Around New England
Marshfield and Duxbury: Two Potential State Champ Football Teams Facing Off This Thanksgiving
November 20, 2023
Two teams that have a chance to win a Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association state championship in different divisions are facing each other on Thanksgiving Day.
Division 2 Marshfield High (9-2) and Division 4 Duxbury High (10-1) both punched tickets to Gillette Stadium in Foxborough over the weekend. But before they play for state titles, they play each other.
This marks the third straight season where Duxbury has made it to the state championship game.
Thanksgiving Day is the traditional rivalry game in Massachusetts, ending the football season for most high school teams. But for teams going on to a playoff game, Thanksgiving Day’s is the second-to-last game, and in recent years many coaches of teams that have clinched a championship game berth opt to rest their starters on Thanksgiving and put in other players instead.
Duxbury, which beat Tewksbury 19-7 in the Division 4 state semifinal game this past weekend, plays its starters on Thanksgiving, as evidenced by its 26-7 win over Marshfield on Turkey Day last year.
Marshfield High head coach Chris Arouca said his team will do the same.
“It hasn’t even set in yet,” Arouca told NewBostonPost following his team’s 52-40 state semifinal win over Catholic Memorial at Bridgewater-Raynham High School on Saturday, November 18. “We’re going to Gillette, and we’re trying to play for a league title on Thursday.”
NewBostonPost then asked Arouca if he also intended to play to win on Thanksgiving.
“Absolutely,” he said. “It’s a league title, man. If you get a chance to play, you gotta play.”
Catholic Memorial had won back-to-back state championships before losing to Marshfield on Saturday.
Both Marshfield and Duxbury are in the Patriot League Keenan Division. Neither team has lost to a Patriot League Keenan Division opponent this season.
Marshfield last made it to the state championship in 2014; before trouncing Longmeadow 45-6 at Gillette Stadium, the team beat Duxbury 44-43 on Thanksgiving after coming back from a 21-6 deficit.
This year’s Thanksgiving Day game set for 10 a.m. Thursday, November 23 at Duxbury High School.
The following week, Marshfield will face King Philip (11-0) (a regional high school in Wrentham) in the Division 2 state title game; while Duxbury will face Scituate (8-3) in the Division 4 title bout. The dates and times of these games have not yet been announced.
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