A Tradition Like No Other Continues:Turkey Bowl ’18 at the Guilford College Campus

A Tradition like no other continued today, as we played “Turkey Bowl 2018”, at the Guilford College campus….

Game time at 10am and today’s matchup featured the local Guilford Geese vs. the Thomasville Terriers…The Geese didn’t tear up the Terriers, but the final score showed the Geese flying high, taking the “Bird Day Bowl”, 72-48…

We didn’t take any plays out of the Chiefs-Rams Monday Night playbook, but the Geese quarterback, Scott Cooper, did out-do Matthew Stafford today, as Scott got hot and hit Grayson Holland in stride and Scott found Joey Kirkman, who came in with workmanlike catches, that made the long-ball, the main course on this Thanksgiving Day spread..

And it was a spread offense that gave the Thomasville Terriers fits today, and with all of the running going on, the Terriers got dog-tired back there in defensive coverage…

And you might say an out-of-town team coming in to challenge the Guilford Geese on this fourth Thursday in November…That would be a question, “An out-of-town bunch in here to take on the Turkey Bowl reigning champions”?????

YES.

‘Little Doug’ Brown found 5 new players from outside of Greensboro, and he bused them in from Thomasville and the Terriers were throwing footballs, and they were throwing bones out there on the Guilford College field before this game ended at around High Noon…

The Thomasville Terriers heard that Guilford Geese team bus driver and team mechanic, Scott Holland, had put up a game-winning prize for the winner of today’s game, and that would be FREE Thanksgiving Day Buffets, at the local Golden Corral…

So with that type of incentive, it was no surprise that the Thomasville Terriers came rolling full force onto the Guilford Geese field today expecting to retrieve the “Winner’s Bounty”, and the Terriers expected to be barking out signals that would take them all the way to the front of the line, at the local Golden Corral Thanksgiving Day Buffet…

But, Scott Cooper, who is fast becoming the Y.A. Tittle of this annual “Football Feast”, made sure the Terriers would be eating dog food this season and they would not get within howling distance of that Golden Corral buffet…

Copper’s long passes were on the money and with the exception of a small injury setback or two, Grayson Holland was living up to his #88 Greg Olsen jersey today….Grayson’s dad Scott, our team bus driver and chief mechanic for the Guilford Geese was wearing his Jonathan Stewart Carolina Panthers’ jersey today and just like J. Stew, Scott Holland may have to get out of town for awhile, while the Thomasville Terriers cool down….The Terriers had their hearts set on that Golden Corral Thanksgiving Day Buffet, that went to the winning team today, the Guilford Geese…

Funny thing was the T’ville Terriers even brought their Dog-Tags with them today, to prove they had been in battle, having defeated every animal-named team in the history of Thomasville Football, and the Terriers have owned the “Dog Pound”, in Thomasville for as long as most people can remember….

The Terriers have taken down the Thomasville Bulldogs(Not affiliated with the Allen Brown Edition), the Thomasville Hound Dogs, the Thomasville Pit Bulls, the Thomasville Doberman Pinchers, the Thomasville Brown Mules…If it is an animal-based/animal-named team, the Terriers have taken them down….

It was all going dog-gone good for the Terriers until today….

Today is when the football/stick was thrown and the Terriers couldn’t bring it back…

But, oh did those Thomasville Terriers try….These Terriers have the heart of giant/large Labrador Retriever…You had Sanchez, Vilma, Brown, two smaller-sized Sachez’s, one pint-sized and one that was bigger, but that 14 year-old Sanchez had great hands….And there was the other Terrier in the Green Jersey, and for that matter my friends, all of the Thomasville Terriers sounded like they had come to T’ville, as an expansion team from New Jersey, or New York…But these Terriers had the heart of a champion…

The only problem was there was, there was one thing standing in the way of the Terriers and their Thanksgiving Day Buffet today…

