Bring Back the Thanksgiving Football Classic – Westfield vs. Plainfield

🏈 The Westfield – Plainfield Thanksgiving Day Football Game. Few local rivalries in New Jersey carry the history and heart of Westfield versus Plainfield. Their first meeting dates back to the turn of the 20th century, with the annual Thanksgiving Day game beginning officially in 1944. For eight decades, the matchup was a fixture, a Thanksgiving Day holiday ritual shared by two Union County communities that took immense pride in their teams.

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The smell of fall, the crunch of frozen grass, and the echo of marching bands warming up, for more than a century, that was Thanksgiving morning in Westfield and Plainfield. Before the turkey went in the oven, generations gathered at the local high school field to settle one of New Jersey’s fiercest rivalries.

The Westfield–Plainfield football game was more than a matchup. It was a social ritual, a meeting of neighbors divided by colors: the Blue Devils in blue and the Cardinals in red. Families bundled in blankets filled the stands, cheerleaders waved mittens in the cold air, and alumni returned home just to see who would take the Turkey Bowl bragging rights.

From the 1940s through the 1980s, the annual game was as dependable as the parade or pumpkin pie. Westfield’s dominance became legendary, yet Plainfield’s rare victories sent waves of pride through the city. When the Cardinals stunned the Devils 14–9 in 2024, ending a 17-year drought, old timers said it “felt like Thanksgiving again.”

By the numbers, Westfield has led most of the way, holding a 67–46–7 advantage as of 2025. The rivalry has weathered wars, social change, and the evolution of high school sports itself. From mud-soaked fields in the 1940s to packed bleachers in the 1970s, each generation has its own memory of those frosty November mornings.

Plainfield’s dramatic win in 2024, which snapped a 17-game losing streak, rekindled the rivalry’s old fire — a reminder of how deeply this game connects to local identity. When the schools met in August 2025 for the first time outside the Thanksgiving holiday in nearly eighty years, the shift marked the end of one era and the beginning of another. Yet, for alumni and fans on both sides, it will always be remembered as the Thanksgiving game.

🏈 Westfield vs. Plainfield: Players & Rivalry Stats

Legendary Players

Player	School / Year	Highlights
Butch Woolfolk	Westfield – Class of 1978	All-State running back, set school records with 1,637 rushing yards, 34 touchdowns, and 206 points. Went on to star at the University of Michigan and play in the NFL.
Milt Campbell	Plainfield – Class of 1953	Track and football standout, later became Olympic decathlon gold medalist (1956) and played for the Cleveland Browns and CFL. Widely regarded as Plainfield’s greatest all-around athlete.
Glen Kehler	Westfield – Class of 1975	Powerful running back who became a Rutgers standout and later played for the New York Giants. Remembered for leading the Blue Devils’ ground game in the 1970s.
Luke Jordan	Westfield – Class of 2024	Thanksgiving 2023 hero with 2 interceptions, 100 rushing yards, and a touchdown, sealing another Westfield win.
Jordan Walsh	Westfield – Class of 2026	Scored the game-winning TD in the August 2025 opener, the first non-Thanksgiving matchup in nearly 80 years.

Rivalry by the Numbers

Category	Stat / Note
First Meeting	1900 – Westfield 26, Plainfield 0
Thanksgiving Tradition	1944–2024 (annual holiday matchup)
All-Time Series (as of 2025)	Westfield 67 wins, Plainfield 46 wins, 7 ties
Most Recent Thanksgiving Game (2024)	Plainfield 14, Westfield 9 – first Plainfield win since 2011
Westfield’s Longest Win Streak	17 straight (2006–2019, 2021–2023)
Plainfield’s Longest Win Streak	11 straight (1949–1959)
Largest Westfield Win	45–0 (1969)
Largest Plainfield Win	40–0 (2004)
Total Points Scored (All-Time)	Westfield 1,593 – Plainfield 1,255
Scoreless Ties	6 (1916, 1933, 1936, 1937, 1985, 1993)
Notable Non-Thanksgiving Game	1976 Playoffs – Westfield 14, Plainfield 0

🏆 State Champion Summary

School	Official NJSIAA Titles	Undefeated Seasons	Notable Eras
Plainfield	3 (1977, 1981, 1995)	2 (1977, 1981)	“Campbell–Scott–Anderson Era” – Powerhouse decades of the 1950s–1980s
Westfield	4 (1979, 1986, 2015, 2016, 2017)	3 (1979, 2016, 2017)	“Kehler–DeSarno Dynasty” – 1970s–1980s dominance and 2010s revival

Why The Tradition Ended

The biggest factor was the state playoff calendar. When the NJSIAA introduced football playoffs in 1974, postseason games began extending into mid-November and sometimes beyond Thanksgiving. For decades, the holiday matchup had served as a natural finale for both teams, but as playoff structures expanded, the timing no longer fit. Coaches and athletic directors were concerned about player fatigue and injuries, particularly for teams like Westfield, which frequently advanced deep into the postseason.

