One week after a melee ended the annual meeting between Easton (Pa.) Area High School and Phillpsburg one play early, the two rival teams gathered again to take care of some unfinished business — the postgame handshake.
Toward the end of the Thanksgiving Day game at Lafayette College, Easton Area quarterback looked to take the snap and a knee to ice his team's 16-13 victory, but was hit during the play by a Phillpsburg defender. A sideline-clearing brawl ensued, prompting game officials to let the clock expire and allow the teams to be separated.
Thanks to BOTH Pburg and Easton coaches AND our athletes today, for recognizing the critical importance of learning from mistakes, setting a positive example and preserving what we hold dear...THIS is the way the most storied high school rivalry game in the country should end. . pic.twitter.com/CoPryOUfxP
— PHSPrincipal Scanlon (@statelinerphs) December 5, 2019
As reported by lehighvalleylive.com, last week’s game was the 113th meeting between the two schools in a rivalry that was recently recognized by USA Today as the best Turkey Day clash in the nation. This week's meeting sought to bring players back together peacefully.
"[Easton] and [Phillipsburg] worked together this past week to make sure last week's football game ended how it was supposed to. The game is bigger than any one player, coach, administrator; it belongs to our greater communities. We will move on stronger together," read a statement from the Easton athletic department on Twitter Thursday. "We met at Fisher Stadium, Lafayette College, exactly one week later at the time a post-game handshake was to take place and allowed ALL of us from both schools/communities to show how treasured our annual rivalry is and will continue to be not only in football, but all sports."
