Fairfield Warde High School will host the annual "Battle of Fairfield" this Thanksgiving morning when the Mustangs take on the Fairfield Ludlowe Falcons at 10 o'clock. This will be the eighth Turkey Day tussle between the two schools since the rivalry was resurrected in 2005.However, 44 years ago this month, Warde began a short-lived and all-but-forgotten Thanksgiving Day rivalry against a small private school in Bridgeport. Prior to the opening of Andrew Warde High School in 1956, cross-town rival Roger Ludlowe High School had an established Turkey Day football game against Bassick in Bridgeport.
That left the Crimson Eagles searching for a Thanksgiving Day opponent. So, how and why did the series with Kolbe eventually start? "We both needed a Turkey Day game, so a friendly, competitive situation developed," explained former Warde coaching legend Fern Tetreau. "Both teams played hard."
The Kolbe Friars, who didn't even have a field of their own, were Warde's opponents on Thanksgiving Day from 1968 through 1974. The only question prior to each of Warde's first five games with Kolbe wasn't who would win but, rather, by how much.
Warde dominated the series from 1968 through 1972, winning two of the five games in shutout fashion and never allowing more than eight points in any game. Overall, Warde won all seven games in the series and outscored Kolbe, 214-44.
"The best part about our clash with Kolbe was that we never had a terrible turkey dinner," Tom Davis, a member of the Eagles' squads from 1970 through 1972, told me via email. "It was always enjoyable. We went into the game knowing that we were going to win. They may have thought that they were a better team but we knew that we would win."
The Crimson Eagles won the first meeting between the schools, 32-8, in 1968. One year later, Warde blasted Kolbe, 40-6. Quarterback Chico Rodriguez threw five touchdown passes to lead the Eagles. Steve DuBoys caught scoring strikes of 70, eight, and 87 yards to help Warde to a 20-0 lead after one quarter.
Rodriguez led the winners on a 76-yard drive to open the second quarter, culminating with a 21-yard touchdown pass to Al Cassidy. Mike Skalski caught an 87-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter, and the Eagles closed the scoring in the fourth quarter when Jack Rozgonyi scampered five yards to paydirt.
The Eagles made it three in a row in 1970 when they posted a 20-6 victory in Fairfield. Warde traveled to Hedges Stadium in Bridgeport and earned its first of two straight shutout victories in 1971 (34-0). Quarterback Glen Hlavaty riddled the Friar secondary by passing for four touchdowns, leaving many wondering whether the Friars would ever win a game in the series, much less be competitive. However, even a new Kolbe coach couldn't change the Thanksgiving Day outcome in 1972.
According to the November 19, 1972 issue of the Bridgeport Sunday Post, "Kolbe High School football coach Paul Janosko is faced with a difficult assignment. In his first year as the Friars' mentor, he will try to lead his charges to their initial Thanksgiving Day triumph. With two fine performances in recent weeks, including a 40-18 triumph over Bullard Havens for their only victory, the Friars figure to give Warde a run for its money."
However, that was not to be as the Crimson Eagles buried Kolbe, 40-0. Warde finished the season at 3-6-1. Dividing the quarterback chores were Hlavaty and Davis. Running back Jim DelVecchio and placekicker Harry Caston were the scoring threats for Warde. Neil Karker and Frank Markoya were the sure-handed receivers for the Eagles.
"The '72 game was a really good game for us as we pounded them pretty good, and we all played a pretty good game," wrote Tom Davis, the younger brother of head coach Bill Davis. He noted that the games against Kolbe carried added significance for him and his brother.
"The Thanksgiving Day games were the only games my Dad saw me play as he owned his own business and worked on Saturdays, so those days were special for me." Overall, Warde outscored Kolbe, 166-20, after the first five games.
One year later, in 1973, the Kolbe gridders were a confident group heading into the Thanksgiving Day showdown with their Fairfield neighbors. According to the Bridgeport Sunday Post of November 18, 1973, "In five previous attempts, the Kolbe High School football team has failed in its quest to defeat Warde on Thanksgiving Day. That could all change as the Friars venture to the Crimson Eagles' gridiron in Fairfield for their sixth annual confrontation.
"Coach Paul Janosko's Friar combine has enjoyed a very successful season, posting a 4-5 MBIAC record. In two of the setbacks, the Friars led Harding, 14-0, at intermission before bowing, and lost in the final minute to St. Joseph, 14-12. Having already won more games than any other Kolbe eleven, Janosko has his troops primed for their first .500 season."
Once again, though, Warde prevailed. Senior halfback Ken Aiello exploded for 115 yards and two touchdowns in the second half to lead the Eagles to a 28-18 come-from-behind victory over the Friars in the 1973 Thanksgiving Day tussle. Aiello's fourth-quarter scoring runs of 11 and 54 yards erased an 18-14 Friar lead as the losers frittered away an opportunity to notch their first win in this Turkey Day series.
Aiello, who finished with 155 yards on the ground, was awarded the Most Valuable Player for Warde, while Kolbe halfback Ken Iassogna, who churned up 120 yards in 18 carries and scored a touchdown, was the Frairs' recipient.
"The Kolbe effort should rank as one of its strongest in this series as the Friars were in full command until the Crimson Eagles mounted a ferocious running attack in the second half to overpower the opposition," the newspaper article stated. Jim DelVecchio ran for a 74-yard touchdown in the third quarter for the victorious Eagles.
The final Thanksgiving Day matchup between the two rivals happened in 1974. The Eagles finished the seven-game sweep of Kolbe by posting a 20-6 victory in front of an estimated 4,000 fans in Fairfield. Warde linebacker Phil Cerrone came up with the big play as he killed a Kolbe scoring bid with a pass interception and an 82-yard return to set up an important insurance touchdown for Warde.
Cerrone, who gained the Most Valuable Player award for his crucial theft, intercepted Jamsey Codrington's pass in the right flat as Kolbe was driving toward the Warde goal line. Cerrone stepped in front of intended receiver Ira Thomas at the 10, picked off the pass, and rambled 82 yards to the Friars' eight. Two plays later, Harold Savage scored a touchdown from nine yards out, staking the Crimson Eagles to a 12-0 lead with 3:30 left in the game.
Warde put the finishing touches on its second victory of the season and final Thanksgiving Day win against Kolbe on its next series as an unsuccessful Kolbe onside kick gave the Eagles the ball at midfield, setting up Greg Aiello's 37-yard scoring gallop with 1:03 showing.
The following year, Andrew Warde High School's Crimson Eagles began a Thanksgiving Day football tradition against Roger Ludlowe High School. In fact, Warde defeated Ludlowe twice during the 1975 campaign, marking the only time in the long and storied history of the Fairfield football rivalry that one school swept two games in the same year against the other. As for Kolbe, it no longer fields a high school football team.
Paul Piorek
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