Poll: Westwood or Dover-Sherborn? Who is Medfield High’s Rival?

Rivalry is defined as “competition for the same objective or for superiority in the same field.”

In high school athletics, rivalries often warrant extra attention leading up to the big game. From pep rallies to spirit weeks, the school community shows extra pride for the home team during these "rivalry games."

Medfield High’s athletic history has produced several notable rivalries over the years, but perhaps none more evident than two: Westwood and Dover-Sherborn.

The Warriors have gone toe-to-toe with both of these schools in football on Thanksgiving and are often competing near the top of the Tri-Valley League with both schools in various sports over the course of the school year.

However, Medfield's Thanksgiving Day opponents don't stop at just Westwood and Dover-Sherborn as the Warriors have faced a total of six teams on Turkey Day in its 114 years of football. In addition to Westwood and D-S, Medfield has played Foxborough, Holliston, Nantucket and Millis on Thanksgiving.

Westwood was Medfield’s Thanksgiving Day rival on the gridiron before the Wolverines left the league, forcing the Warriors to turn to nearby Holliston as its Turkey Day foe before ultimately lining up against neighboring Dover-Sherborn for the past 45 years.

“Originally in the 50s, Medfield used to play Westwood in the Thanksgiving games,” Medfield town historian Richard DeSorgher said. “Westwood left and went into Dual County and then they came back into [Tri-Valley].”

But Medfield had moved on in terms of a Thanksgiving rival and after bouncing from one team to another in the traditional November game, the Warriors settled with the Raiders of Dover-Sherborn – building a competitive rivalry that will meet for the 46th time in school history on Thursday at 10 a.m. at Calvin George Fisher Memorial Field.

Medfield currently leads the Thanksgiving Day series vs. D-S, 24-17-4 with meeting No. 46 coming Thursday at 10 a.m. at Calvin George Fisher Memorial Field.

Here’s a look at the last six meetings between the Warriors and Raiders:

• 2010-D-S, 14-9
• 2009-D-S, 28-12
• 2008-Medfield, 28-12
• 2007-Medfield, 21-0
• 2006-Medfield, 34-0
• 2005-Medfield, 28-13
• 2004-D-S, 35-34

While Medfield and Westwood stopped playing games on Thanksgiving more than half a century ago, DeSorgher did recall a special day in the Medfield-Westwood rivalry that came in 2002.

“[Medfield football] hadn’t beaten Westwood in something like 28 or 29 years [at the time],” DeSorgher recalled. “It was a so-called Mud Bowl game. Pouring rain, before the turf was here, it was just the dirt and the grass and it was just a mud bowl.”

DeSorgher said Medfield won that game over rival Westwood, 6-0 and the “curse” against the Wolverines was lifted.

“They broke that long drought over Westwood and the kids just went [crazy] afterwards and I remember after the game they were running and they were just sliding [in the mud],” DeSorgher said. “It was like as a little kid on that water slide that you slide down the hill. They were covered in mud, they were soaked … you never saw such happy people in your life lined up there.”

So Medfield, we want to know …

Today’s question: Who’s Medfield High’s sports rival?

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