The Nashua South football team hoists the Ed Lecius Memorial Trophy after capturing the 2019 Turkey Eve Bowl over Nashua North at Stellos Stadium. Due to the pandemic, there was no game last night. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – Like most every other time this season, Nashua High School South football coach Scott Knight on Wednesday had that different feeling.

There was no annual Wednesday night Turkey Bowl to prepare for as Stellos Stadium remains dark until hopefully this spring.

Thus, the last couple of weeks, there were no practices, including at Stellos where the Panthers would normally have their workouts this week as the facility would be available with all the tournaments from other sports concluded.

For the first time in a span five decades, there’s no 2020 Thanksgiving football in Nashua. The holiday tradition, that began with Bishop Guertin playing the unified Nashua High School until 2004, when it changed after The Split to Nashua North vs. Nashua South, was scrapped this year due to the pandemic.

School officials see the game as a financial asset through attendance, and in the off-season, with the anticipated extreme safety limits on fan numbers, there was no reason to have the game.

And that is indeed the case, as under current safety protocols no visiting fans are allowed at city venues, even if it’s North-South.

It just added to the different way of doing things thanks to the pandemic.

“Nothing’s been normal,” Knight said. “You can ask me about August, too. Or September. … It would have been nice to keep playing.”

That’s for a couple of reasons. Knight has always loved the Turkey Bowl, because it’s a no pressure deal. It didn’t help that the Panthers’ season also ended much earlier than they’ve been accustomed to – Nov. 1 – and with a sour taste, as the they blew a 20-0 first quarter lead in a first round playoff game at Merrimack, losing 27-26.

That gave a sudden, abrupt end to the season, because there was not going to be any Thanksgiving Eve game.

“We knew we were in a situation you win, you get more games, as the playoffs always extend your season,” Knight said. “But at any rate, whether we win or lose, in a typical year, we get to keep practicing all the way to Thanksgiving, Regardless of how far you go in the playoffs, at least we have that luxury to finish up right, get a few more weeks, to practice.

South leads the Thanksgiving series, 12-4, including the last four, which were the four night games (27-13 last year). Knight likes that extension to the season, as it gives him a chance to look at some of the younger players.

“We put some of the younger kids on scout team, move some of the freshmen up,’ he said. “Look at some different things. Sometimes we have situation where we’ll move a kid to tight end or something like that. We’d usually use this week to look at a situation like that. It’s like a couple of bonus weeks to try some different things.”

Of course, Nashua North isn’t in the same boat. The Titans are likely glad they don’t have the Turkey Eve Bowl to play, as they won their first Division I state championship this past Saturday. They’d have to go right back at it for Monday and Tuesday before a Wednesday night game. Not ideal, but it happened plenty of times in the BG-Nashua rivalry, and also when Nashua South won the title in 2008 and North played in the 2009-10 Division I finals.

In those years, South won in 2008, 17-16 and in 2010, while North took the ’09 game. In 2010, the teams played three times that year, including twice in three weeks, as North beat South in the Division I semis.

“It’s just as hard getting over a win as a loss,” Knight said. “You’ve got recover from that, same thing, you’ve got to recover from a win. That extra game can become anticlimactic.”

But Knight still misses the game. “It was a nice, kind of official wrap-up, you know,” he said. “We leave all our gear there, we’ve been doing this for 30 something years, I lose track. It’s really weird.”

Knight said it was strange not practicing this week, because those sessions were always fun.

“It was a different vibe, you know,” he said. “Kind of a looser atmosphere, trying different things, just kind of fun. No pressure. Just a fun one to prepare for. I miss that.

“It was weird when we switched it to Wednesday night (back in 2016), but that was kind of a welcome change,” he said. “There was the tradition of getting up on Thanksgiving morning super early, going for breakfast with the other coaches (including the North staff). Either way, I like it.”

The game has suffered with attendance the last couple of years due to weather. A snowstorm a week prior, plus frigid temps at game time in 2018 left Stellos a cold, icy, near-empty stadium. And last year rain cut the crowd down considerably.

Thus, is Knight afraid it might not return? Attendance is key.

“No, I’m not afraid it won’t come back,” Knight said. “It’s a city tradition, really. Just something – we don’t have these big homecoming things. Some schools have a homecoming game on Saturdays. We don’t really have that.

“The Thanksgiving game has been more like our homecoming game. That’s a big part of that tradition. I’m not worried about losing the game. I haven’t heard any talk about that.”

But, as Knight said, it would have cost to play it this year with hardly any fans than to not play it. “They wouldn’t have made any money,” he said.

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