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# Memorial, West football ready to prove who is Manchester's best in annual Turkey Bowl
- URL: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/memorial-west-football-ready-to-prove-who-is-manchesters-best-in-annual-turkey-bowl/
- Published: 2025-11-27T11:00:55.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-27T11:00:55.000Z
- Description: Rob Sturgis sees plenty of similarities on the field between his Manchester Memorial High School football team and Manchester West, the team the Crusaders will be playing Thursday in the annual Manchester Turkey Bowl. Off the field, the teams have followed similar paths as well. Memorial and West
- Author: Joe Marchilena
- Tags: Fall Sports, football, Manchester Memorial, Manchester West, slider, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-08-18 04:44

Rob Sturgis sees plenty of similarities on the field between his Manchester Memorial High School football team and Manchester West, the team the Crusaders will be playing Thursday in the annual Manchester Turkey Bowl.

Off the field, the teams have followed similar paths as well.

Memorial and West will play for the city championship for the second year in a row, with kickoff scheduled for 10 a.m. on Thanksgiving at Gill Stadium, but both go into the game with a different feeling than last season.

In 2024, both teams were coming off their first playoff appearance in quite some time. West hadn't made the postseason since 2007, when the Blue Knights were still in Division I, while Memorial was in the D1 tournament for the first time since 2003.

That success raised expectations, and both programs set their sights higher going into this season, but ultimately came up short of the biggest goal. West again made it to the Division II quarterfinals, but fell to Pelham, 7-6, to finish with a 7-3 record this season.

Memorial went 8-1 during the regular season to earn the No. 2 seed in D1 and a first-round bye, but the Crusaders were upset by Salem in the quarterfinals, 24-17.

“It’s tough to get over anything that disappointing when you have high expectations,” Sturgis said. “Now that we’ve gotten to game week, I think the focus has shifted away from anything we’ve accomplished in the season because this is truly one game that’s a big deal. We’re the only Thanksgiving game (left) in this state. I think there’s a lot of pride put on the line here.”

Part of that pride is making sure the guys coming up next are ready to go once the seniors are done after Thursday, and that's something West coach Andrew Provencher has seen happening during the last few weeks of practice.

“I think that if you talk to a lot of those guys, they’re disappointed, obviously, with losing the quarterfinal game,” Provencher said. “But you hear them talk about the younger guys in the program and what they think is going to be a positive group next year. That kind of culture building is really important. I think that’s really good for a program moving forward.”

And of course the players are looking forward to the opportunity to play one more high school football game.

“I’m really excited to be able to go out and show my skills again, be able to compete,” West senior Jarome Henert said. “I feel like we had an amazing season. I feel like it was a step in the right direction for our program.”

The extra comradery these few added practices bring is something that the players won't forget either.

“It’s awesome to play another game,” Memorial senior Jack Paradis said. “I love going hard at practice with my boys. It’s the last opportunity to and I’m just really thankful for it, to be honest.”

As for on the field, Sturgis sees this as a matchup of two teams that like to do a lot of the same things, they just go about doing them in different ways.

“Both team are looking to attack inside and then get to the edge,” Sturgis said. “We do that from a lot of condensed sets. Nowadays, you see all these teams spreading everything out. We’re in there with a tight end, wings, fullbacks.

“But the way we attack is obviously different. We’re running the option and they’re more of wing-T style.”

Provencher sees the key to the game being what happens in the trenches, but if the Blue Knights aren't careful, the Crusaders could beat them with some big plays.

“They’ve got a real tough, gritty style of playing football,” Provencher said. “I think we’re very similar in that aspect. I think what maybe Memorial doesn’t get enough credit for is just how explosive they are sometimes. They’re fast and they can get outside, and if you’re not able to play disciplined football, they can get up on you quick.”

Thursday's meeting will only be the second time these two teams have met in the Turkey Bowl, with last year's game being the first. Memorial is looking to win three city championships in a row for the first time, while West is looking for its first win since 2007.

“We start the year off with a whole bunch of big goals, one of them being a city championship,” West senior Gio Doria said. “We’re going to give it our all.”