Windham shut out of Thanksgiving football

The Windham High School football team lost this year's Thanksgiving Day game against Pelham before it was even played.

This was a different kind of lost for the first-year varsity program.

The Jaguars, who finished their first season in Division V with a 1-9 record, were supposed to play the Pythons, 0-9 in their first year in Division III, next Thursday in what Windham coach and athletic director Bill Raycraft had hoped would become a tradition for the two schools.

But according to the Eagle-Tribune, the game won't take place because Pelham has called it off.

"Our coaching staff and our administrators had no desire to play the game," first-year Pelham High Athletic Director Todd Kress is quoted as saying in the Eagle-Tribune story. "The way I understand it, (former Pelham Athletic Director) Tim Powers set it up with Bill Raycroft (Windham High coach and athletic director) last year and he was really the force behind the game at our school. But when he left for Pinkerton Academy, as their athletic director, our coaches and administrators around school were talking about not playing."

Although Windham is without a Thanksgiving Day game this season, Raycraft and his staff "decided we want our town to experience Thanksgiving Day football." Now he just needs to find an opponent.