Turkey Bowl
Every Thanksgiving since 1994—with the lone exception of the canceled 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic—New Canaan and Darien have met in the Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference’s (FCIAC) most celebrated rivalry game, The Turkey Bowl.
“I like the concept of a Thanksgiving Day game,” former Darien head coach Mike Sangster once said. “Traditionally, in New England, Thanksgiving is football.”
The rivalry between these bordering towns dates back to a brisk November afternoon in 1928, when New Canaan’s Loren J. Keyes and Darien’s Lindley Hubbard led their teams onto the grounds of the Ox Ridge Hunt Club for the very first meeting. From that day forward, the annual clash has grown into one of the most anticipated scholastic sporting events in Southwestern Connecticut, known for its intensity, passion, and deep community pride.
The series has survived three interruptions that once threatened its very existence. No games were played in 1930, 1950–55, or 1965–66. The single-year gap in 1930 was effectively balanced out by double matchups during the height of World War II. But the six-year hiatus beginning in 1950 nearly ended the rivalry outright. Feeling outnumbered (164–85 in male enrollment) and reeling from three consecutive losses by a combined 144–0, New Canaan dropped Darien from its schedule following the 1949 season. The two programs would not meet again until 1956.
“When I think about high school sports—sportsmanship, rivalries, competition—that’s what this game is all about,” said former New Canaan Athletic Director Vin Iovino. “The rivalry brings out the best in both teams.” Former Darien Athletic Director Jim Girard agreed: “It’s a matter of pride.”
Over the course of the rivalry, both programs have enjoyed extended stretches of dominance. Darien won nine straight from 1956–64. New Canaan answered with nine consecutive wins of its own from 1967–76. The Rams later matched that streak again from 2004–11.
Shutouts have long been a hallmark of the rivalry’s most dramatic swings. Thirty-two games have ended with one side blanked—New Canaan owning 17 shutouts and Darien 15—including the most lopsided score in series history, Darien’s 70–0 win in 1962. As New Canaan head coach Lou Marinelli put it: “It’s a good old-fashioned rivalry. It’s a game we want to win. If we were 0-and-9, we’d want to win this game. It would make our season.”
The winner each year is awarded the Coaches Memorial Trophy, dedicated to two legendary figures: Darien’s John E. Maher (head coach from 1945–65) and New Canaan’s Joseph C. Sikorski, who led the Rams for 20 seasons beginning in 1949. As the trophy inscription notes, it is “presented annually…in honor of the two outstanding coaches who devoted a lifetime to establishing a winning tradition.” Iovino once remarked, “There aren’t two better people this game should be played in honor of.”
Multiple-meeting seasons—the years when the rivalry spills into the CIAC playoffs—have added another layer of drama. The first such instance came in 1942, when New Canaan won both matchups. The Rams repeated the feat in 1944, while the teams split in 1946. The double-meetings then disappeared until 1999, when New Canaan won the Turkey Bowl but fell to Darien in the Class M Semifinals just four days later.
The fifth two-game season came in 2008, when New Canaan won both the Turkey Bowl/FCIAC Championship before more than 12,000 fans at Boyle Stadium and then the Class MM Final at Trumbull’s McDougall Stadium, completing the program’s third undefeated season.
The rivalry doubled up again in 2013, with Darien winning the Turkey Bowl 28–24 at Dunning before New Canaan claimed the snowy Class L Final 44–12. Remarkably, 2014 played out the same way: Darien took the Turkey Bowl/FCIAC title 28–21 in overtime, only for New Canaan to win the CIAC Class LL Championship rematch, 21–20.
In 2021, New Canaan captured the Turkey Bowl 12–7, but Darien claimed the Class LL Semifinal 24–10 on its way to a state title.
In 2023, New Canaan again swept the series—winning the Turkey Bowl 31–17 and then stunning the Blue Wave 28–21 in a dramatic Class L Championship comeback at Rentschler Field.
In 2024, the Rams repeated yet another sweep: a dominant 34–0 Turkey Bowl victory followed by a 35–21 win in the Class L Championship at Arute Field on the campus of Central Connecticut State University. And in 2025 it was New Canaan winning twice once again by way of a 39-7 win in the Turkey Bowl and a 42-7 rout the following week in the Class L Quarterfinals.
Turkey Bowl Year-by-Year Results
New Canaan leads all time series 62-39-2 and the Turkey Bowl series 21-9-1.
