Frankford and North a rivalry to remember

ON THURSDAY, high school football teams around the city will line up to compete in a Thanksgiving tradition. Unfortunately for the Public League squads, that tradition usually entails a butt-whooping at the hands of their Catholic League counterparts.

But it doesn't always happen that way. And when it doesn't, it makes it that much more memorable. Just ask Terrant Morrison.

Twenty-five years ago, Morrison was the quarterback at Frankford High. Morrison and his 1987 Pioneers rolled toward the Public League championship game with a 10-0 record. First came their annual Thanksgiving clash with North Catholic, their neighborhood rivals from as far back as 1930, at old Temple Stadium.

Despite their unblemished record, the Pioneers were underdogs. The Catholic League was a juggernaut. To Morrison and his teammates, this was their title game.

"It was a smack in the face for us after the season we were having," Morrison said. "It just showed the lack of respect for the Public League altogether. So we had a lot of motivation before that whistle even blew. It was the one we marked off in the beginning of the year."

In front of a large and energized crowd, the game kicked off at 9:45 a.m., then billed as the nation's earliest start time. Riding an adrenaline rush that lasted four quarters, the Pioneers rolled over North, 34-17.

Morrison ran in three touchdowns himself, and his running backs racked up big yardage behind an undersized offensive line that was supposed to get pushed around by a bigger, more physical North defensive front.

"The three touchdowns were sort of an afterthought, compared to the game itself," Morrison said. "They were expected to dominate us and put the Public League in their place, as they had for years."

Of course, they didn't. In fact, the 1987 Frankford team didn't lose a game, finishing 12-0 for the best record in school history. They set what was then a city record for points, with 454. And most important, they beat North.

The biggest prize that day?

"Bragging rights," Morrison said. "This was a neighborhood rivalry, which a lot of times was bigger than a playoff game. You played Little League with these guys and against these guys, so it is like a carryover, and it is more pride than anything."

And sometimes more than that.

"We didn't want turkey, we wanted Falcon," joked Corey Jaynes, a wideout and linebacker on the '87 team. "We wanted to crush those guys that year. We showed everybody that year that the Pub, that we could beat the Catholic League."

Now living in Delaware, Morrison and his wife still work in Philly. His son, Terrant Jr., is a junior running back at Widener University. While their town doesn't have high school football on Thanksgiving, Morrison is sure to pop in the video of Frankford's triumph every couple of years.

"[My son] knows every story I have from that game," he said. "The video is my only caption of my high school years. We pop it in sometimes, and I am the joke of the family for the day."

North Catholic closed its doors in June 2010, ending the rivalry after 80 contests. To date, Frankford has enjoyed tremendous success on Thanksgiving, compared with its Public League brethren, notching a respectable 34-42-4 record against North.

The other rivalries are far more lopsided, but Public Leaguers getting ready for a kickoff on Thursday can take solace that, should they win, a year won't go by without a Turkey Day reminder.

"Absolutely, and Facebook plays into that as well," Morrison said. "We chat throughout the year as we watch our kids play. [Thanksgiving football] was so much bigger then, I think, than it is now. So we will compare ourselves to these kids, obviously making us appear greater than we were. I know that game stands out for any Frankford Pioneer."

Unfortunately, the Frankford-North rivalry is no more, but there are still plenty to go around.

"When North Catholic closed down, knowing that rivalry would no longer be played was one of the worst parts of that deal," Morrison said.

On Thursday, Frankford will host Samuel Fels High for the third consecutive year on Thanksgiving. Only 77 games behind.

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