Turkey Bowl Preview
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Every year on Thanksgiving the Darien Blue Wave football team plays against their archrivals, the New Canaan Rams. This highly anticipated game is definitely the highlight of the season for both the team and the fans, bringing the two rival teams together on one field. Senior Captain Max Schreyer said, “Beating New Canaan is always one of our main goals, and if we beat them it would be a highlight of our season.”
This Thanksgiving, Thursday November 26th, is the day circled on the Blue Wave Varsity Football’s schedule. After a long debate, it was decided that at 10:30 am the teams will face off in the annual Turkey Bowl at New Canaan’s Dunning Stadium.
Darien is looking for revenge this year. Last year, the Blue Wave had its season spoiled by the Rams. Finishing last year with an 11-2 record, Darien’s two losses were to the New Canaan Rams, leaving the both FCIAC and CIAC runner-ups.
The Wave brings a 5-2 record into November with upcoming games against Westhill and Norwalk before attempting to tackle the Turkey Bowl, with a potentially 7-2 record. The Blue Wave will rely on good play from its offensive leaders, senior captians George Benitez, Bobby Nolan, and Michael Wohlberg, as well as standout junior running back Graham Maybell. Nolan and Maybell will really have to work hard to find holes early in the game to open up passing lanes for Benitez. If Darien’s offense is able to click like in games against Danbury -31 points, Wilton- 35 points, and Trinity- 35 points, the team should be able to keep New Canaan’s defense guessing. Like they say, sometimes the best defense is a good offense.
The Blue Wave’s defense will have to keep the Ram’s offense in check, who have been averaging 38.5 points per game at this time. The defense team is lead by senior Drew Davis and junior Charlie Kunze. These two will be key components for shutting down New Canaan’s running game, which is averaging 126 yards per game on the ground.
Darien’s biggest threat—The New Canaan Rams senior quarterback Turner Baty, who walked onto the team two weeks before the start of the season. Baty has received scholarship offers from a few Division I football schools, including Stanford. It will be critical for the secondary to play tough in order to shut down New Canaan’s passing offense.
With Darien suffering 2 losses early in the season, they will need to work hard and hope for things to fall into place for any chance at the State Playoffs. The performance of the team in next few games could determine whether the Turkey Bowl will be the last football game for the graduating seniors. The class of 2010 seniors have yet to take a win against New Canaan, seeing as Darien has not won a Turkey Bowl since 2001. When Benitez was asked what it would be like to win the Turkey Bowl it seemed as though he was speechless for a few moments, and then said, “It would just be so great.” To walk away with a win against the New Canaan Rams for the first time in eight years would be truly gratifying for not only the seniors, but the entire Darien Football Team.
So on that early morning on the 26th of November, the Blue Wave football team will run out onto Dunning Field and will be sure to leave it all on the field.
