Frankford vs. Roman Thanksgiving game being discussed

Though the granddaddy of the city's Public-Catholic Thanksgiving football rivalries is now deceased, a beautiful baby might soon take its place.

It's possible - repeat, possible - that Frankford, which lost its Turkey Day opponent because of North Catholic's demise, will wind up playing Roman Catholic. Perhaps even this year; the game would be played at Frankford.

Frankford and Roman are two of the city's older schools. Frankford has been part of Public League football since 1916 - it was preceded in the league by only Northeast, Central, Southern and West Philadelphia - while Roman goes back to the Catholic League's very grid beginning, in 1920.

Somehow, the schools have met only two times. Roman won, 34-0, way back in 1914 and again, 40-12, for the 1947 City Title.

Jack Creighton, Frankford's athletic director, said he has had informal discussions with representatives of Roman and Roxborough - those two schools meet on Thanksgiving - and remains "very hopeful" that a deal can still be struck for 2010.

A new opponent for Roxborough could be Imhotep Charter, according to many close to the situation.

Terrell Burnett, Roxborough's AD, declined to comment on that aspect.

He did say: "For now, we're still scheduled to play Roman, but I think both schools would be flexible about having new Thanksgiving opponents. Roxborough will always have a Thanksgiving game. I do know that."

Said Dennis DiGiovanni, Roman's AD: "From what I understand, we're playing Roxborough this Thanksgiving."

Roxborough trails the Roman series, 27-9-2. It has dropped the last 17 meetings while being outscored, 588-153.

When the rivalry started, Roman had a defined feeder area and drew many of its students from Roxborough and nearby neighborhoods. Roman now enrolls kids from pretty much everywhere, and many ex-North kids have surfaced there; nine are on the football team.

North won its series with Frankford by 42-34-4 on the holiday and 43-35-4 overall.

"I'd love to see us play Roman," Frankford coach Mike Capriotti said. "That series could be another classic. You're talking two of the oldest schools in the city, with great alumni bases and history. Roman's not going anywhere. We'd have a long series with them. Just like we did with North."

Said Roman coach Joe McCourt: "We've been hearing for a couple years now that Roxborough might like to end the series. I do think it has lost its luster. Not nearly as many kids from either school are actually from Roxborough now. If Roman-Frankford could come to fruition, I'd be all for it." *