Amid fewer and fewer Thanksgiving games, Aquinas to visit Immaculata Wednesday night

The expansion of the high school football playoffs by the NJSIAA – first in 2018 to include “regional championships” and then again last year with true state championship games in each group – has been the death knell for Thanksgiving games in many parts of the state.

With the season starting earlier, teams knocked out of the playoffs in early rounds had forever and a day to wait around to play their Turkey Day game, and eventually, those contests moved to earlier in the season, often in Week Zero.

In the Big Central, only three teams had traditional Thankgsiving games on the schedule: Westfield at Plainfield, and the big one with Phillipsburg Easton playing Easton out at Lafayette College.

But this year, there’s a new one on the schedule, even though it’s just being played Wednesday night.

St. Thomas Aquinas – coming off a tough loss to DePaul in the Non-Public B semifinals – will take its 9-1 record into Bridgewater Wednesday night at 7 pm to take on a 7-3 Immaculata team looking to finish with its highest win total since Tom Falato had the Spartans finish 8-3 in 2015.

It’s an interesting matchup, especially the timing, but one STA head coach Tarig Holman really wanted on the schedule, with Immaculata now having won seven games for the second time in three years.

Aquinas has had a fantastic year despite graduate its starting quarterback, top receiver and top rusher, along with its leaders in three key defensive categories: tackles, interceptions and sacks. All they did this year was go 9-0 heading into the playoffs, with five shutouts, winning by an average of 33.7 points per game.

This year’s team has relied more on the run game, having not even eclipsed a thousand yards as a team last year, but passing for over 1,600. The 2023 edition of Aquinas football has rushed for 2,178 yards, led by junior Chase Young, whose 910 yards on the year could have him close enough to eclipse the thousand-yard mark Wednesday night.

Defensively, it’s been a banner year for Christian Maglicanao, who leads the team with a whopping 148 tackles, and an unbelievable 30 tackles for loss, and a pick six. The defense has racked up 24 sacks in ten games.

For the Spartans, they are sophomore quarterback Mason Geiss with 1,025 passing yards, 15 touchdowns and just three interceptions. A balanced rushing attack has 1,925 yards and 14 touchdowns, with senior Joe Fleming (762 yards, 10 TDs) leading the way.

On defense, the Spartans didn’t allow a single team to score double figures on them all year until a 36-33 loss to Holy Spirit in the opening round of the Non-Public B playoffs. They had given up 39 all year to that point. Senior Roscoe Davis and junior Aaron Melick pace the unit with four sacks apiece, and senior Anthony Brown has a team-leading five interceptions.

The teams have only met eight times, and not since 2005, a 28-0 win for Immaculata, which has won five straight in the series, dating back to 1974. Aquinas – before it changed its name to Bishop Ahr, then back – won its two games in 1972 and 1973.

Click below to hear Mike Pavlichko talk with St. Thomas Aquinas head coach Tarig Holman about the Trojans’ season and their Thanksgiving Eve matchup with Immaculata: