Pride runs high on both sides of 'Rivalry'
By Jonathan Graham  

FITCHBURG -- Leominster resident Bob "Miggs" Shaw, 70, said
he has been coming to the Fitchburg-Leominster annual
Thanksgiving Day game for as long as he can remember.

"As long as God let's me stay on Earth, I'll come to the
games," Shaw said. "Might freeze my butt off, though."

Red Raiders and Blue Devils fans braved the cold and snow
Thursday morning to watch the annual game at Crocker Field
and continue the long-running tradition.

The Leominster Blue Devils walked away winners, for the
second straight year, with a 20-6 victory.

Shaw, who grew up in Fitchburg, said he would sneak into
Crocker Field as a kid to watch the games.

His grandson played last year and his father played in 1917,
the year Fitchburg beat Leominster 52-0, "or something like
that," Shaw said.

"This is the kind of thing that will go on and on and on,"
Shaw said Thursday as he watched the game from the
Leominster side.

He said he became a Blue Devils fan when he moved to
Leominster in the 1960s, which led to a fair amount of
ribbing from his Fitchburg friends.

But Shaw said the fun between the cities over 'The Rivalry'
is just a good time.

"There's nothing mean about it," Shaw said.

Well, at least off the field. Mike Thomas, 23, graduated
from Fitchburg High in 2000 and said the attitude on the
field is a little different.

"With all the players, it's fierce," Thomas said. "This is
the Super Bowl, for both teams. This game is everything."

And that rivalry can even break apart families. 

Both of former Leominster High School teacher John
Gallagher's sons played for the Red Raiders, "the only time
I was ever on the Fitchburg side," Gallagher said.

But now, no longer. The sons and their father are just
another part of the Twin Cities' rivalry.

But it all remains friendly, right? 

"I don't know how friendly," John Gallagher's son, Chris,
said with a threatening glare to his father.

Chris Gallagher played for Fitchburg from 1990 to 1994,
while his older brother, Tim, played from 1986 to 1990.

Tim, who played quarterback, admitted Fitchburg lost to
Leominster every one of his four years.

"Then his brother came in and won every year," Chris said to
his older brother's groans.

Tim Gallagher even had his father-in-law from Palm Desert,
Calif., fly in for the game.

"I came out a day early then I'd planned," Mike Coyne, 63,
said. "They just kept telling me, 'You gotta go to the
game.'"

Police Sgt. Ernest Martineau was performing security at the
game and he said he loved every minute of it.

"I've been in this corner for 18 years," said Martineau, who
captained the Fitchburg team in the early 1980s. "This is
huge. We all played. Everybody's played."

Fitchburg resident Rick Tweedy said he comes to every
Thanksgiving Day game to support the Red Raiders.

The only problem is that his daughter graduated from
Leominster High School.

"It's not that bad," Tweedy said. "I just want to come out
here and support the town, my town."

And while many spoke of The Rivalry, the community and the
history of the annual game, everyone was just happy to be
watching a Thanksgiving Day football game.

"What do you call a Thanksgiving without football?"
Leominster resident Jim Petkewich asked his young son as
they stood behind the end zone.

"Just a Thursday," replied Chris Petkewich, who also said,
very sternly, that he plays safety.

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