No Darien-New Canaan Turkey Bowl on Turkey Day

The Darien-New Canaan Turkey Bowl won’t be played on Thanksgiving morning this year or in the foreseeable future — that day is now reserved for the FCIAC championship game, the league’s board of directors has decided.

The weekend before Thanksgiving is the likely time for the Turkey Bowl.

The board also decided to split the league into two divisions, now that Bassick and Harding high schools in Bridgeport are leaving to join another league in the fall. The state athletic conference that the Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference belongs to has mandated that teams only play 10 games a season, according to the Connecticut Post. Nine of them will be played before the FCIAC championship, which the board decided worked best on Thanksgiving Day.

New Canaan Football Coach Lou Marinelli told the Connecticut Post he’s “devastated” by the loss of Thanksgiving Day for the rivalry game.

Darien Football Coach Rob Trifone seemed to be upset more by the limit of 10 games a season than not having the Turkey Bowl on Thanksgiving morning, according to the Darien Times. The game can be played the weekend before and still generate a lot of excitement, he said.

Other rivalry games for teams in the league also are expected to be played that weekend. AJ Albano, football coach at Brien McMahon High School in Norwalk, said he was very happy to see the FCIAC championship game retained after the schedule changes and the 10-game mandate. It’s not as important to him that his team’s annual rivalry game with Norwalk High School won’t be played on Thanksgiving Day.

If either Darien or New Canaan wins its FCIAC division, it may be playing Thanksgiving Day, anyway.

Photo from the Darien Athletic Foundation.