerhorn threw a Thanksgiving Day record of three touchdowns over the 21-point win. Al Johnston made TD receptions of 16 and five yards
