December 4th, 2006
Thanksgiving usually revolves around family and a big turkey dinner, but the Crusaders of Father Judge continued their dominant tradition over Lincoln High School.
The Railsplitters were shut out for the second year in a row after the Crusaders cruised to a 28-0 victory at Lincoln’s 
Barfoot Bowl. It was also the 12th consecutive victory for the Crusaders on
“You get a chance to come out and play football one last time on Thanksgiving,” Coach Coyle said while standing on the muddy field after the victory. “It’s a great opportunity for the young guys.”
Judge did all their scoring in the first half with junior Andrew McHale getting into the end zone three times for the Crusaders in his first Thanksgiving day game. McHale, who plays running back, wide receiver, defensive back and kick returner, called the contest “a battle” and said his team had to come out firing.
The Railsplitters’ bright spot was their defense in the second half and the hard running of senior tailback Dwayne Jones, who had 45 yards on 11 carries in the game while Father Judge shut down all of Lincoln’s other offensive weapons. Railsplitters’ coach Gene Kelly knew this coming.
“I knew it was going to be this way August 14th,” Coach Kelly said. “I had four kids that played varsity football before. I was hoping they would grow together into a team and be competitive.”
The scoring got started in the first quarter when McHale scored from five yards out to give the Crusaders an early lead. The second quarter was a big one for Judge as McHale scored another touchdown on the ground, this time from eight yards, and then took a pass from Judge Quarterback Paul Volpe 40-yards and brought the score to 21-0 against the Home team. Tim McCaffrey finished up the scoring for Judge with an 11-yard touchdown run of his own.
The Judge defense did not go unnoticed as they helped hold the Railsplitters to only three first downs and forced two turnovers. Despite the score, the game was a sloppy one with the rain playing a factor to the field conditions as well as the players.
Lincoln came out after halftime and played great defense for the rest of the game after coach Kelly told them not to think about the score and to just have fun.
“We asked them not to quit. We told them that if the second half was like Thanksgiving day and you weren’t here wearing a uniform, you would probably see that its muddy, get a bunch of guys together and play tackle football, “ Coach Kelly said. “You’d get all dirty and hungry and not even know what the score was.”
Notes: Father Judge is 28-3-1 against Lincoln all-time…Lincoln’s starting Quarterback Charles Boyd was sidelined with a wrist injury early in the game and replaced by Joe McCausland for the rest of the game…in a messy game, both teams had two turnovers and there was five penalties between the two teams…Lincoln closes its season at 4-8 while Judge finishes with a winning record at 7-6.
This has been a work of
Temple University Graduate Charles McLaughlin
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