Competitive balance also played a role. While Westfield’s program remained consistently strong throughout the 2000s and 2010s, Plainfield went through several rebuilding periods, resulting in extended periods of lopsided results. Westfield’s seventeen-game winning streak from 2006 through 2023 made it harder to sustain fan excitement and community engagement. When Plainfield finally broke the streak with a 14–9 victory on Thanksgiving 2024, it felt like a perfect ending, a symbolic closure to one of New Jersey’s oldest rivalries.

Logistics added to the challenge. Thanksgiving games required marching bands, cheer squads, and maintenance crews to work through the holiday. With family travel and smaller rosters, it became harder for both schools to manage a full-scale event. “It’s hard to keep a holiday tradition alive when the sport’s entire schedule has moved up a month,” one Westfield official observed.

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The Classic That Needs A Comeback

Today, alumni from both Westfield and Plainfield remember those mornings vividly: the crisp air, the marching bands, the smell of cider, and the roar of the crowd. The Blue Devil-Cardinals Thanksgiving rivalry wasn’t just a football game. It was a community gathering, a small-town holiday ritual, and a symbol of local pride that lives on in the memories of every player and fan who experienced it. And with a series this tight, why would you not do it?

Thanksgiving Day Football Photo Collection (and a few extras)

Send us if you have a good one to share – Click Here

Video Collection – Past Thanksgiving Games: Westfield vs. Plainfield

Let us know if you find a new classic!

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Comments…

Now it’s your turn. For the record (and others), share a year and a memory in the comments section below.

Readers’ Top 10 MLH Posts this Week

Legendary New Jersey High School Thanksgiving Football Rivalries

If you have one we missed, let us know

County	Two teams	Originating season	Number of years played*	Record (W L T)**	Last year played (most recent Thanksgiving)	Comments

Warren

Phillipsburg vs Easton (PA)

1905

~119 seasons through 2024

Easton ~68, Phillipsburg ~43, Ties 5

2024 (Thanksgiving game at Lafayette College; scheduled again for 2025)

First game in 1905, became a fixed Thanksgiving rivalry in 1916. Widely regarded as New Jersey’s signature Thanksgiving game even though Easton is in Pennsylvania. Only major disruption was 2020 when COVID moved the matchup to April 2021, but the Thanksgiving tradition resumed.

County	Two teams	Originating season	Number of years played*	Record (W L T)	Last Thanksgiving year	Comments
Union	Roselle Park vs Roselle	1908	118	Roselle Park 53 44 8 overall before final 2025 game	2025	First meeting in 1908, with the series later moved onto Thanksgiving and holiday week. Sources differ slightly on the exact win loss total, but all agree Roselle Park holds a narrow overall edge and that the rivalry is ending with the 2025 Thanksgiving game.
Union	Westfield vs Plainfield	1900	125	Westfield 67 Plainfield 46 Ties 7 (120 total meetings as of 2025)	2024	Classic Union County and statewide rivalry. First game in 1900. It became an annual Thanksgiving matchup from 1944 through 2024. In 2025, the annual game moved to late August, so 2024 is the final Thanksgiving edition.
Union	Union vs Linden	c. 1943	c. 77	Union 37 Linden 32 Ties 5 (record through 2017 listing	2019	Union and Linden played their rivalry game on or around Thanksgiving for more than 75 years. NJ Advance Media called the 2017 meeting the 75th between the schools and listed the series at Union 37 wins, Linden 32, ties 5. Later Thanksgiving games, including Union at Linden in 2019, are documented in local coverage, but a fully updated series record after 2017 is not clearly compiled in one place.

* Number of years played here is the season span from the first known meeting to the last Thanksgiving meeting, not a precise count of games or confirmed seasons without gaps.

