Thursday’s game between Clayton High School and Pittman High School marks the 100th meeting between these two teams.

It’s among the few Thanksgiving high school football rivalry games still played in the Delaware Valley.

School officials say it’s a tradition that a lot of people hope will never go away.

“We are neighbors, and yes, on the field, we are rivals — but off the field, we had a banquet a few days ago together with both teams, and it was wonderful to see,” said Nick Koutsogiannis, the superintendent for Clayton Public Schools.

The question is, how much longer will this tradition last?

The Clayton-Pittman Thanksgiving game was played during World War II. They even played in 2020, in the middle of the COVID pandemic.

But with the shifting high school playoff schedule over the years, only a handful of Thanksgiving games are still played, and the parents and alumni think that’s a shame.

Eugene Brown graduated from Clayton High back in 1983, and this game still means an awful lot to him.

“I am proud of the fact that a lot of the guys I grew up with,” Brown said. “We’re all still very good friends, and we spend a lot of time with each other, and we all embrace each other. We meet here just for the spirit of being together.”

“We were just going through it all,” said Bill Elias, who graduated from Clayton in 1977. “The guys are talking because it’s alumni. Just talking about the good times. Playing in those games — it’s a great time.”