Phil Anastasia: New tradition begins for Lindenwold, Overbrook
Players and coaches in many Thanksgiving Day rivalries can look back to a tradition that stretches to their father's time, their grandfather's time, even their great-grandfather's time.
Players and coaches in many Thanksgiving Day rivalries can look back to a tradition that stretches to their father's time, their grandfather's time, even their great-grandfather's time.
Players and coaches at Lindenwold and Overbrook must look the other way: forward.
"Maybe in 20 years I'll be retired and living in Myrtle Beach and somebody will call me up and ask me about the first one," Lindenwold athletic director and football coach Derryk Sellers said.
Every tradition starts some place, some time, somewhere. For the Lions and the Rams, it's this morning at Lindenwold, for the first game in a new series.
"It's like we're starting something new," Lindenwold senior running back/defensive back Devar Robinson said. "We're part of something that's happening for the first time."
Thanksgiving Day rivalries are part of the fabric of South Jersey football. Millville and Vineland have been playing since 1893. They've been at it for so long, they've
tied
19 times.
Haddonfield and Haddon Heights started in 1902. They will meet for the 100th time this morning.
Palmyra and Burlington City go back to 1909. Salem and Woodstown to 1911.
Pitman and Clayton started in 1925. Ocean City and Pleasantville in 1917. Camden and Woodrow Wilson in 1933.
Sellers wanted to create a Thanksgiving Day tradition when he started the Lindenwold program in 2001. It's taken him seven years to get it done.
"It's been a seven-year trek," Sellers said. "The mayor is excited, the whole community is excited. I might cry. I might just tear up and forget to coach."
The game is a natural. Lindenwold Borough used to be part of the Lower Camden County school district, and its students attended Overbrook.
Robinson's older sister and brother went to Overbrook. Lots of Lindenwold players have parents who went to Overbrook.
"My mom and dad both went there," Lindenwold senior center/linebacker Dan Mitchell said. "They'll be rooting for us, though."
Sellers last coached on Thanksgiving Day in 2000. He was at Edgewood at the time. The Eagles' opponent? Overbrook.
But then Edgewood became Winslow Township; and Lindenwold opened; and Overbrook joined the Tri-County Conference; and everybody started looking for new traditions to excite the teams, energize the schools, and engage the communities.
Sellers said Lindenwold has played one Thanksgiving holiday game in its history: The Lions beat another new program, Timber Creek, on the Chargers' field on the night before Thanksgiving in 2001.
"We were the first team to win on that field," Sellers said.
Timber Creek started a rivalry with Triton, a sister school in the Black Horse Pike district, in 2002. That left Lindenwold without a Thanksgiving Day game.
In 2005, Lindenwold and Overbrook played in the NJSIAA's "consolation" game that is added to the schedules of teams that don't qualify for the state tournament. Both schools sent letters to the NJSIAA requesting the matchup.
"The crowd was huge," Sellers said. "I didn't realize it until then just what this rivalry could mean."
Overbrook joined the Colonial Conference this school year. The Thanksgiving matchup with Lindenwold was an ideal fit for the conference, and for both programs.
The coaches are determined to make it work. The teams got together for a dinner Monday night, and Sellers and Overbrook's Mitch Brown spoke of the importance of the new tradition.
"So many of those Lindenwold kids, we had their brothers or cousins or fathers at Overbrook," Brown said. "It's really neat for both teams. We know each other so well."
Sellers said players from both teams know each other from youth sports programs and because of the proximity of the two schools. There are family connections between both teams and ties between the teaching staffs and administrations of both schools.
"It's one of those games where there will be kids playing against each other in the morning and eating dinner together in the afternoon," Sellers said.
Neither team has been successful this season in terms of wins and losses. Overbrook is 1-8. Lindenwold is 2-7.
But both are coming off victories in consolation games. Plus, everybody knows the records don't matter when it comes to Thanksgiving Day rivalries.
Haddon Heights coach "Tim George was talking the other day about how they were playing Haddonfield for the 100th time," Sellers said. "Then he was talking about our game and he said, 'But wouldn't it be great to say you played in the first game?'
"That's us this year. We're starting something."