CALVERT HALL VS LOYOLA--BALTIMORE'S TURKEY BOWL
Calvert Hall College and Loyola Blakefield, both private high schools in Towson, Maryland have played an annual football game on Thanksgiving Day known as the "Turkey Bowl." The 96-year-old tradition is the oldest continuous Catholic prep-school football rivalry in the United States. The game is currently held at M&T Bank Stadium, home of the Baltimore Ravens. To date, The Loyola Dons have the overall lead over the Calvert Hall Cardinals in the Turkey Bowl, with a record of 49–38–8. It is televised on the local ABC affiliate, WMAR 2.
There have been seven game sites of the Thanksgiving game between Calvert Hall and Loyola. The first one was played at 3500 Clifton Ave and Chelsea Terrace, the current site of Walbrook High School. That game ended (0-0) and was called on account of darkness with three minutes left. Walbrook Oval was a gift by Patrick Flanagan who bought the field for Calvert Hall so that our teams could have a field to play on. Neither Calvert Hall nor Loyola had a field to play on in those days, and the intense rivalry between the two has developed because of the proximity to each other in the 1920s and 1930s. Loyola was on Calvert Street, just a half mile away from The Hall at Cathedral and Mulberry. Ha! Loyola was on Calvert Street, the site of the current Center Stage Theater and school of St. Ignatius. Other cites for "The Game" included Evergreen (Loyola College) in 1921, Gibbons Field Mt St. Joseph High School and Homewood Field of The Johns Hopkins University. Between 1944-1954, the game was played at Old Oriole Park on Barclay and 29th Street until it burned down. Then, the game moved to Municipal Stadium which became called Memorial Stadium in 1954.
In 1993, the game was played for one year at Towson University because a filming contract prevented the use of Memorial Stadium. The Baltimore Ravens opened play at M&T Bank Stadium in 1999, and the Loyola game has been played there each year except 2011, when it was played for a second time at Towson University. The Ravens were playing the 49ers at home on Thanksgiving night which prevented the Turkey Bowl from being played there. The Ravens won the game, and the Harbaugh brothers were the first set of brothers to ever coach against each other. John coached the Ravens and Jim Harbaugh the 49ers.
Just as you probably thought that this game was always played at Memorial Stadium before moving to Ravens’ Stadium, you may have thought that the game was always played on Thanksgiving Day. There have been fifteen other dates other than Thanksgiving, all of which occurred prior to the 1950s. In the early 1920s, we played Loyola first (what a letdown!). One year, the game was played on December 1st. In 1925, Calvert Hall played Mt. St. Joe on Thanksgiving. (From calverthallfootball.com)
Calvert Hall cruises to 40-21 win over Loyola in 97th Turkey Bowl
For wide receiver Chris Cooper, it was an instant that seemed to last forever. Flying down the sideline with five yards on his nearest defender just moments into Thursday's 97th Turkey Bowl, the speedy Calvert Hall junior knew he had a touchdown -- if only the ball ever came down.
"That ball was in the air for like years," Cooper said.
When the high-arching pass of quarterback Ben Brooks finally descended to Earth, Cooper had a 57-yard touchdown catch on just Calvert Hall's second play from scrimmage. The score set the tone for the Cardinals, who opened the game with 19 straight points before holding off a furious second-half rally by archrival Loyola Blakefield in a 40-21 win before an announced 8,340 at M&T Bank Stadium.
Calvert Hall (7-5, 2-4 Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference) now has won seven of the past eight games in the series – the third longest in the Baltimore area behind only City-Poly and Gilman-McDonogh. Loyola (5-6, 0-6) still leads the all-time series, 49-40-8.
Rich Scherr, The Baltimore Sun 11/24/16
