Hatboro-Horsham alum and professional sports photographer Darryl Rule is following his alma mater’s football team and writing a behind the scenes account of the days leading up to Thursday’s Thanksgiving Day game.
Rivalry Week: Behind the Scenes with the Hatters – Day 2
Tuesday – Two days until the big game. The schedule for the team is pretty much the same routine they followed on Monday, except with the rain outside, activities were moved indoors. However, even the wet weather can’t damper the spirits of the team of the students at Hatboro-Horsham High School. Another Spirit Day event and more anticipation for 10:00 Thursday morning.
With today’s schedule being very similar to yesterday’s, we will focus on the game itself a bit today. This year’s game will be the 79th in the series with Hatboro-Horsham holding a commanding lead. However, the past 10 years or so have the seen the teams much more evenly matched, and the results have shown that. Two years ago, Hatboro-Horsham handily won at Hatters Stadium, but last year Upper Moreland handed HH a 35-7 defeat in Willow Grove.
The 2010 game is recalled as a recent favorite by many fans, including Hatboro-Horsham senior QB Jack Morris.
“I was in ninth grade, and I remember going to the game at Upper Moreland, and it snowed,” he said. “It made for a great atmosphere for the biggest game of the year.”
Could Thursday bring more snow to “The Game of the Year” for the rivals?
Hatboro-Horsham’s run of dominance is still a source of pride for former Hatters players. Brian Haupt, now a coach for the Hatters, is a 2000 HH grad and former Hatter lineman. He told me that he has friends that were on the team that ended the long winning streak, and when the former players gather, it is still a source of joking and ribbing. “Oh, it’s a big deal, especially your senior year,” he said. “You want to keep that tradition alive and you want to go out on a high note. No matter what your record is, that game can make or break your season.”
The importance of that game was echoed by almost everyone I talked to about the game. So much so that former Hatter defensive lineman and current Principal Dennis Williams said that even though his senior team was coming off a district title the previous season and was undefeated going into the Upper Moreland game, that game was going to decide the success of the season.
“We were trying to complete an undefeated season, one of the best in the history of the school,” he said. “And no doubt, that game was the biggest game of the season. You want to go out a winner at the end of your senior 
season.”
Haupt told me, “The biggest thing about this game is that there is a two-week lead up to it that just builds the anticipation. You play that last game, but you know the Upper Moreland game is still out there. Then you have Spirit Week, and the excitement just continues to build. The alumni come out and share stories with the current players about playing in the game. It is a game that binds the generations through one common thread. The rest of the season never really comes up. It is ‘Did you beat Upper Moreland?’ It’s the Super Bowl, it really is.”
The Super Bowl.
Another term that came up in the majority of conversations about the game. At most home games, the stands aren’t filled, but when the team comes out Thursday, the stands will be packed, and that the excitement just gets ratcheted up another level.
Haupt and Morris have similar recollections of their first Thanksgiving Day game. Both were young. Haput “was not in the stands. I was standing along the fence, too short to see anything. Then I ended up playing over in the field next to the stadium with my friends.” Ah, the old field next to the stadium. It’s a pretty good bet that most of the current and past Hatters that have played in Hatters Stadium started off tossing a ball around and playing tackle football with their buddies in the field adjacent to the stadium. With the lights on a Friday night, I am sure that piece of grass seemed like the big time to those youngsters as well. And most probably dreamed of playing on the “Big Field” when they got older. Morris played on that field as a kid as well, and on Thursday will lead some of those same friends out of the tunnel and onto the turf for the final time.
The final time. The finish to a football career for some. Thursday’s excitement builds to a crescendo, but for most players, even with a win, it will be a bittersweet day.
“It’s tough,” Williams said. “You want to win that last game, but even with a win, when it is over, you realize that is the last time you will be on the field with your brothers. The last time you will go to war with those guys. No more playing games in the rain and mud, no more bus rides, no more summer camps. So it is a bittersweet day.”
Some like Williams will go on to play football at the collegiate level, but it will be the last time they play with friends they have grown up with. Williams last game in Hatters Stadium was a memorable one for him. Not only did he get a win his senior year, “I was a defensive lineman, and I intercepted a pass and ran it back for a touchdown. So that was pretty special.”
Being an administrator doesn’t change how Williams feels leading up to Thursday’s game.
“I still get amped and hyped for this game,” he said. “The Spirit Week leading up to the game gets the kids into the game. We used to have the bonfire (now replaced with a Wing Bowl) and the Pep Rally.
“Of course, the Pep Rally when they introduce you to the school. There’s nothing like it. It is still a very special time for the school, and I really want to make sure the kids feel how special it is.”
Most games, you will find Williams roaming the sidelines with AD Lou James; however, he told me he makes one appearance Thursday that he doesn’t make the rest of the year. “Usually on Thursday, I go into the locker room and talk to the kids,” Williams said. “I try not to be in there the rest of the year, but I just go in there and try to tell them how special it is to be a part of the tradition and history of this game. How privileged they are to be playing in this game.”
Lou James said he loves hosting the game at Hatters Stadium.
“It’s a lot of work, but it good work,” he said.
James moved to the Horsham area in 1980, and his wife was a HH grad. He said when they first moved here, he would usually attend games Friday night at old Alden Field because he had nothing else to do.”
These days, his Fridays are indeed busier in his role as AD. He can be found moving rapidly around the stadium hours before kick-off, making sure everything is ready and everyone has what they need.
Four years ago, his son, Kevin, was a senior in this game. He said that even though his son has moved on to a successful college career at Ursinus College, he still gets just as excited for the game now as he did when his son was playing.
“It’s great to see the joy and excitement on the kids’ faces,” James said. “Both teams, no matter their records, you know are going to play well, and it is going to be a flip of the coin on who will win. The crowd is huge, the students are into the game. It’s the Super Bowl for this community.”
Coaching in this rivalry is also an honor to the men who have held to position of head coach. Dave Sanderson, current offensive coordinator and QB coach at Pennsbury HS, was the head coach at HH from 2001-2009. He followed Dennis Steinly, a coach many feel was the greatest in HH history. Sanderson said coaching in this game is being a part of a piece of history.
“The game hold such a greater significance to the school community, and the Horsham and Upper Moreland communities in general,” he said. “When you talk to alumni, you really feel how important game is to the community.”
He went on to say that the two-week layoff was not an issue for him or his coaching staff. “The biggest thing was we had to have the kids maintain their focus,” Sanderson said. “But the kids all knew how important the game was to them as players and how important the game is to the community, so that was probably the easiest two weeks to maintain that focus.”
So four months of practice, film watching, and games will all come to an end around noon on Thursday. And while the players may go their separate ways once the final horn sounds, they have built a bond that will last for years to come.
“Those are guys you fought with, bled with, won and lost with,” Williams said. “Those guys are still some of my closest friends to this day. I still talk to most of them on a regular basis.”
Wednesday will be the last day of prep and practice for Thursday’s game. Halls will be decorated, there will be the Pep Rally, and the Wing Bowl Wednesday evening. So join us again tomorrow for Day 3 of our behind the scenes look at the Hatters football program. And if you can, come out to the game Thursday and support these great student-athletes from Hatboro-Horsham as well as their equally deserving counterparts from Upper Moreland. Be a part of the history, and witness first-hand what has made this game a must-see for generations of families from Hatboro, Horsham and Willow Grove.
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