High school football is very much a Thanksgiving tradition, especially in the Northeast where some Turkey Day rivalries are more than a century old. The MaxPreps Top 10 Games of the Week includes a few of these longstanding get-togethers as well as some crucial postseason showdowns.
Coach Greg Toal of Don Bosco Prep
Photo by Danny Wild
Top-ranked Don Bosco Prep and St. Joseph Regional don't always play on Thanksgiving, but will this year. A win would give Don Bosco sole ownership of the Big North-United league championship and improve the Ironmen to 10-0 heading into next week's Non-Public Group IV state title game against Bergen Catholic (Oradell).
An intriguing second-round game in the Florida Class 7A playoffs happens Friday when St. Thomas Aquinas (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) travels to Cooper City, the team that snapped the Raiders' 14-year run of winning district championships.
Among the state championship games we're highlighting is the Michigan Division I final to be played Saturday at Ford Field. Public school Cass Tech (Detroit) is making its first appearance in the state championship game. It will face suburban private powerhouse Catholic Central (Novi), which is in the state finals for the 14th time in 32 years.
Jamie DeMoney remains in first place in our season-long prediction contest, but just barely. DeMoney correctly picked nine of 10 games right last week. However, Stephen Spiewak was a perfect 10-for-10 in his selections to pull within one game of DeMoney. You can track our overall results and standings all season long by clicking
here.
Here's a look at this week's Top 10 Games of the Week along with predictions by MaxPreps staff writers and contributors Mitch Stephens, Steve Montoya, Stephen Spiewak, Kevin Askeland and Jamie DeMoney.
No. 1 Don Bosco Prep (Ramsey, N.J.) at St. Joseph Regional (Montvale, N.J.)The nation's top-ranked team will tune up for next week's Non-Public IV state championship game with a Thanksgiving Day rivalry game. The Ironmen have won the last six meetings in this series, including a 42-7 blowout last year. Overall, Don Bosco has won its last 52 games against in-state competition and has a 44-game winning streak overall,
the third longest in the nation.
St. Joseph Regional earned a spot in the Non-Public III state final with a 47-7 blowout of Immaculata (Somerville) last week. It was the Green Knights' fourth-straight win, all by at least 24 points. In order to have a prayer of knocking off top-ranked Don Bosco, their defense must create turnovers and force the Ironmen into third-and-long situations.
Mitch Stephens: Don Bosco 28, St. Joseph Regional 14
Steve Montoya: Don Bosco 41, St. Joseph Regional 20
Stephen Spiewak: Don Bosco 35, St. Joseph Regional 14
Kevin Askeland: Don Bosco 42, St. Joseph Regional 14
Jamie DeMoney: Don Bosco 31, St. Joseph Regional 14
Photos by Daniel Coppola/Danny Wild. Graphic by Ryan Escobar
