Thanksgiving football might be dying throughout the state, but there are certain communities and programs where it still means something special
Haddonfield is one of them, and the Bulldawgs reminded themselves of that fact after a sluggish first half on Thursday.
Brody Leonard ran for 97 of his 131 yards and two touchdowns after intermission and Haddonfield overcame a 7-6 deficit to beat Haddon Heights 25-7 in the 116th meeting between the schools.
The Bulldawgs have won four straight in a series that started in 1902 and is the third-longest ongoing holiday rivalry in New Jersey. They lead the Garnets 67-43-6 overall.
“It was lack of execution and self-inflicted wounds. It was all on us,” Leonard said of the surprising halftime deficit. “Once we understood how much this game meant to us, and not only us but all the people watching it, we really put it together and started fighting like we usually fight.”
Sophomore James Farrell made his first career start at quarterback in place of the injured Van Lekakis and threw a 21-yard TD pass to Mike Keenan to go with a 9-yard TD run of his own. He completed 6-of-9 passes for 77 yards, all to Keenan, who also had a key 53-yard return on the opening kickoff of the second half to spark Haddonfield to a go-ahead score.
Leonard took it in from 7 yards out six plays after the kick return, and Haddonfield never trailed again.
“I think that was big for momentum,” Keenan said. “In the first half, we were kind of slow. We have a great offense but we weren’t pounding the ball, and our defense was giving up shots. Going into halftime, we made a change and we flipped a switch. We knew we were going to get a good look on the kickoff return, we blocked it up and made a big play.”
“That was huge,” added Haddonfield coach Frank DeLano. “That’s him — he has the ability to make big plays and he’s been a playmaker all year.”
Haddonfield, which was coming off a 37-18 loss to Camden in the Group 2 state semifinals, finished the season with a 10-3 record, the ninth time in program history the Bulldawgs have reached 10 wins.
But for a while it looked like they were headed to their first loss in the rivalry since 2021. An intense halftime session served as a wakeup call.
“The coaches got on us, but we really got on ourselves,” Leonard said. “We came into the first quarter thinking this was going to be an easy game. We kind of let the rankings and everything get into our heads a little bit. But at halftime, we came into the locker room and we realized that we don’t want to look back next year or the year after and think about losing this last game. We pulled each other together and in the second half we came out and did our jobs.”
DeLano praised the poise of Farrell, who was a varsity lacrosse player last year. The young QB, who will likely take over as the starter next season, added 78 yards on the ground, including a 41-yard scamper to set up Leonard’s second TD, and especially had chemistry with Keenan.
“He’s awesome,” Keenan said. “He’s been my brother since, I don’t know, 5 years old. We’ve been playing football together every year through youth and he’s just a tough kid. In practice we all get reps, so he’s been playing with us forever and it was easy for us.”
Senior quarterback Kevin Clark hit freshman wide receiver William Barnes for a 35-yard touchdown to give Haddon Heights an early lead in the first quarter. Clark completed 13-of-25 passes for 123 yards in his final high school game, with fellow senior Ryan Bailey hauling in four of them for 57 yards.
Bailey also had two tackles for loss for the Garnets, who ended with a 2-9 record.
Following the game, DeLano was asked if the annual Thanksgiving matchup will be moved up to earlier in the season, as has happened with so many other traditional rivalries.
“Not if it’s up to me,” he said. “I’m just one man in this puzzle, but I will fight like hell to keep this game.”
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