A Day of Redemption for Old School
posted Monday October 3rd, 2005 by Crooks

Cameras and fans began lining Pritchard Field early Tuesday morning in anticipation of Thursday, November 25th's festivities. On a field that usually hosts pee wee football, summer lacrosse, and boys club soccer, Pritchard would play home to what CNN.com would call "the most anticipated sports event since the 1936 Summer Olympics in Germany": Turkey Bowl V. The fifth installation of Ridley's Annual Turkey Bowl would feature a repeat of Turkey Bowl IV's Old School v. New School format, but it would be the only thing that remained constant between the two. Turkey Bowl V would become famous for its feature of a number of firsts; the filming of world renowed camera man Vinny Mignone, an abscence of Kevin Rayer, and the entrance of lineman Keith Cottom and Reciever/D-Back Tim Kaufman. But in true Turkey Bowl style, some of the faces may have changed, but the will and passion of those sacrificing themselves on the field remained.

Thursday proved to be a perfect day for Turkey Bowl football; rain soaked the usually solid ground of Pritchard, and cold winds blew across the tundra. Fans donned jackets, umbrellas, and wool hats in preparation for the wrath of Mother Nature. Tension spanned the length of the field as not only the players exchanged stares, but Old School Coach Sean Kelly and New School Coach Bernie Rogers faced off in a battle of wits and alcohol consumption. Kelly and Old School would declare the day as their own.

Turkey Bowl V had a great deal of anticipated match-ups. OS Lineman Keith Cottom would challenge defending MVP and NS Lineman Jon Hart for the thrown, while Chris Crooks would be asked to cover NS's newest addition, Reciever Tim Kaufman. The battle between Crooks and Kaufman would change pace frequently, spending more time in Kaufmans corner, but that between Cottom and Hart would remain one sided in favor of Cottom. Delaware County Daily Times reporter John Lohn wrote concerning the battle in the trenches, "Cottom stood like a wall in front of QB Tim Dougherty, and blew through Hart like a strong wind on defense." Cottom's performance would earn him MVP honors on the day.

Offensively, OS was paced by the three touchdown performance of Bill Pohlig and two touchdown outing of Matt Marcelli. Pohlig and Marcelli acounted for five of Old School's eight scores. Defensively, Old School saw excellent outings from Rich "The Raccoon" DiNofia and Marcelli. The two ended with a number of interceptions that allowed the Old School defense to keep New School quarterback Mike Trill in check. Old School would see singular scoring performances from Chris Crooks, Rich DiNofia, and Keith Cottom; Cottom's coming on a one yard run to end the game that would solidify his bid for MVP.

New School, on the other hand, played average at best. Mike Trill would spend a majority of the game either on his back or throwing incompletions. Trill concentrated his passing game on Tim Kaufman, who would score NS's only three touchdowns, but neglected Four Time All-Turkey Bowl Reciever Mark Marcelli. Times reporter Dennis Deitch commented on Trill's performance in comparison to counterpart Tim Dougherty, "Michael Trill, who considered himself infallable after last year's performance, would do well to review this year's game tape and take a page from Dougherty's book." In addition to Trill's poor performance, Reciever/Coverage Back Joe Doubet had a difficult time stopping Old School's Bill Pohlig, who, as stated before, finished with three touchdowns. And let us not forget Turkey Bowl IV MVP Jon Hart. Hart, who was previously considered the best lineman in Turkey Bowl history, was dismembered by the heir to the lineman throne Keith Cottom.

As the final gun sounded, Old School walked off the field an 8-3 victor, and redemption was theirs. Hugs and smiles spanned the Old School sideline, and Coach Kelly, drunk from both victory and beer, was carried off the field, symbolizing not only his win as a coach, but his inability to walk off under his on accord.