After three years of defeat to their Thanksgiving rivals, Dartmouth High School made a comeback Thursday, Nov. 28, claiming victory over the Fairhaven Blue Devils, 21-16.

It was a close one as both teams fought through the pouring rain and cold weather. Head Coach Rick White commended their rival for a good game.

“Fairhaven’s a great football team,” he said, noting that they will be headed to the state championship and have a good coach.

“We’re just proud of our guys,” White said. “We lost three years in a row and we needed this one. This is a big one for our program, so kids are excited.”

He highlighted how proud he was of the 20 seniors who were playing their final game of football with Dartmouth.

“That’s always bittersweet,” White added. “Even without the loss, it doesn’t make it any better.”

The team did well this season, with a tournament record of 6-2. The boys made it to the Elite Eight, where they lost in a close game to Mansfield High School, Nov. 15. 

“When you lose that game, it’s kind of a kick in the stomach. It’s tough to regroup. It took us about a week to get over that loss because it was such a close game and the guys put everything they had into it,” he said.

However, things looked up for them at practice this week and their nerves settled in time for the big Thanksgiving game, White added.

“They had kind of got their swagger back and were ready to play,” he said. 

“Turkey’s going to taste pretty good on Thanksgiving,” he added.

At the start of the game, Seniors Ava Powers and Remy Barber said they come to all of Dartmouth’s regular season games as well as Thanksgiving every year and were hoping for a win.

“Our best friends are both seniors on the team, so we love to support them,” Barber said. “They work really hard, so it’s nice to see the hard work paying off.”

Powers said, “It’s a little cold — could be better — but we work with what we got.”

Steve Davis attended the game with his son Reid, who just graduated from Dartmouth High last year. For these two, attending the Thanksgiving game is a longstanding tradition.

Steve said even when he graduated from Dartmouth High, there was a rivalry against Fairhaven, and that’s what they like about the game — coming to show their support for Dartmouth. 

Reid said, “We’ve been playing for so long and it’s been like a dog fight every year — both teams fight hard and then after we go eat. It’s a tradition.”

Steve added, “We’ll be back.”