The Guilford Geese have landed and they have been a dominant Thanksgiving Football Force in this town for over 25 years….Scott Holland, Grayson Holland, Scott Cooper, Kevin Colvin, Joey Kirkman and the man that got this whole game up and kicking over 25 years ago and is hoping for another bountiful 25 years of Thanksgiving Day football, and that would be me, AD…

This game actually began back in the early 90’s, back around 1993 at Claxton School, over off of Pinedale Road and since then the game has been played at Claxton, where the local Mormans were storming the fields and making this Thanksgiving Day Tradition, more like a Jim Nantz and Tony Romo production than many would even believe…Brother Lindsay, Uncle Bud, Father Muldowney, Sister Mary Ellen, Jim Bob, John Boy and Ben, they were all there back then…

From Claxton School and then on up to Guilford College, where the Guilford Geese became a flying force of football, in Guilford County….One season/year, we even played the Annual Thanksgiving Day Football Game on the baseball outfield at Western Guilford High School….Back then we were all still pretty spry, and we could jump the outfield fence…

Today though we are proud to be the Guilford College Geese and we had one of the nicest ‘Geese Flyovers’ prior to the beginning our game today….Man those Geese were excellent in flight and this is bound to be their night, as all the Geese in the Guilford College Community can celebrate their football team, THE GUILFORD COLLEGE GEESE winning the 2018 Annual Turkey Bowl, today on the field of honor, on the New Garden Road side, of the Guilford College campus….

Ladies and Gentleman, boys and girls, “This is where the Fearless Football Geese Fly”

The only real disappointment was the post-game interview being conducted by Jim Ed Brown, instead of James Brown of CBS Sports, but CBS has told me, if they can get Detroit to move their game to the late game next season, for Thanksgiving 2019, we will James Brown from CBS Sports here with us in Greensboro, for our Thanksgiving Day Football game next year….

The Geese now have a piece of history and it will taste real good to go along with that big piece of Thanksgiving Day Turkey, as we hit the line….The buffet line at Golden Corral that is…Our team sponsor, Holland Auto Care is footing the bill for this football team’s meals and with the win, it will be time to sit down, and let it rip on all four downs, at the Golden Corral…

Scott Holland is a man of his word and he has become on of the biggest supporters of the Guilford Geese and as he now knows, their Football Fortunes are Flying

We might even be able to strike up a deal to get a meal for Enad Haddad, who was on the questionable list for today’s game and with his availability being just probable, it looked like Enad may be taking off on a fly-pattern for the Geese and maybe he was headed South for the Winter with ETA, at the South of the Border in Dillon, South Carolina…

But in all seriousness, but is there really anything MORE serious than the Guilford Geese winning again and getting their Thanksgiving Day Buffet, at the GC?????

Yes, just another drop in the bucket, with Scott Cooper sitting back there throwing balls like Dan Fouts, and Dan was hitting John Jefferson(maybe a little Charlie Joiner too) in full stride, just like Scott was finding Grayson Holland open downfield today…Joey Kirkman dealing like Joey Galloway and there you have it, another Thanksgiving Day victory for the Guilford Geese

Next year our team name may be the Guilford Goats, it just depends on who is laying around or grazing on the football field, as the game is about to begin…Today we lived and flew as the Geese and no matter the year-after-year results, many have been telling me, we are already the G-O-A-T(S)….

Thomasville Terriers, your time is coming…Maybe next time it will be your time to hit the Buffet Line….My lines are not to hit it too hard over the next year, so I can still go a few more years, and continue to bring out the Festive Football Fun on Thanksgiving Day in Greensboro, N.C.

Long live the Geese and Long fly the Geese at Guilford College……

**********Long live Jordan Gatcomb, Athletics Facilities Manager and Dave Walters, Sports Information Director at Guilford College, who made sure we had a place to play today, and this Thanksgiving Day, we say Thank-you…..**********

+++++If you would like to bring in a team and play in next year’s game vs. the Geese, the Goats or Jack Asses, contact Pete Rozelle III and his office should be able to help you on Monday morning….+++++

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In our “Distant Replay”, here is a Rewind, with the playback/flashback of last year’s game, going back to 2017….