County	Two teams	Originating season*	Number of years played**	Record (W L T)	Last year played on or around Thanksgiving	Comments
Somerset	Ridge vs Bernards	1963	15 consecutive seasons	Ridge 8 Bernards 7	1977	Classic Somerset Hills Turkey Bowl. Mr Local History article documents a fixed Thanksgiving series from 1963 through 1977, fifteen straight games, with Ridge winning eight and Bernards seven. Earlier and later meetings occurred in other weeks, but the true Thanksgiving run is those fifteen seasons.
Somerset	Somerville vs Bound Brook	early 1900s	about 70 plus seasons		late1970s (Thanksgiving era ended after roughly 71 years)	Long standing county rivalry. Raritan online and Somerville community posts describe the Thanksgiving game as the biggest local event of the year in the nineteen fifties and mention a rivalry that “died after 71 years.” There are confirmed programs from at least 1938 and 1954, and coverage suggests the series began in the early twentieth century and ended as a true Thanksgiving fixture by the later 1970s. Detailed win loss totals live in scattered box scores rather than one master list.
Somerset	Bridgewater Raritan East vs Bridgewater Raritan West	1968	23 Thanksgiving seasons		1990	In town Bridgewater rivalry. Local histories say the East West Thanksgiving Day game ran every year from 1968 through 1990 and was the premier local event, drawing six thousand to seven thousand fans. The series ended when East and West merged into the current Bridgewater Raritan High School in the early nineteen nineties. Game by game results exist in Raritan online features and Hall of Fame materials, but no simple summed record is published.
Somerset	Bound Brook vs Manville	1998	14 Thanksgiving era seasons		2011	Small school rivalry that became a modern Thanksgiving tradition. Central Jersey Sports Radio notes that Bound Brook and Manville met on Thanksgiving or the night before every year from 1998 to 2011, after having played earlier in the season in prior decades. Since then the rivalry continues as a regular season game, including recent matchups in October 2024 and 2025, but no longer on the holiday.

County	Two teams	Originating season*	Number of years played**	Record (W L T)	Last year played on or around Thanksgiving	Comments
Bergen	Dumont vs Tenafly	1922	~75 Thanksgiving games	Tenafly 56 35 3	2024	Oldest and most played rivalry in Bergen County. Played nearly every year since 1922 and annually on Thanksgiving since 1949, except 2020. One of only a couple Bergen games still on Thanksgiving.
Bergen	Hackensack vs Teaneck	1932	~93 Thanksgiving games	Hackensack 67 23	2024	Annual Thanksgiving morning game since 1931 with only a break in 2020. Listed among the oldest Thanksgiving rivalries in the country and one of the last three North Jersey Thanksgiving games still alive.
Essex	East Orange vs Barringer	1897	112 rivalry meetings	East Orange 64 39	2024	Classic Park Avenue rivalry. First played Thanksgiving 1897 and long known as one of the oldest continuous holiday games. Streak was briefly broken in the 1980s but the Thanksgiving tradition resumed and the game is still on the holiday.
Essex	Montclair vs Bloomfield	1922	97 rivalry games by 2017	Thanksgiving series Montclair 55 24 1 (SI)	2017 as fixed Thanksgiving game	One of New Jersey’s oldest rivalries. For decades a Thanksgiving morning staple at Foley Field. In recent years the matchup has often moved to Thanksgiving eve or other dates. (SI)
Hudson	Emerson vs Union Hill	1919	89 Turkey Game meetings	Emerson 40 39	2007	The Union City Turkey Game. Played every Thanksgiving from 1919 until the schools merged into Union City High. Series finished almost exactly even and is still remembered as one of the states iconic holiday games.
Passaic	Paterson Kennedy vs Paterson Eastside	1925	101 Thanksgiving games by 2025	Kennedy 46 40 7 through the 93rd game	2025 scheduled	City rivalry that started when Eastside opened in 1925 and has become a centennial Thanksgiving classic at Hinchliffe Stadium. Renovation of the stadium brought the holiday game back to its historic home.
Passaic	Clifton vs Passaic	1992 (Thanksgiving series)	28 Thanksgiving games	90 total meetings, Clifton 48 37	2019	Long standing rivalry that became a pure Thanksgiving series from 1992 through the final Turkey Bowl in 2019. 32 of the ninety meetings were on Thanksgiving day.
Morris	Madison vs Millburn	c 1933	85 Thanksgiving games	Madison 53 27	2017	One of the signature Morris Essex Thanksgiving rivalries. The 85th and final holiday game was played in 2017, with Madison winning 13 to 7 to close the series.
Sussex	Newton vs Kittatinny	1976	50 seasons through 2025		Not a fixed Thanksgiving game	Deep Sussex rivalry played every year since 1976 according to statewide rivalry surveys. It is usually a regular season conference game in October or early November rather than a locked in Thanksgiving matchup, but it is the closest thing the county has to a long running holiday time rivalry.