Marblehead Vs. Swampscott: A Thanksgiving School Football Tradition

MARBLEHEAD, MA — A year ago this game was a prelude to a championship for both the Marblehead and Swampscott high football teams.

On Thursday morning, it will be for the traditional bragging rights on the North Shore when two rivals face off in Marblehead at 10 a.m.

Both teams made it back to the playoffs this year as defending state champions, but neither made it all the way back to Gillette Stadium.

Instead, the Magicians followed a victory against Whitman-Hanson in the playoff opener before a loss to Milton ended their Division 3 state title repeat hopes. During the regular season, Marblehead's lone loss came to then-unbeaten Peabody as the Magicians allowed more than one score in only one of its seven regular season games.

Swampscott made it back to the Division 5 state playoffs before hitting a buzzsaw in top-seeded Hudson and falling to Winthrop in the consolation bracket.

For those who cannot make it to the game, it is scheduled to be live-streamed here (Marblehead broadcast) and here (Swampscott broadcast).

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)