Turkey Bowl ends in a Tie, we had nobody die and next year we will give it another try:Davidson and Holland take game honors for 2017

I’m thinking the final score was 6-6 when the horn sounded at 12 Noon to end the 2017 Turkey Bowl and with 6-6, that means 6 touchdowns for each team and with a tie, that means we have to come back next year and break that tie…

Very balanced squads on this day/Thanksgiving morn and the game honors, for the top players on this day, go to the two youngest players on the field for this football fun day and those awards would be Player of the Game, which went to Eric Davidson(former player for the Grimsley Whirlies, Western Guilford Hornets, Utah Utes and the Appalachian State Mountaineers)….

Eric takes home the top game honors and today’s Comeback Player of the Game and Most Improved Player from 2016 was Grayson Holland(current 6th grader at Northern Guilford Middle School)…Grayson took some tough shots in last year’s game, but he bounced back this year and had a great game….You should see the hands on this kid….He has his Christian McCaffrey haircut and he made some super cuts on the field today and may have given us a glimpse of the future, if he keeps growing and maturing and he might be the next kid to watch in Guilford County in a few more years….

Eric Davidson with some outstanding catches, passes and runs today to grab that MVP award and Grayson Holland with the game of his young football career, on this Thanksgiving Thursday…

Back to the teams, and just how even this game was, saw the Quakers with Enad Haddad, Doug Brown, Scott Holland, Eric Davidson and Grayson Holland….The Samaritans were led by Scott Cooper, Kevin Colvin, Joey Kirkman, Ron Davidson and me/AD…..

This game has been going on for a long time and we thank the good people/folks at Guilford College for allowing us to use the field at the Quaker campus again this season and that also allows us to, “Keep the Tradition Going”….

It was a bit chilly when we got going this morning and then as the game grew on, the temps became more pleasant…

Just a great day to be playing some football and for that we are blessed and truly thankful….

Kevin, Doug, Joey, Scott Cooper, Enad, Scott Holland, Grayson Holland, Ron Davidson, Eric Davidson, we all have been going at it for a long, long time. Some of us go all the way back to the early 90’s when we used to face off with the Mormons over at Claxton School, off of Pinetop Road…Back in that day it was the Good Samaritans vs. the Mormons, with brother Bud and brother Lindsay leading the Mormans….

We used to have a few guys on our team that we called the brothers from unwed mothers, but those guys have not been seen or heard from in 20 years and now we are trying to recruit, as J.J. Walker used to say, a few good unglued brothers…Brother Bud and Brother Lindsay were last seen heading up the Maryland Beltway….

We all got belted a few good times today, but everyone was able to walk off the field, when the 2017 Turkey Bowl was over/complete….Great workout and I just hope we can keep the tradition rolling for several more years….

Thanksgiving Day football is a one day a year treat and really, it can’t be beat….Could be the quickest and smoothest two hours you will face all year long….You get rolling with the opening kickoff at 10am and then you get moving so fast that when you look up, the sun is high above you and it high noon and the game is over for another year….

Heck of a game and one heck of a year and this will give us all something to talk about with tons of memories for one more year, as the countdown to Thanksgiving Day and Turkey Bowl 2018 begins now….

Hits, runs, passes, receptions, bodies going all over the place and that is just the pregame workout in the parking lot, you should see the teams once they take the game field and the real action begins….

We hope to have more on this year’s game coming in from Enad Haddad and before we leave today, let’s take a look back at last year’s game, as we continue to pick up all of the pieces from this year’s game…

Wow, what a great day to be outside playing football and one more crazy tidbit is that we had four Western Guilford graduates in this game today with Eric Davidson WG Class of 2011, Enad Haddad WG Class of 1991, Scott Holland WG Class of 1986 and AD from WG Class of 1976….I may be off a few years on some of those, but I bet you a bucket of giblets, that I am pretty close…..
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