... and now, the Fairfield Ludlowe Falcons!

The school is no longer known as Roger Ludlowe. The nickname is no longer the Flying Tigers. But the rivalry and emotions are sure to be charged when the "other" public high school in Fairfield travels to Melville Avenue to play Warde on Thanksgiving Day.

Memories are sure to be stirred for the alumni of both schools when they gather to renew acquaintances before the 10:30 kickoff. A number of tailgate get-togethers have been planned, and former football players from Andrew Warde, Fairfield, and Roger Ludlowe high schools have been invited to a pre-game breakfast in the cafeteria beginning at 9 o'clock.

There are several reasons why this game has drawn so much attention. First, this year marks the 50th anniversary of the opening of Andrew Warde High School. Many former gridders from Warde will be on hand for the contest.

In addition, this is the first meeting between Warde and Ludlowe at our high school in nearly a quarter of a century. The last time these two schools played at Melville Avenue, it marked the final varsity football game ever for the Andrew Warde Crimson Eagles.

Finally, the field will be dedicated and renamed in honor of two legendary football coaches at Andrew Warde High School, Fern Tetreau and Bill Davis. Tetreau's Crimson Eagles won the state championship in 1959 by posting an undefeated 9-0 record, just three years after the school opened. The next year, his charges went 8-1 for a 17-1 cumulative record over two years. Davis succeeded Tetreau and coached from 1970 to 1979, with one of his most notable achievements being the two-game sweep over Ludlowe during our senior year.

As far as the Falcons are concered, this has been an especially tough year on the gridiron. Ludlowe enters the game with a 1-8 record with its only victory coming against winless Bassick. The visitors are sure to be somewhat intimidated by the pomp and circumstance surrounding the events at Warde. Even though Ludlowe won the first renewal of the rivalry last year on its home turf, 20-14, they're sure to be underdogs this time around.

Now that the game is only two days away, let's take a look at the rivalry between the two schools during our senior year at Andrew Warde High School:

Football: Coach Bill Davis' Crimson Eagles defeated Ludlowe twice on the gridiron. Warde won the regular season meeting, 27-13, and the Thanksgiving Day affair, 28-6.

Soccer: Although Warde tied Ludlowe twice by identical 1-1 scores, the Tigers won the coveted Swedish Cup over Constantine "Dino" Vanghele's squad by virtue of their better overall record.

Baseball: The Crimson Eagles, coached by Bob Jackson, posted a dramatic 4-2 come-from-behind victory at Ludlowe by scoring all their runs in the final inning.

Volleyball: Coach Ed Bengermino's FCIAC runner-up Eagles beat Ludlowe two games to one.

Field Hockey: Coach Pat Jennings squad lost a heartbreaking 1-0 decision to the Lady Tigers.

Basketball: Bengermino's cagers dropped a one-sided affair to the Tigers, 80-47.

Ice Hockey: The skaters tied Ludlowe, but the highlight of the season was defeating Wilbur Cross at the New Haven Coliseum.

Wrestling: Although Coach Frank Bent's grapplers finished with a winless record in 13 matches, they lost a narrow decision to Ludlowe, 32-24.

Boys' Track: The team defeated Ludlowe, 84-61, and placed seventh out of 16 teams at the FCIAC championships.

Editor's Note: The information provided on this Web site is courtesy of the Flame yearbook. Unfortunately, some sports summaries didn't include complete information, so I wasn't able to list a few of the sports results.

Fairfield Warde Mustang and Fairfield Ludlowe Falcon football photos from this season are courtesy of Tim Parry, author of fciacfootball.blogspot.com.

Paul