MANCHESTER — Collin Beaulieu had never seen it before.
The Manchester Memorial football team’s senior quarterback said this fall was the first time that he had ever seen a line of fans waiting to enter Chabot-McDonough Field for a home game.
A jam-packed crowd at Meisel Veterans Memorial Field saw Manchester West secure its first playoff appearance since 2007 by defeating Hanover, 20-17, with a touchdown pass from Gio Doria to Terrance Bovill on the last play of the regular-season finale.
After turnaround, playoff-qualifying seasons for both programs, Memorial (6-4, 6-3 in Division I) and Division II West (6-4) will play in the Manchester Turkey Bowl on Thursday at 10 a.m. at Gill Stadium.
Those successful campaigns renewed a passion for football at both schools and within their communities.
“In school, I definitely heard about our team much more and a lot of kids were interested,” Beaulieu said at the Turkey Bowl news conference on Monday night at Memorial. “We had a lot more people coming to the games.”
Seventh-seeded West, which went 1-8 last year, fell, 35-0, to second-seeded Pelham in the Division II quarterfinals.
Seventh-seeded Memorial, coming off a 2-8 season last year, earned its first home playoff game in 21 years, then its first playoff victory since capturing the Division I crown in 1973. The Crusaders defeated 10th-seeded Winnacunet, 22-13, at home in the first round before falling at second-seeded Exeter, 33-6, in the Division I quarterfinals.
West’s triumph over Hanover was on the team’s senior night and T-Mobile night. The wireless phone carrier hosted a tailgate party and awarded the Blue Knights a $25,000 grant for being a top-16 finalist in its T-Mobile Friday Night 5G Lights nationwide contest.
West made the contest’s final cut based on the number of likes it received on its Instagram video that served as the team’s entry into the contest.
“It was a really fun game to be a part of and to win it at the end was pretty special,” said second-year West coach and Memorial graduate Andrew Provencher. “We had a great crowd there.”
West senior tight end/linebacker and captain Nono Omol said the Blue Knights noticed support from their classmates and school growing throughout the season. That, Omol said, helped fuel West’s playoff season — the program’s first since 2007 when Bedford left the school district and opened its own high school.
At Memorial’s first-round home playoff game against Winnacunnet, there was a line of fans trying to get into the stadium well into the first quarter.
“These kids, they work so hard and a lot of it goes unnoticed because of the records we’ve had in the past years,” Memorial coach Rob Sturgis said after the Crusaders’ 20-13 regular-season finale home victory over Timberlane in front of another sizable crowd. “These kids, to be able to do the things that they’ve been doing every single day and finally have something to show for it is just huge for our program. It’s huge for the school as a whole.”
The Manchester Turkey Bowl began in 1981. While qualifications to play in the exhibition have changed over the years, Thursday will mark the first edition to feature a Memorial-West matchup.
West, Memorial and Central (1-9) were eligible to make the game this year, with the teams with the two best records at the end of the regular season earning the spots.
The Crusaders won their second Turkey Bowl last fall with a 15-0 triumph over Central. They won it for the first time in 2014 with a 41-14 victory over the Little Green.
West last played in the Turkey Bowl in 2018 — a 34-22 loss to Central on the night before Thanksgiving — and last won the Turkey Bowl in 2007 with a 19-13 triumph over the Little Green.
Provencher said he hopes for a good turnout for the Turkey Bowl considering the caliber of the Blue Knights and Crusaders — something both rejuvenated fan bases have shown up to witness all year.
“I know that the Turkey Bowl, in years past, I think attendance has been hot and cold sometimes,” Provencher said, “but for folks, it’s an opportunity to see what I would say is the two best Manchester football teams in the last decade play each other and be able to watch those teams compete.”